Army Nurse Corps established

Women have been contracted as nurses, and sometimes physicians, since the American Revolution. Nearly 10,000 women provided medical care during the American Civil War, and nurses were again called upon during the Spanish-American War. Seeing the value of a standing body of Army nurses, the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) was established and made a permanent part of the U.S. Army. While African American men and women served as contract nurses in earlier conflicts, the Army Nurse Corps did not allow the enrollment of Black women until 1918, and men of any race were not commissioned in the ANC until 1955.