USS Red Rover (1859) was a 650-ton Confederate States of America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.
Red Rover became the U.S. Navy's first hospital ship, serving the Mississippi Squadron until the end of the American Civil War. Her medical complement included nurses from the Catholic order Sisters of the Holy Cross, the first volunteer females to serve on board a Navy ship as females. In addition to caring for and transporting sick and wounded men, she provided medical supplies to Navy ships along the Western Rivers.
1862Dec, 26
Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
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Events on 1862
- 30Jan
USS Monitor
The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched. - 31Jan
White dwarf
Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University. - 13Mar
Emancipation Proclamation
American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation. - 15May
Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture. - 17Aug
Dakota War of 1862
American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.