Phoebe Pember (1823-1913) was born to a wealthy and prominent family in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1862, widowed and childless, she accepted an offer to work as a nurse and administrator of Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, Virginia - the largest military hospital in the world during the Civil War. She managed the care and diets for over 700 patients housed in the hospital, and regulated the supply of whisky for medical purposes only. After the war Phoebe wrote her autobiography, A Southern Woman’s Story, which continues to be a valuable record of the conditions of hospitals during the Civil War.
