<P> During the American Civil War, Dix, on 10 June 1861 was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses by the Union Army, beating out Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell . She and others found that the qualities that made her a successful crusader--independence, single - minded zeal--were not effective in managing a large organization of female nurses under crisis conditions in a wide geographic area . </P> <P> Dix set guidelines for nurse candidates . Volunteers were to be aged 35 to 50 and plain - looking . They were required to wear unhooped black or brown dresses, with no jewelry or cosmetics . Dix wanted to avoid sending vulnerable, attractive young women into the hospitals, where she feared they would be exploited by the men (doctors as well as patients). Dix often fired volunteer nurses she hadn't personally trained or hired (earning the ire of supporting groups like the United States Sanitary Commission). </P> <P> At odds with Army doctors, Dix feuded with them over control of medical facilities and the hiring and firing of nurses . Many doctors and surgeons did not want any female nurses in their hospitals . To solve the impasse, the War Department introduced Order No. 351 in October 1863 . It granted both the Surgeon General (Joseph K. Barnes) and the Superintendent of Army Nurses (Dix) the power to appoint female nurses . However, it gave doctors the power of assigning employees and volunteers to hospitals . This relieved Dix of direct operational responsibility . As superintendent, Dix implemented the Federal army nursing program, in which over 3,000 women would eventually serve . Meanwhile, her influence was being eclipsed by other prominent women such as Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and Clara Barton . She resigned in August 1865 and later considered this "episode" in her career a failure . Although thousands of Catholic nuns successfully served as Army nurses, Dix distrusted them; her anti-Catholicism undermined her ability to work with Irish and German nuns . </P> <P> But her even - handed caring for Union and Confederate wounded alike, assured her memory in the South . Her nurses provided what was often the only care available in the field to Confederate wounded . Georgeanna Woolsey, a Dix nurse, said, "The surgeon in charge of our camp...looked after all their wounds, which were often in a most shocking state, particularly among the rebels . Every evening and morning they were dressed ." Another Dix nurse, Julia Susan Wheelock, said, "Many of these were Rebels . I could not pass them by neglected . Though enemies, they were nevertheless helpless, suffering human beings ." </P>

Who was a leader in improving treatment for the mentally ill