by Matthew Gailani

When you enter the large glass doors to the Tennessee State Museum’s exhibit “Ratified! Tennessee Women and The Right to Vote,” you are met with numerous images of Tennesseans from multiple decades and centuries, each with their own story and contributions to the Volunteer State’s history. As you walk past the suffrage banners, portraits, and other carefully chosen artifacts, you turn a corner and find yourself in the beginning of the 20^th century standing face to face with a larger than life image of 21 women. All are sharply dressed in the uniform of the Army Nurse Corps. These women were all members of Vanderbilt Unit “S” – officers, enlisted men and nurses – who volunteered to serve in France following America’s entry into World War I in 1917. Seated in the middle of the front row, third from the left and staring directly into the camera, is Catherine Glynn Sinnott. Miss Sinnott, later to be Lieutenant Colonel Sinnott, was the chief nurse of the group.

(Tennessee State Museum collection. 9.329A)

Originally from Middleton Connecticut, Sinnott moved to Nashville, Tennessee around 1907/1908 to begin nursing school at St. Thomas Hospital. She graduated a few years later and continued to work as a nurse in Nashville, eventually becoming chief of the operating room and the assistant superintendent of nurses at St. Thomas. Sinnott’s world however, like thousands of other nurses at the time, would change suddenly after America’s entry into World War I. At the time, the U.S. military needed personnel. This included not just “doughboys” to join the American Expeditionary Forces, but also trained medical professionals. At the beginning of the war, the Army Nurse Corps [ANC] only had 403 active duty nurses. As thousands of women joined the ANC, many through the American Red Cross, the number of women in the ANC rose to approximately 21,000.  One of these women was Sinnott. [1]

St. Thomas Postcard (Tennessee State Museum collection, 71.64.19)

Catherine Sinnott at her Nursing School Graduation from U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage.

Appointed on November 12, 1917, Sinnott, along with others, helped to organize Vanderbilt Unit “S” for service overseas in France. According to one newspaper article at the time, this group included 78 individuals: 13 officers, 44 enlisted men, and 21 nurses. As the chief nurse, Sinnott was given large amounts of responsibility that would only grow throughout her lifetime of service. Before their departure for Europe, the unit was celebrated throughout Nashville. This included a celebration at Hume-Fogg High School where Governor Rye spoke, and an event at the Ryman Auditorium a few days later. The Nashville Banner praised the women at the time stating, “these noble young women not only have given up their homes and families to undergo the hardships in a far-off land, but they gave up their work as well, all being graduates and well established in nursing circles.”[2] Eventually, however, the celebrations stopped, and Sinnott prepared for service overseas.[3]

In the winter of 1918, the ANC Nurses of Vanderbilt Unit “S” prepared to leave New York and set sail for Europe. A U.S. Army Transport Service report from the period lists the 21 nurses “sailing date” as January 15, 1918. Sinnott’s name is at the top of the list. Should anything happen to her, she listed her friend Miss Kate Quinn of St. Thomas Hospital as her emergency contact. A couple of weeks later, the group arrived in Glasgow, Scotland aboard the Carpathia.[4]

Because of her skills as a nurse and an organizer, Sinnott was extremely valuable to the American war effort. While in France, she served as the chief nurse of Camp Hospital No. 28 and later served as the chief nurse of the nurse’s camp at Savenay, France. This meant that she managed nearly 1,000 nurses near the front lines. She was so respected at the time, that a fellow nurse in Unit “S”, Mattie Dew, wrote the following about having to take care of Sinnott when she developed the mumps.

“Miss Sinnott is so much better, and I think they are going to let her sit up tomorrow, and maybe get out in the lovely sunshine. She has been so sweet and patient, and we have really had a good time together. I felt very highly complimented, and of course, the envy of the whole crowd, that she selected me to nurse her.”

Dew continued her letter and wrote,

“Miss Sinnott has had so much company today, eight of whom brought flowers; the Colonel, a box of real French candy, the Catholic priest, the Episcopal priest, the Presbyterian minister, three Y.M.C.A. men; four doctors (two lieutenant and two majors). Oh, we Americans love each other over here I can tell you!”[5]

From Dew’s letter, it also appeared that Sinnott had a good sense of humor. In one instance, she informed the mess sergeant jokingly at her hospital that, “she doubted whether he knew an onion from a potato.”

After the armistice was signed in 1918, she supervised the evacuation of more than 7,000 nurses from France. As a result, Sinnott herself did not leave Europe until December 1919. This was not the end for her nursing or military career.

United States Army Signal Corps, “Front of Camp Hospital 28, Nevers, France,” VUMC Through Time, accessed March 25, 2021, https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/items/show/12013.

Sinnott continued to serve in the military after the war. She served as a nurse at Camp Dix in New Jersey, at the army dispensary in Washington D.C., and at Walter Reed General Hospital. Eventually, in 1923, her contributions during World War I were recognized, and she received a citation and Distinguished Service Medal personally from General John J Pershing in Washington D.C. The citation read, “her splendid leadership, tireless energy and unselfish devotion to duty were an inspiration to all who came in contact with her.”[6]

Sinnott’s service continued into World War II, this time serving in the United States. Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, she was promoted to the rank of Captain on August 15, 1941 and became the chief nurse at Camp Blanding, Florida. This prompted the press to interview Captain Sinnott on her experience in the military. When asked about the military at that time compared to World War I, she replied, “the nurses and the boys are wonderful. They’re Americans and they’ll come through on top again.”[7] She also described in another interview her affinity for army life, stating, “I like army life because it gives me a chance to serve my country and as an army nurse we meet interesting people. The army broadens one’s viewpoint because of travel.”[8]

She continued to serve in this position during World War II, until she transferred to Hammond Hospital in Modesto, California to become the chief nurse there. It was in this position that she was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on June 23, 1944. Sinnott retired a few years later on June 30, 1946. She had served in the ANC for 28 years, seven months, and 19 days, experienced two world wars, and had spent even longer in the nursing profession. She passed away on December 22, 1952. In an interview later in her life, when asked about her Distinguished Service Medal, she replied, “I’d rather talk about my boys [patients].”[9] When asked what she enjoyed besides nursing, she laughed and said the following, “I love to listen to the radio and read. Perhaps I’ll be called old fashioned, but I like Shakespeare and Noel Coward for relaxation.”[10]

This is just one life that is represented and highlighted in Ratified! Tennessee Women and The Right to Vote. Catherine Sinnott is certainly not the most well-known figure in the exhibition, but like all the individuals highlighted in the Museum, she has a story. A story worth telling.