3. Nuns of the Battlefield

"The Arsenal Monument and Nuns of the Battlefield are the only two Civil War-related monuments in the capital that suggest the role that women played in the conflict. The idea for a national monument honoring the nursing sisters originated shortly after the turn of the century with Ellen Jolly of Rhode Island, president of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Twelve nuns, representing the different orders who nursed the wounded of both North and South, are depicted in this statue."