Kittie Whiting Eastman
Kittie (Whiting) Eastman Doxsee Collection, Gift of Iona Flynn, Women's Memorial Foundation Collecton.

Initially, the Army and Navy Medical Departments rejected the idea of using female nurses, but the military medical system was quickly overwhelmed by the vast unanticipated number of disease-related casualties.

In May 1898, the Army began hiring contract nurses. These women were professionally-trained nurses who agreed to work for the Army, on salary, for as long as they were needed and wherever they were needed.