Phoebe Pember – Confederate Nurse
Born: August 18, 1823, in Charleston, South Carolina
Served: Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, 1862 to 1865
Died: March 4, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
From 1862 to 1865, Pember served as matron of the Second Division of Chimborazo Hospital, better known as Hospital No. 2 in Richmond, Virginia. A widow, she accepted this appointment out of loyalty to the Confederate soldiers and in order to earn a living. Pember managed the care and feeding of thousands of sick and wounded, all while battling the internal opposition to the presence of a woman in a military hospital.