(MILITARY CIVIL WAR) General order mandating unequal nurses

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(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) General order mandating unequal nurses' pay. War Department General Orders No. 390. One printed page, 6 1/2 x 4 inches, signed in type by E.D. Townsend as Assistant Adjutant General; minor wear. Washington, 8 December 1863

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This order was issued on behalf of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, regarding military hospital employees: "Cooks and nurses either males or females . . . will be paid by the Medical Purveyor or Storekeeper at the rate of ten dollars per month. In cases where white females are employed they will receive forty cents per day. All such persons will also receive one ration per day." 40 cents per day times 30 days equals about $12 per month, a substantial increase over what Black and male nurses were receiving; the daily ration was another substantial benefit which was extended only to the white women.