A Mother's Work

Name: A Mother's Work
Price: 229 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781469692319

Mary Bickerdyke, Civil War–Era Nurse

Megan VanGorder

$229

Hardback

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English

The University of North Carolina Press
24 February 2026

History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; History of medicine; Nursing

Mary Ann Bickerdyke led a remarkable life. A widowed mother from Illinois, she became an influential traveling nurse and Sanitary Commission agent during the American Civil War. She followed the Union Army through four years and nineteen battles, established hundreds of hospitals, assisted surgeons with amputations, treated fevers, and fed the soldiers in her care. Known affectionately as “Mother” to thousands of soldiers, Bickerdyke’s work bridged the private world of home caregiving and the public demands of wartime and institutional medicine.

Drawing on a rich archive of personal letters, military records, and newspapers, Megan VanGorder explores how Bickerdyke used her maternal identity to challenge norms, advocate for soldiers, and pioneer compassionate care practices before, during, and after the Civil War. A Mother’s Work uses key episodes from Bickerdyke’s life to reveal broader truths about motherhood, medicine, and women’s roles in the nineteenth century, and offers an intimate and historically grounded portrait of one woman’s evolving identity and the use of the moniker that made her famous. In reassessing her work and legacy, this book also serves as a new perspective on how white working-class women contributed to the transitional period of the Civil War era to reshape public health, social care, and national memory.

By: Megan VanGorder
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 25mm, Spine: 155mm
ISBN: 9781469692319
ISBN 10: 1469692317
Pages: 260
Publication Date: 24 February 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Megan VanGorder is assistant professor of history at Illinois State University.

Reviews for A Mother's Work: Mary Bickerdyke, Civil War–Era Nurse

“Megan VanGorder superbly illuminates the myriad ways Bickerdyke’s story matters—including as a window into working-class women’s Civil War experiences and her pioneering role in palliative and hospice care.”—Elizabeth R. Varon, author of Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South “A brisk addition to the scholarship on nineteenth-century motherhood and institutional reform, VanGorder’s book sheds new light on legendary relief worker Mary Bickerdyke with a reappraisal of motherhood as a professional pathway. A must-read for those who want to understand the saga of national health and memorial enterprises in the Civil War era.” —Jane E. Schultz, author of Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America