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This dissertation explores the roles of Catholic sister nurses, both during the Civil War and after, in the creation of the nursing profession. Despite playing a central role in Civil War hospitals, Catholic nurses have been almost entirely invisible in the outpouring of texts about the subject. This study seeks to correct that omission. It focuses on the dynamics between three specific categories of Civil War hospital workers - Catholic sisters, Protestant women nurses, and male doctors - and shows how their interactions influenced both patient care and public perception of women in general and Catholic women in particular. Although they were almost constantly at odds with one another, Protestant and Catholic nurses changed the face of nursing. Returning these women to the story provides a more factual picture of the personnel dynamics within Civil War hospitals, gives new insights into the beginnings of the female nursing profession, and adds to the understanding of women's changing roles in the nineteenth century public sphere.