Susie King Taylor Serves as First Black Army Nurse

Susie King Taylor, who had secretly learned to read and write as an enslaved girl in Georgia, became the first Black nurse to serve with the Union Army when she joined the 33rd United States Colored Troops in 1862. She taught soldiers to read and write while also caring for the wounded, and later published her memoir — the only known account of the war written by a Black woman who served.