Editing Dorothea Dix (section)

==The Civil War==
On June 10, 1861, as the Civil War turned bloody, Dix was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses for the [[Union Army]], by Secretary of War, [[Simon Cameron]]. He was  politician who had long admired her advocacy work.<ref>Brown, pp.277-280.</ref>  Dix, who was not a nurse herself, set stiff guidelines for nurse candidates. Volunteers were to be aged 35 to 50 and plain-looking. They must wear plain uniforms with no jewelry or cosmetics.  In all, she signed up about 3,000 women. She feuded with doctors who insisted that they should set hospital policy; many opposed having any nurses. In 1863 the Army gave doctors full control over hospital employees and volunteers and Dix lost all of her remaining power. Dix was eclipsed by other prominent women such as [[Mary Edwards Walker|Dr. Mary Edwards Walker]] and [[Clara Barton]]. She resigned in August 1865 and considered her war work a failure.<ref>Brown, pp.274-323</ref><ref>Jane E. Schultz, ''Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America'' (University of North Carolina Press. 2004). </ref>   

Over 600 Catholic sisters successfully served as Union Army nurses. Dix distrusted them; her deep anti-Catholicism undermined her ability to work with Catholic nurses, lay or religious.<ref>Barbra Mann Wall, "Called to a Mission of Charity: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the Civil War, ''Nursing History Review'' (1998) Vol. 6, pp. 85–113</ref><ref> Mary Denis Maher, ''To Bind Up the Wounds: Catholic Sister Nurses in the U.S. Civil War '' (LSU Press, 1999), p. 128. </ref>

Dix herself rarely worked directly with wounded soldiers. Her policy was that Confederate and Union wounded should be treated alike.  Before the war she travelled widely in the South, was well received and helped start new asylums. She had a favorable impression of the South and worked hard in the 1850s to reverse the growing North-South divisions.  However during the war she developed an intense hatred of the Confederacy and denounced its civilian supporters saying they had been, "transformed to demons."   In 1864 she wrote a friend, "God forgive those savage wretches in the South: ''I cannot''." <ref>Brown, pp. 302–303.</ref> 

Her main supporter was Secretary of War, [[Simon Cameron]], but he left office in early 1862. Dix made many enemies, especially two new large scale organizations, the Woman's Central Association of Relief and the Sanitary Commission.  They succeeded in sharply reducing her power and tarnishing her reputation as an organizer.  Her reputation as a humanitarian survived thanks to her putting aside her previous work to focus completely on the war at hand.<ref>Emily Galik, "Dorothea Dix, Superintendent of Nurses: When an Activist Becomes an Administrator," ''Women Leading Change'' (2017)v2#1 pp 31-44 [https://journals.tulane.edu/ncs/article/view/1143 online] </ref><ref>Thomas J Brown, '' Dorothea Dix. New England reformer'' (Harvard UP,  1998) pp.291–323.</ref>

With the conclusion of the war, her service was recognized formally. She was awarded with two national flags, these flags being for "the Care, Succor, and Relief of the Sick and wounded Soldiers of the United States on the Battle-Field, in Camps and Hospitals during the recent war."<ref name="anb.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00181.html?a=1&rr=1&n=Dorothea%20Dix&d=10&ss=0&q=1|title=American National Biography Online: Dix, Dorothea Lynde|website=www.anb.org|access-date= 2016-11-29}}</ref>