At the start of the war, society had a sterling model of a proper woman as a nurse. Florence Nightingale's work during the Crimean War captured the popular imagination. Her book,
Notes on Nursing, was widely read, and Longfellow lionized her as "The Lady of the Lamp."
Contemporary accounts often mention her influence. For example, the New York Herald ran a series of letters from women who wished to join "A Corps of Florence Nightingales." Doctor Elizabeth Blackwell told an English correspondent that there was a "mania amongst women to 'act EN.'"
