The Army Medical Department of the United States was prepared to support a prewar force of 25,000 regulars but was overwhelmed with the wartime influx of 270,000 soldiers. In response, the U.S. Army began relying on outside organizations, like the Daughters of the American Revolution, to recruit nurses to work under contract. Due to the unrelenting need for nurses and friction with partner organizations, however, the U.S. Army established a permanent Army Nurse Corps in 1901. This photograph, from 1898, shows women who would go on to join the Corps.