Historically, nurses are known to be the primary caregivers of patients. This evolution is the result of many facets, but most notably on the battlefields of past wars. It is on this battlefield that nurses found their purpose in defending the interests of their patients. In the early days of combat hospitals, conditions were often completely unsanitary, the result of general poor hygiene on the part of patients and practitioners. Often this led to other illnesses in patients, making hospitals almost as deadly as the battlefield: "disease remained the main enemy to face, and epidemics of typhoid, malaria, measles, diphtheria, scarlet fever and dysentery were much more serious. effective than any human enemy in putting entire regiments out of action. Two-thirds of the 600,000 dead during the civil war succumbed to disease” (Grant 2002). Due to these deplorable conditions, battlefield nurses stepped up their efforts to alleviate these factors. Clara Barton, shortly before the American Civil War, believed it was “her duty as a Christian.” To help the soldiers in any way possible. So, with the help of several aid companies, she began by gathering basic supplies for the soldiers, and would later become responsible for the James Army field hospital (Oates 1994). Without Barton's support, thousands of soldiers would have died without her.