March 2026 Header Image: Mary A.E. Keen, Seminary Hospital

March is Women’s History Month, so we’re highlighting Civil War nurse Mary A.E. Keen in our header image. This photograph from the Library of Congress, taken some time during the war, shows Mary Keen seated in the center of a group of unnamed nurses at Seminary Hospital in Washington, D.C. While Mary served as a nurse for the Union Army, she maintained a correspondence with her brother, Thomas Keen. Their surviving letters demonstrate Mary’s deep dedication to the soldiers in her care, and her brother’s respect for the grueling work nurses performed in army hospitals. After almost four years of service, Mary A.E. Keen was discharged in July 1865, after which she settled in Washington D.C. If you want to learn more about Civil War nurses, check out this series of articles by Virginia R. Bensen.