Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton founded the Roman Catholic community of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's here in 1809, and after 1850 they were called Daughters of Charity. The sisters played a prominent role during the Civil War as nurses and human service workers, continuing Mother Seton's ministry of charity by bringing solace and healing to the wounded of both armies, sometimes at their own peril. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Father James Francis Burlando, C.M., and a group of twelve sisters carrying baskets of supplies, bandages, and other necessities were among the first from outside Gettysburg to provide help, and the sisters established headquarters in McClellan's Hotel, now the Gettysburg Hotel, to provide nursing services. More than 600 sister nurses from twelve separate religious communities served during the Civil War, and among the sister nurses from four communities with American hospital experience, approximately 270 Daughters of Charity rendered nursing care and spiritual assistance to the wounded of both armies at more than sixty sites in fifteen states.