Woman's Work In The Civil War - free ebook by L. P. (Linus Pierpont) Brockett

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Woman's Work In The Civil War

L. P. (Linus Pierpont) Brockett

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PREFACE.

PREFACE.

The preparation of this work, or rather the collection of material for it, was commenced in the autumn of 1863. While engaged in the compilation of a little book on "The Philanthropic Results of the War" for circulation abroad, in the summer of that year, the writer became so deeply impressed with the extraordinary sacrifices and devotion of loyal women, in the national cause, that he determined to make a record of them for the honor of his country. A voluminous correspondence then commenced and

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INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

A record of the personal services of our American women in the late Civil War, however painful to the modesty of those whom it brings conspicuously before the world, is due to the honor of the country, to the proper understanding of our social life, and to the general interests of a sex whose rights, duties and capacities are now under serious discussion. Most of the women commemorated in this work inevitably lost the benefits of privacy, by the largeness and length of their public services, and

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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

Patriotism in some form, an attribute of woman in all nations and climes—Its modes of manifestation—Pæans for victory—Lamentations for the death of a heroic leader—Personal leadership by women—The assassination of tyrants—The care of the sick and wounded of national armies—The hospitals established by the Empress Helena—The Beguines and their successors—The cantiniéres, vivandiéres, etc.—Other modes in which women manifested their patriotism—Florence Nightingale and her labors—The results—The aw

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DOROTHEA L. DIX

DOROTHEA L. DIX

A mong all the women who devoted themselves with untiring energy, and gave talents of the highest order to the work of caring for our soldiers during the war, the name of Dorothea L. Dix will always take the first rank, and history will undoubtedly preserve it long after all others have sunk into oblivion. This her extraordinary and exceptional official position will secure. Others have doubtless done as excellent a work, and earned a praise equal to her own, but her relations to the government

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CLARA HARLOWE BARTON.[C]

CLARA HARLOWE BARTON.[C]

O f those whom the first blast of the war trump roused and called to lives of patriotic devotion and philanthropic endeavor, some were led instinctively to associated labor, and found their zeal inflamed, their patriotic efforts cheered and encouraged by communion with those who were like-minded. To these the organizations of the Soldiers' Aid Societies and of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions were a necessity; they provided a place and way for the exercise and development of those capaciti

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HELEN LOUISE GILSON.

HELEN LOUISE GILSON.

M iss Helen Louise Gilson is a native of Boston, but removed in childhood to Chelsea, Massachusetts, where she now resides. She is a niece of Hon. Frank B. Fay, former Mayor of Chelsea, and was his ward. Mr. Fay, from the commencement of the war took the most active interest in the National cause, devoting his time, his wealth and his personal efforts to the welfare of the soldiers. In the autumn of 1861 he went in person to the seat of war, and from that time forward, in every battle in which t

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MRS. JOHN HARRIS.

MRS. JOHN HARRIS.

H e would have been a man of uncommon sagacity and penetration, who in the beginning of 1861, should have chosen Mrs. Harris as capable of the great services and the extraordinary power of endurance with which her name has since been identified. A pale, quiet, delicate woman, often an invalid for months, and almost always a sufferer; the wife of a somewhat eminent physician, in Philadelphia, and in circumstances which did not require constant activity for her livelihood, refined, educated, and s

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MRS. ELIZA C. PORTER

MRS. ELIZA C. PORTER

M rs. Eliza C. Porter, the subject of the following sketch, is the wife of the Rev. Jeremiah Porter, a Presbyterian clergyman of Chicago, Illinois. Of all the noble band of Western women who during the late war devoted time, thought, and untiring exertions to the care of our country's defenders, very few, if any are more worthy of honorable mention, and the praise of a grateful nation, than Mrs. Porter. Freely she gave all, withholding not even the most precious of her possessions and efforts—he

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MRS. MARY A. BICKERDYKE.

MRS. MARY A. BICKERDYKE.

A mong the hundreds who with untiring devotion have consecrated their services to the ministrations of mercy in the Armies of the Union, there is but one "Mother" Bickerdyke. Others may in various ways have made as great sacrifices, or displayed equal heroism, but her measures and methods have been peculiarly her own, and "none but herself can be her parallel." She is a widow, somewhat above forty years of age, of humble origin, and of but moderate education, with a robust frame and great powers

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MARGARET E. BRECKINRIDGE.

MARGARET E. BRECKINRIDGE.

A true heroine of the war was Margaret Elizabeth Breckinridge. Patient, courageous, self-forgetting, steady of purpose and cheerful in spirit, she belonged by nature to the heroic order, while all the circumstances of her early life tended to mature and prepare her for her destined work. Had her lot been cast in the dark days of religious intolerance and persecution, her steadfast enthusiasm and holy zeal would have earned for her a martyr's cross and crown; but, born in this glorious nineteenth

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MRS. STEPHEN BARKER

MRS. STEPHEN BARKER

M rs. Barker is a lady of great refinement and high culture, the sister of the Hon. William Whiting, late Attorney-General of Massachusetts, and the wife of the Rev. Stephen Barker, during the war, Chaplain of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. This regiment was organized in July, 1861, as the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry (but afterwards changed as above) under the command of Colonel William B. Green, of Boston, and was immediately ordered to Fort Albany, which was then an outpost of

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AMY M. BRADLEY

AMY M. BRADLEY

V ery few individuals in our country are entirely ignorant of the beneficent work performed by the Sanitary Commission during the late war; and these, perhaps, are the only ones to whom the name of Amy M. Bradley is unfamiliar. Very early in the war she commenced her work for the soldiers, and did not discontinue it until some months after the last battle was fought, completing fully her four years of service, and making her name a synonym for active, judicious, earnest work from the beginning t

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MRS. ARABELLA G. BARLOW.

MRS. ARABELLA G. BARLOW.

A romantic interest encircles the career of this brilliant and estimable lady, which is saddened by her early doom, and the grief of her young husband bereaved before Peace had brought him that quiet domestic felicity for which he doubtless longed. Arabella Griffith was born in Somerville, New Jersey, but was brought up and educated under the care of Miss Eliza Wallace of Burlington, New Jersey, who was a relative upon her father's side. As she grew up she developed remarkable powers. Those who

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MRS. NELLIE MARIA TAYLOR.

MRS. NELLIE MARIA TAYLOR.

T he Southwest bore rank weeds of secession and treason, spreading poison and devastation over that portion of our fair national heritage. But from the same soil, amidst the ruin and desolation which followed the breaking out of the rebellion, there sprang up growths of loyalty and patriotism, which by flowering and fruitage, redeemed the land from the curse that had fallen upon it. Among the women of the Southwest have occurred instances of the most devoted loyalty, the most self-sacrificing pa

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MRS. ADALINE TYLER.

MRS. ADALINE TYLER.

M rs. Tyler, the subject of the following sketch, is a native of Massachusetts, and for many years was a resident of Boston, in which city from her social position and her piety and benevolence she was widely known. She is a devout member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, greatly trusted and respected both by clergy and laity. In 1856, she removed from Boston to Baltimore, Maryland. It was the desire of Bishop Whittingham of that Diocese to institute there a Protestant Sisterhood, or Order of

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MRS. WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.

MRS. WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.

A t the opening of the war Mrs. Holstein was residing in a most pleasant and delightful country home at Upper Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In the words of one who knows and appreciates her well—"Mr. and Mrs. Holstein are people of considerable wealth, and unexceptionable social position, beloved and honored by all who know them, who voluntarily abandoned their beautiful home to live for years in camps and hospitals. Their own delicacy and modesty would forbid them to speak of the wor

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MRS. CORDELIA A. P. HARVEY

MRS. CORDELIA A. P. HARVEY

T he State of Wisconsin is justly proud of a name, which, while standing for what is noble and true in man, has received an added lustre in being made to express also, the sympathy, the goodness, and the power of woman. The death of the honored husband, and the public labors of the heroic wife, in the same cause—the great cause that has absorbed the attention and the resources of the country for four years—have given each to the other a peculiar and thrilling interest to every loyal American hea

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MRS. SARAH R. JOHNSTON.

MRS. SARAH R. JOHNSTON.

O ur northern women have won the highest meed of praise for their devotion and self-sacrifice in the cause of their country, but great as their labors and sacrifices have been, they are certainly inferior to those of some of the loyal women of the South, who for the love they bore to their country and its flag, braved all the contempt, obloquy and scorn which Southern women could heap upon them—who lived for years in utter isolation from the society of relatives, friends, and neighbors, because

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EMILY E. PARSONS.

EMILY E. PARSONS.

A mong the honorable and heroic women of New England whose hearts were immediately enlisted in the cause of their country, in its recent struggle against the rebellion of the slave States, and who prepared themselves to do useful service in the hospitals as nurses, was Miss Emily E. Parsons, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a daughter of Professor Theophilus Parsons, of the Cambridge Law School, and granddaughter of the late Chief Justice Parsons, of Massachusetts. Miss Parsons was born in Taunton,

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MRS. ALMIRA FALES.

MRS. ALMIRA FALES.

M rs. Fales, it is believed, was the first woman in America who performed any work directly tending to the aid and comfort of the soldiers of the nation in the late war. In truth, her labors commenced before any overt acts of hostility had taken place, even so long before as December, 1860. Hostility enough there undoubtedly was in feeling, but the fires of secession as yet only smouldered, not bursting into the lurid flames of war until the following spring. Yet Mrs. Fales, from her home in Was

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MISS CORNELIA HANCOCK.

MISS CORNELIA HANCOCK.

A mong the most zealous and untiring of the women who ministered to the wounded men "at the front," in the long and terrible campaign of the Army of the Potomac in 1864-5, was Miss Cornelia Hancock, of Philadelphia. Of this lady's early history or her previous labors in the war, we have been unable to obtain any very satisfactory information. She had, we are told, been active in the United States General Hospitals in Philadelphia, and had there learned what wounded men need in the way of food an

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MRS. MARY MORRIS HUSBAND.

MRS. MARY MORRIS HUSBAND.

T here are some noble souls whose devotion to duty, to the welfare of the suffering and sorrowing, and to the work which God has set before them, is so complete that it leaves them no time to think of themselves, and no consciousness that what they have done or are doing, is in any way remarkable. To them it seems the most natural thing in the world to undergo severe hardships and privations, to suffer the want of all things, to peril health and even life itself, to endure the most intense fatig

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HOSPITAL TRANSPORT SERVICE.

HOSPITAL TRANSPORT SERVICE.

A mong the deeds which entitle the United States Sanitary Commission to the lasting gratitude of the American people, was the organization and maintenance of the "Hospital Transport Service" in the Spring and Summer of 1862. When the Army of the Potomac removed from the high lands about Washington, to the low marshy and miasmatic region of the Peninsula, it required but little discernment to predict that extensive sickness would prevail among the troops; this, and the certainty of sanguinary bat

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OTHER LABORS OF SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HOSPITAL TRANSPORT CORPS.

OTHER LABORS OF SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HOSPITAL TRANSPORT CORPS.

M ost of the ladies connected with this Hospital Transport service, distinguished themselves in other departments of philanthropic labor for the soldiers, often not less arduous, and sometimes not cheered by so pleasant companionship. Miss Bradley , as we have seen accomplished a noble work in connection with the Soldiers' Home at Washington, and the Rendezvous of Distribution; Miss Gilson and Mrs. Husband were active in every good word and work; Mrs. Charlotte Bradford succeeded Miss Bradley in

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KATHERINE P. WORMELEY

KATHERINE P. WORMELEY

A mong the many of our countrywomen who have been active and ardent in the soldier's cause, some may have devoted themselves to the service for a longer period, but few with more earnestness and greater ability than the lady whose name stands at the head of this sketch, and few have entered into a greater variety of details in the prosecution of the work. Katherine Prescott Wormeley was born in England. Her father though holding the rank of a Rear-Admiral in the British Navy, was a native of Vir

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THE MISSES WOOLSEY.

THE MISSES WOOLSEY.

W e are not aware of any other instance among the women who have devoted themselves to works of philanthropy and patriotism during the recent war, in which four sisters have together consecrated their services to the cause of the nation. In social position, culture, refinement, and all that could make life pleasant, Misses Georgiana and Jane C. Woolsey, and their married sisters, Mrs. Joseph and Mrs. Robert Howland, were blessed above most women; and if there were any who might have deemed thems

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ANNA MARIA ROSS.

ANNA MARIA ROSS.

A nna Maria Ross, the subject of this sketch, was a native of Philadelphia, in which city the greater part of her life was spent, and in which, on the 22d of December, 1863, she passed to her eternal rest. It was a very beautiful life of which we have now to speak—a life of earnest activity in every work of benevolence and Christian kindness. She had gathered about her, in her native city, scores of devoted friends, who loved her in life, and mourned her in death with the sentiments of a true be

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MRS. G. T. M. DAVIS.

MRS. G. T. M. DAVIS.

A mong the large number of the ladies of New York city who distinguished themselves for their devotion to the welfare of the soldiers of our army, of whom so many in all forms of suffering were brought there during the war, it seems almost invidious to select any individual. But it is perhaps less so in the case of the subject of this sketch, than of many others, since from the very beginning of the war till long after its close, she quietly sacrificed the ease and luxury of her life to devote h

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MISS MARY J. SAFFORD

MISS MARY J. SAFFORD

M iss Mary J. Safford, is a native of New England, having been born in Vermont, though her parents, very worthy people, early emigrated to the West, and settled in Northern Illinois, in which State she has since resided, making her home most of the time in Crete, Joliet, Shawneetown and Cairo; the last named place is her present home. Miss Safford, early in life, evinced an unusual thirst for knowledge, and gave evidence of an intellect of a superior order; and, with an energy and zeal seldom kn

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MRS. LYDIA G. PARRISH.

MRS. LYDIA G. PARRISH.

A t the outbreak of hostilities Mrs. Parrish was residing at Media, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. Her husband, Dr. Joseph Parrish, had charge of an institution established there for idiots, or those of feeble mental capacity, and it cannot be doubted that Mrs. Parrish, with her kindly and benevolent instincts, and desire for usefulness, found there an ample sphere for her efforts, and a welcome occupation. But as in the case of thousands of others, all over the country, Mrs. Parrish found the

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MRS. ANNIE WITTENMEYER

MRS. ANNIE WITTENMEYER

M rs. Annie Wittenmeyer, who, during the early part of the war was widely known as the State Sanitary Agent of Iowa, and afterward as the originator of the Diet Kitchens, which being attached to hospitals proved of the greatest benefit as an adjunct of the medical treatment, was at the outbreak of the rebellion, residing in quiet seclusion at Keokuk. With the menace of armed treason to the safety of her country's institutions, she felt all her patriotic instincts and sentiments arousing to activ

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MISS MELCENIA ELLIOTT.

MISS MELCENIA ELLIOTT.

A mong the heroic and devoted women who have labored for the soldiers of the Union in the late war, and endured all the dangers and privations of hospital life, is Miss Melcenia Elliott, of Iowa. Born in Indiana, and reared in the Northern part of Iowa, she grew to womanhood amid the scenes and associations of country life, with an artless, impulsive and generous nature, superior physical health, and a heart warm with the love of country and humanity. Her father is a prosperous farmer, and gave

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MARY DWIGHT PETTES.

MARY DWIGHT PETTES.

T o one who was accustomed to visit the military hospitals of St. Louis, during the first years of the war, the meeting with Mary Dwight Pettes in her ministry to the sick and wounded soldiers must always return as a pleasant and sacred memory. And such an one will not fail to recall how she carried to the men pleasant reading, how she sat by their bed-sides speaking words of cheer and sympathy, and singing songs of country, home, and heaven, with a voice of angelic sweetness. Nor, how after hav

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LOUISA MAERTZ.

LOUISA MAERTZ.

D uring the winter of 1863, while stationed at Helena, Arkansas, the writer was greatly impressed with the heroic devotion to the welfare of the sick soldier, of a lady whom he often met in the hospitals, where she was constantly engaged in services of kindness to the suffering inmates, attending to their wants, and alleviating their distress. He soon learned that her name was Louisa Maertz, of Quincy, Illinois, who had come from her home all the way to Helena—at a time when the navigation of th

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MRS. HARRIET R. COLFAX.

MRS. HARRIET R. COLFAX.

T his lady whose services merit all the praise which has been bestowed upon them, is a resident of Michigan City, Indiana, the still youthful widow of a near relative of the Honorable Schuyler Colfax, the present Speaker of the House of Representatives. Her father, during her youth, was long an invalid, and his enforced seclusion from all business pursuits was spent in bestowing instruction upon his children. His conversations with his children, and the lessons in history which he gave them were

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MISS CLARA DAVIS.

MISS CLARA DAVIS.

T his lady, now the wife of the Rev. Edward Abbott, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, was one of the earliest, most indefatigable and useful of the laborers for Union soldiers during the war. Her labors commenced early in the winter of 1861-62, in the hospitals of Philadelphia, in which city she was then residing. Her visits were at first confined to the Broad and Cherry Street Hospital, and her purpose at first was to minister entirely to the religious wants of the sick, wounded and dying soldie

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MRS. R. H. SPENCER.

MRS. R. H. SPENCER.

O f all the band of noble women who during the war gave their time and best labors with devotedness and singleness of purpose to the care of the suffering defenders of their country, few, perhaps, have been as efficient and useful in their chosen sphere as Mrs. Spencer. That she left a home of quiet ease and comfort, and gave herself, with her whole soul, to the cause she loved, is not more than very many others have done, but she incited her husband to offer himself to his country, and gladly a

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MRS. HARRIET FOOTE HAWLEY.

MRS. HARRIET FOOTE HAWLEY.

A mong the many heroic women who gave their services to their country in our recent warfare, few deserve more grateful mention than Mrs. Harriet Foote Hawley, wife of Brevet Major-General Hawley, the present Governor of Connecticut. Mrs. Hawley is of a fragile and delicate constitution, and one always regarded by her friends as peculiarly unfitted to have part in labors or hardships of any kind. But from the beginning to the end of the war, she was an exemplification of how much may be done by o

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ELLEN E. MITCHELL.

ELLEN E. MITCHELL.

T his lady, better known among those to whom she ministered as "Nellie Mitchell," was at the opening of the late war a resident of Montrose, Pennsylvania, where, surrounded by friends, the inmate of a pleasant home, amiable, highly educated and accomplished, her early youth had been spent. Her family was one of that standing often named as "our first families," and her position one every way desirable. Perhaps her own words extracted from a letter to the writer of this sketch will give the best

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MISS JESSIE HOME.

MISS JESSIE HOME.

J essie Home was a native of Scotland. No ties bound her to this, her adopted land. No relative of hers, resided upon its soil. She was alone—far from kindred and the friends of her early youth. But the country of her adoption had become dear to her. She loved it with the ardor and earnestness which were a part of her nature, and she was willing, nay anxious, to devote herself to its service. At the commencement of the war Miss Home was engaged in a pleasant and lucrative pursuit, which she aban

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M. VANCE AND M. A. BLACKMAR.

M. VANCE AND M. A. BLACKMAR.

M iss Mary Vance is a Pennsylvanian. Before the War, she was teaching among the Indians of Kansas or Nebraska, but it becoming unsafe there, she was forced to leave. She came to Miss Dix, who sent her to a Baltimore Hospital, in which she rendered efficient service, as she afterward did in Washington and Alexandria. In September, 1863, she went to the General Hospital, Gettysburg, where she was placed in charge of six wards, and no more indefatigable, faithful and judicious nurse was to be found

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H. A. DADA AND S. E. HALL.

H. A. DADA AND S. E. HALL.

M iss Hattie A. Dada and Miss Susan E. Hall, were among the most earnest and persistent workers in a field which presented so many opportunities for labor and sacrifice. Both offered themselves to the Women's Central Association of Relief, New York, immediately on the formation of that useful organization for any service, or in any capacity, where their aid could be made available. Both had formerly been employed by one of the Missionary Societies, in mission labors among the Indians of the Sout

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MRS. SARAH P. EDSON.

MRS. SARAH P. EDSON.

M rs. Edson is a native of Fleming, Cayuga County, New York, where her earlier youth was passed. At ten years of age she removed with her parents to Ohio, but after a few years again returned to her native place. Her father died while she was yet young, and her childhood and youth were clouded by many sorrows. Gifted with a warm imagination, and great sensitiveness of feeling, at an early age she learned to express her thoughts in written words. Her childhood was not a happy one, and she thus fo

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MISS MARIA M. C. HALL.

MISS MARIA M. C. HALL.

A lthough the Federal City, Washington, was at the outbreak of the war more intensely Southern in sentiment than many of the Southern cities, at least so far as its native, or long resident inhabitants could make it so, yet there were even in that Sardis, a few choice spirits, reared under the shadow of the Capitol, whose patriotism was as lofty, earnest and enduring as that of any of the citizens of any Northern or Western state. Among these, none have given better evidence of their intense lov

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THE HOSPITAL CORPS AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY HOSPITAL, ANNAPOLIS.

THE HOSPITAL CORPS AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY HOSPITAL, ANNAPOLIS.

T hough the Naval Academy buildings at Annapolis had been used for hospital purposes, from almost the first months of the war, they did not acquire celebrity, or accommodate a very large number of patients until August, 1863, when Surgeon Vanderkieft took charge of it, and it received great numbers of the wounded men from Gettysburg. As the number of these was reduced by deaths, convalescence and discharge from the army, their places were more than supplied by the returning prisoners, paroled or

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OTHER LABORS OF SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ANNAPOLIS HOSPITAL CORPS.

OTHER LABORS OF SOME OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ANNAPOLIS HOSPITAL CORPS.

S ome of the ladies named in the preceding sketch had passed through other experiences of hospital life, before becoming connected with the Naval Academy Hospital at Annapolis. Among these, remarkable for their fidelity to the cause they had undertaken to serve, were several of the ladies from Maine, the Maine-stay of the Annapolis Hospital, as Dr. Vanderkieft playfully called them. We propose to devote a little space to sketches of some of these faithful workers. Miss Louise Titcomb, was from P

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MRS. A. H. AND MISS S. H. GIBBONS.

MRS. A. H. AND MISS S. H. GIBBONS.

M rs. Gibbons is very well known in the City of New York where she resides, as an active philanthropist, devoting a large portion of her time and strength to the various charitable and reformatory enterprises in which she is engaged. This tendency to labors undertaken for the good of others, is, in part, a portion of her inheritance. The daughter of that good man, some years ago deceased, whose memory is so heartily cherished, by all to whom the record of a thousand brave and kindly deeds is kno

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MRS. E. J. RUSSELL.

MRS. E. J. RUSSELL.

W e have spoken in previous sketches of the faithfulness and devotion of many of the government nurses, appointed by Miss Dix. No salary, certainly not the meagre pittance doled out by the government could compensate for such services, and the only satisfactory reason which can be offered for their willingness to render them, is that their hearts were inspired by a patriotism equally ardent with that which actuated their wealthier sisters, and that this pitiful salary, hardly that accorded to a

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MRS. MARY W. LEE.

MRS. MARY W. LEE.

I t is somewhat remarkable that a considerable number of the most faithful and active workers in the hospitals and in other labors for the soldier during the late war, should have been of foreign birth. Their patriotism and benevolence was fully equal to that of our women born under the banner of the stars, and their joy at the final triumph of our arms was as fervent and hearty. Our readers will recall among these noble women, Miss Wormeley, Miss Clara Davis, Miss Jessie Home, Mrs. General Rick

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MISS CORNELIA M. TOMPKINS.

MISS CORNELIA M. TOMPKINS.

M iss Cornelia M. Tompkins, of Niagara Falls, was one of the truly heroic spirits evoked by the war. Related to a distinguished family of the same name, educated, accustomed to the refinements and social enjoyments of a Christian home she left all to become a hospital nurse, and to aid in saving the lives of the heroes and defenders of her native land. Recommended by her friend, the late Margaret Breckinridge, of whom a biographical notice is given in this volume, she came to St. Louis in the su

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MRS. ANNA C. McMEENS.

MRS. ANNA C. McMEENS.

M rs. Anna C. McMeens, of Sandusky, Ohio, was born in Maryland, but removed to the northern part of Ohio, in company with her parents when quite young. She is therefore a western woman in her habits, associations and feelings, while her patriotism and philanthropy are not bounded by sectional lines. Her husband, Dr. McMeens, was appointed surgeon to an Ohio regiment, which was one of the first raised when Mr. Lincoln called for troops, after the firing upon Sumter. In the line of his duty he pro

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MRS. JERUSHA R. SMALL.

MRS. JERUSHA R. SMALL.

T his young lady was one of the martyrs of the war. She resided in Cascade, Dubuque County, Iowa, and just previous to the commencement of the war had buried her only child, a sweet little girl of four years. When volunteers were called for from Iowa, her husband, Mr. J. E. Small, felt it his duty to take up arms for his country, and as his wife had no home ties she determined to go with him and make herself useful in caring for the sick and wounded of his regiment, or of other regiments in the

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MRS. S. A. MARTHA CANFIELD.

MRS. S. A. MARTHA CANFIELD.

T his lady was the wife of Colonel Herman Canfield, of the Seventy-first Ohio Regiment. She accompanied her husband to the field, and devoted herself to the care and succor of the sick and wounded soldiers, until the battle of Shiloh, where her husband was mortally wounded, and survived but a few hours. She returned home with his body and remained for a short time, but feeling that it was in her power to do something for the cause to which her husband had given his life, she returned to the Army

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MRS. E. THOMAS, AND MISS MORRIS.

MRS. E. THOMAS, AND MISS MORRIS.

T hese two ladies, sisters, volunteered as unpaid nurses for the War, from Cincinnati. They commenced their duties at the first opening of the Hospitals, and remained faithful to their calling, until the hospitals were closed, after the termination of the war. In cold or heat, under all circumstances of privation, and often when all the other nurses were stricken down with illness, they never faltered in their work, and, although not wealthy, gave freely of their own means to secure any needed c

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MRS. SHEPARD WELLS.

MRS. SHEPARD WELLS.

T his lady, the wife of Rev. Shepard Wells, was, with her husband, driven from East Tennessee by the rebellion, because of their loyalty to the Union. They found their way to St. Louis at an early period of the War, where he entered into the work of the Christian Commission for the Union soldiers, and she became a member of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, of St. Louis, and gave herself wholly to sanitary labors for the sick and wounded in the Hospitals of that city, acting also as one of the Secr

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MRS. E. C. WITHERELL.

MRS. E. C. WITHERELL.

I n the month of December, 1861, on a visit made by the writer to the Fourth Street Hospital, in St. Louis, he was particularly impressed with the great devotion of one of the female nurses to her sick patients. At the conclusion of a religious service held there, as he passed through the wards to call on those who had been too ill to attend worship, he found her seated by the bed-side of a sick soldier, suffering from pneumonia, on whose pale, thin face the marks of approaching dissolution were

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MISS PHEBE ALLEN.

MISS PHEBE ALLEN.

T his noble woman, who laid down her life in the cause of her country, was a teacher in Washington, Iowa, and left her school to enter the service as a hospital nurse. In the summer of 1863 she was commissioned by Mr. Yeatman, at St. Louis, and assigned to duty in the large hospital at Benton Barracks, where she belonged to the corps of women nurses, under the superintendence of Miss Emily E. Parsons, and under the general direction of Surgeon Ira Russell. In the fulfilment of the duties of a ho

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MRS. EDWIN GREBLE.

MRS. EDWIN GREBLE.

A mong the ardently loyal women of Philadelphia, by whom such great and untiring labors for the soldiers were performed, few did better service in a quiet and unostentatious manner than Mrs. Greble. Indeed so very quietly did she work that she almost fulfilled the Scripture injunction of secrecy as to good deeds. The maiden name of Mrs. Greble was Susan Virginia Major. She was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, being descended on the mother's side from a family of Quakers who were devoted to

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MRS. ISABELLA FOGG.

MRS. ISABELLA FOGG.

M aine has given to the cause of the Union many noble heroes, brave spirits who have perilled life and health to put down the rebellion, and not a few equally brave and noble-hearted women, who in the ministrations of mercy have laid on the altar of patriotism their personal services, their ease and comfort, their health and some of them even life itself to bring healing and comfort to the defenders of their country. Among these, few, none perhaps save those who have laid down their lives in the

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MRS. E. E. GEORGE.

MRS. E. E. GEORGE.

O ld age is generally reckoned as sluggish, infirm, and not easily roused to deeds of active patriotism and earnest endeavor. The aged think and deliberate, but are slow to act. Yet in this glorious work of American Women during the late war, aged women were found ready to volunteer for posts of arduous labor, from which even those in the full vigor of adult womanhood shrank. We shall have occasion to notice this often in the work of the Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, the Soldiers' Homes, etc.,

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MRS. CHARLOTTE E. McKAY.

MRS. CHARLOTTE E. McKAY.

T his lady, a resident of Massachusetts, had early in the war been bereaved of her husband and only child, not by the vicissitudes of the battle-field but by sickness at home, and her heart worn with grief, sought relief, where it was most likely to find it, in ministering to the sufferings of others. She accepted an appointment under Miss Dix as a hospital nurse, and commenced her hospital life in Frederick City, Maryland, in March, 1862, where she was entrusted with the care of a large number

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MRS. FANNY L. RICKETTS.

MRS. FANNY L. RICKETTS.

M rs. Ricketts is the daughter of English parents, though born at Elizabeth, New Jersey. She is the wife of Major-General Ricketts, United States Volunteers, who at the time of their marriage was a Captain in the First Artillery, in the United States Army, and with whom she went immediately after their union, to his post on the Rio Grande. After a residence of more than three years on the frontier, the First Artillery was ordered in the spring of 1861, to Fortress Monroe, and her husband commenc

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MRS. JOHN S. PHELPS.

MRS. JOHN S. PHELPS.

A t the commencement of the War, Mrs. Phelps was residing in her pleasant home at Springfield, Missouri, her husband and herself, were both originally from New England, but years of residence in the Southwest, had caused them to feel a strong attachment for the region and its institutions. They were both, however, intensely loyal. Mr. Phelps was a member of Congress, elected as a Union man, and when it became evident that the South would resort to war, he offered his services to the General Gove

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MRS. JANE R. MUNSELL.

MRS. JANE R. MUNSELL.

M aryland, though strongly claimed by the Rebels as their territory almost throughout the War, had yet, many loyal men and women in its country villages as well as in its larger cities. The legend of Barbara Freitchie's defiance of Stonewall Jackson and his hosts, has been immortalized in Whittier's charming verse, and the equally brave defiance of the Rebels by Mrs. Effie Titlow, of Middletown, Maryland, who wound the flag about her, and stood in the balcony of her own house, looking calmly at

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WOMAN'S CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF RELIEF

WOMAN'S CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF RELIEF

W hen President Lincoln issued his proclamation, a quick thrill shot through the heart of every mother in New York. The Seventh Regiment left at once for the defense of Washington, and the women met at once in parlors and vestries. Perhaps nothing less than the maternal instinct could have forecast the terrible future so quickly. From the parlors of the Drs. Blackwell, and from Dr. Bellows' vestry, came the first call for a public meeting. On the 29th of April, 1861, between three and four thous

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SOLDIER'S AID SOCIETY OF NORTHERN OHIO

SOLDIER'S AID SOCIETY OF NORTHERN OHIO

A mong the branches or centres of supply and distribution of the United States Sanitary Commission, though some with a wider field and a more wealthy population in that field have raised a larger amount of money or supplies, there was none which in so small and seemingly barren a district proved so efficient or accomplished so much as the "Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio." This extraordinary efficiency was due almost wholly to the wonderful energy and business ability of its officers. The

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NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S AUXILIARY ASSOCIATION.

NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S AUXILIARY ASSOCIATION.

A mong the branches of the United States Sanitary Commission, the Association which is named above, was one of the most efficient and untiring in its labors. It had gathered into its management, a large body of the most gifted and intellectual women of Boston, and its vicinity, women who knew how to work as well as to plan, direct and think. These were seconded in their efforts by a still larger number of intelligent and accomplished women in every part of New England, who, as managers and direc

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NORTHWESTERN SANITARY COMMISSION.

NORTHWESTERN SANITARY COMMISSION.

W hen the United States Sanitary Commission was first organized, though its members and officers had but little idea of the vast influence it was destined to exert on the labors which were before it, they wisely resolved to make it a National affair, and accordingly selected some of their corporate members from the large cities of the West. The Honorable Mark Skinner, and subsequently E. B. McCagg, Esq., and E. W. Blatchford, were chosen as the associate members of the Commission for Chicago. Th

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MRS. A. H. HOGE.

MRS. A. H. HOGE.

P erhaps among all who have labored for the soldier, during the late war, among the women of our country, no name is better known that of Mrs. A. H. Hoge, the subject of this sketch. From the beginning until the successful close of the war, alike cheerful, ardent, and reliant, in its darkest, as in its brightest days, Mrs. Hoge dedicated to the service of her country and its defenders, all that she had to bestow, and became widely known all over the vast sphere of her operations, as one of the m

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MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

F ew of the busy and active laborers in the broad field of woman's effort during the war, have been more widely or favorably known than Mrs. Livermore. Her labors, with her pen, commenced with the commencement of the war; and in various spheres of effort, were faithfully and energetically given to the cause of the soldier and humanity, until a hard-won peace had once more "perched upon our banners," and the need of them, at least in that specific direction, no longer existed. Mrs. Livermore is a

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GENERAL AID SOCIETY FOR THE ARMY, BUFFALO.

GENERAL AID SOCIETY FOR THE ARMY, BUFFALO.

T his Society, a Branch of the Sanitary Commission, was organized in the summer of 1862, and became one of the Branches of the Commission in the autumn of 1862, had eventually for its field of operations, the Western Counties of New York, a few counties in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and received also occasional supplies from one or two of the border counties in Ohio, and from individuals in Canada West. Its first President was Mrs. Joseph E. Follett, a lady of great tact and executive ability, w

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MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY

MICHIGAN SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY

F ew of the States of the Northwest, patriotic as they all were, present as noble a record as Michigan. Isolated by its position from any immediate peril from the rebel forces, (unless we reckon their threatened raids from Canada, in the last year of the War), its loyal and Union-loving citizens volunteered with a promptness, and fought with a courage surpassed by no troops in the Armies of the Republic. They were sustained in their patriotic sacrifices by an admirable home influence. The succes

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WOMEN'S PENNSYLVANIA BRANCH OF U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.

WOMEN'S PENNSYLVANIA BRANCH OF U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.

P hiladelphia was distinguished throughout the war by the intense and earnest loyalty and patriotism of its citizens, and especially of its women. No other city furnished so many faithful workers in the hospitals, the Refreshment Saloons, the Soldiers' Homes and Reading-rooms, and no other was half so well represented in the field, camp, and general hospitals at the "front." Sick and wounded soldiers began to arrive in Philadelphia very early in the war, and hospital after hospital was opened fo

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WISCONSIN SOLDIER'S AID SOCIETY.

WISCONSIN SOLDIER'S AID SOCIETY.

E arly in the summer of 1861, Mrs. Margaret A. Jackson, widow of the late Rev. William Jackson, of Louisville, Kentucky, in connection with Mrs. Louisa M. Delafield and others, engaged in awakening an interest among the ladies of Milwaukee, in regard to the sanitary wants of the soldiers, which soon resulted in the formation of a "Milwaukee Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society," composed of many of the benevolent ladies of this city. The society was very zealous in soliciting aid for the soldiers, and

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PITTSBURG BRANCH, U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.

PITTSBURG BRANCH, U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.

P ittsburg, as the Capital of Western Pennsylvania, and the center of a large district of thoroughly loyal citizens, early took an active part in furnishing supplies for the sick and wounded of our armies. As its commercial relations and its readiest communications were with the West, most of its supplies were sent to the Western Armies, and after the battle of Belmont, the capture of Fort Donelson, and the terrible slaughter at Shiloh, the Pittsburg Subsistence Committee, and the Pittsburg Sani

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MRS. ELIZABETH S. MENDENHALL.

MRS. ELIZABETH S. MENDENHALL.

T his lady and Mrs. George Hoadley, were the active and efficient managers of the Soldiers' Aid Society, of Cincinnati, which bore the same relations to the branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, at Cincinnati, which the Woman's Central Association of Relief did to the Sanitary Commission itself. Mrs. Mendenhall is the wife of Dr. George Mendenhall, an eminent and public-spirited citizen of Cincinnati. Mrs. Mendenhall was born in Philadelphia, in 1819, but her childhood and youth were

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DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH.

DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH.

D r. M. M. Marsh was Medical Inspector of the Department of the Gulf and South, his charge comprising the States of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. He held his appointment in the capacity mentioned from the Sanitary Commission, and from Government, the latter conferring upon him great authority over hospitals and health matters in general throughout his district. It was in the early part of the year 1863 that Mrs. Marsh left her home in Vermont and joined her husband at Beaufort. The objec

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SAINT LOUIS LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY.

SAINT LOUIS LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY.

T his Society, the principal Auxiliary of the Western Sanitary Commission, and holding the same relation to it that the Women's Central Association of Relief in New York, did to the United States Sanitary Commission had its origin in the summer of 1861. On the 26th of July, of that year, a few ladies met at the house of Mrs. F. Holy, in St. Louis, to consider the propriety of combining the efforts of the loyal ladies of that city into a single organization in anticipation of the conflict then im

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LADIES' AID SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA

LADIES' AID SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA

O ne of the first societies formed by ladies to aid and care for the sick and wounded soldiers, was the one whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch. The Aid Society of Cleveland, and we believe one in Boston claim a date five or six days earlier, but no others. The ladies who composed it met on the 26th of April, 1861, and organized themselves as a society to labor for the welfare of the soldiers whether in sickness or health. They continued their labors with unabated zeal until the

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WOMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND.

WOMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND.

T he city of Brooklyn, Long Island, and the Island of which it forms the Western extremity, were from the commencement of the war intensely patriotic. Regiment after regiment was raised in the city, and its quota filled from the young men of the city, and the towns of the island, till it seemed as every man of military age, and most of the youth between fifteen and eighteen had been drawn into the army. An enthusiastic zeal for the national cause had taken as complete possession of the women as

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LADIES' UNION RELIEF ASSOCIATIONS OF BALTIMORE.

LADIES' UNION RELIEF ASSOCIATIONS OF BALTIMORE.

A midst the malign influences of secession and treason, entire and unqualified devotion to the Union, shone with additional brightness from its contrast with surrounding darkness. In all portions of the South were found examples of this patriotic devotion, and nowhere did it display itself more nobly than in the distracted city of Baltimore. The Union people were near enough to the North with its patriotic sentiment, and sufficiently protected by the presence of Union soldiery, to be able to act

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MRS. C. T. FENN.

MRS. C. T. FENN.

B erkshire County, Massachusetts, has long been noted as the birth-place of many men and women distinguished in the higher ranks of the best phases of American life, literature, law, science, art, philosophy, as well as religion, philanthropy, and the industrial and commercial progress of our country have all been brilliantly illustrated and powerfully aided by those who drew their first breath, and had their earliest home among the green hills and lovely valleys of Berkshire. Bryant gained the

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MRS. JAMES HARLAN.

MRS. JAMES HARLAN.

T here have been numerous instances of ladies of high social position, the wives and daughters of generals of high rank, and commanding large bodies of troops, of Governors of States, of Senators and Representatives in Congress, of Members of the Cabinet, or of other Government officials, who have felt it an honor to minister to the defenders of their country, or to aid in such ways as were possible the blessed work of relieving pain and suffering, of raising up the down-trodden, or of bringing

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NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION.

NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION.

T he "New England Society," of New York City, is an Association of long standing, for charitable and social purposes, and is composed of natives of New England, residing in New York, and its vicinity. Soon after the outbreak of the war, this society became the nucleus of a wider and less formal organization—the Sons of New England. In April, 1862, these gentlemen formed the New England Soldiers' Relief Association, whose object was declared to be "to aid and care for all sick and wounded soldier

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MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.

MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.

O n the 12th of October, 1808, was born in the township of Union, Washington County, Ohio, Frances Dana Barker. Her father had, twenty years before that time, gone a pioneer to the Western wilds. His name was Joseph Barker, a native of New Hampshire. Her mother was Elizabeth Dana, of Massachusetts, and her maternal grandmother was Mary Bancroft. She was thus allied on the maternal side to the well-known Massachusetts families of Dana and Bancroft. During her childhood, schools were scarce in Ohi

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MRS. LUCY GAYLORD POMEROY.

MRS. LUCY GAYLORD POMEROY.

I n 1803, some families from Bristol and Meriden, Connecticut, removed to the wilderness of New York, and settled in what is now Otisco, Onondaga County. Among these were Chauncey Gaylord, a sturdy, athletic young man, just arrived at the age of twenty-one, and "a little, quiet, black-eyed girl, with a sunny, thoughtful face, only eleven years old." Her name was Dema Cowles. So the young man and the little girl became acquaintances, and friends, and in after years lovers. In 1817 they were marri

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MARIA R. MANN.

MARIA R. MANN.

A mong the heroic women who labored most efficiently and courageously during the late civil war for the good of our soldiers, and the poor "contrabands," as the freed people were called, was Miss Maria R. Mann, an educated and refined woman from Massachusetts, a near relative of the first Secretary of the Board of Education of that renowned Commonwealth, who gave his life and all his great powers to the cause of education, and finished his noble career as the President of Antioch College, in Ohi

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SARAH J. HAGAR

SARAH J. HAGAR

I t is due to the memory of this noble young woman that she should be included in the record of those sainted heroines who fearlessly went into the midst of danger and death that they might minister to the poor and suffering freedmen, whom our victorious arms had emancipated from their rebel masters, and yet had left for a time without means or opportunity to fit themselves for the new life that opened before them. To this humane service she freely devoted herself and became a victim to the clim

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MRS. JOSEPHINE R. GRIFFIN.

MRS. JOSEPHINE R. GRIFFIN.

I f the most thoroughly unselfish devotion of an earnest and gifted woman to the interests and welfare of a despised and down-trodden race, to the manifest injury and detriment of her own comfort, ease, or pecuniary prospects, and without any hope or desire of reward other than the consciousness of having been their benefactor, constitutes a woman a heroine, then is Mrs. Griffin one of the most remarkable heroines of our times. Of her early history we know little. She was a woman of refinement a

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MRS. M. M. HALLOWELL.

MRS. M. M. HALLOWELL.

T he condition of the loyal whites of East Tennessee and Northern Alabama and Georgia, deservedly excited the sympathy and liberality of the loyal North. No portion of the people of the United States had proved their devotion to the Union by more signal sacrifices, more patient endurance, or more terrible sufferings. The men for the mere avowal of their attachment to the Union flag and the Constitution were hunted like deer, and if caught, murdered in cold blood. Most of them managed, though wit

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OTHER FRIENDS OF THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

OTHER FRIENDS OF THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

I n many of the preceding sketches we have had occasion to notice the labors of ladies who had been most distinguished in other departments of the great Army work, in behalf of the Freedmen, or the Refugees. Mrs. Harris devoted in all five or six months to their care at Nashville and its vicinity. Miss Tyson and Mrs. Beck gave their valuable services to their relief. Miss Jane Stuart Woolsey was, and we believe still is laboring in behalf of the Freedmen in Richmond or its vicinity. Mrs. Governo

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MRS. O. E. HOSMER.

MRS. O. E. HOSMER.

A t the opening of the late war, the subject of this sketch, Mrs. O. E. Hosmer, was residing with her family in Chicago, Illinois. Hers was by no means a vague patriotism that contented itself with verbal expressions of sympathy for her country's cause and defenders. She believed that she had sacrifices to make, and work to do, and could hope for no enjoyment, or even comfort, amidst the luxuries of home, while thousands to whom these things were as dear as to herself, had resolutely turned away

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MISS HATTIE WISWALL.

MISS HATTIE WISWALL.

M iss Hattie Wiswall entered the service as Hospital Nurse, May 1, 1863. For the first five or six months she was employed in the Benton Barracks Hospital at St. Louis. At that time the suffering of our boys in Missouri was very great, and all through that summer the hospitals of St. Louis were crowded to overflowing. From one thousand to fifteen hundred were lying in Benton Barracks alone. Men, wounded in every conceivable manner, were frequently arriving from the battle-fields, and our friend

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MRS. LUCY E. STARR.

MRS. LUCY E. STARR.

I n an early period of the civil war this heroic woman left her home at Griggsville, Illinois, came to St. Louis and offered her services to the Western Sanitary Commission as a nurse in the hospitals. She was already known as a person of excellent Christian character, of education and refinement, of real practical ability, the widow of a deceased clergyman, and full of the spirit of kindness and patriotic sympathy towards our brave soldiers in the field. Her services were gladly accepted, and s

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CHARLOTTE BRADFORD

CHARLOTTE BRADFORD

T his lady, like her friend, Miss Abby W. May, of Boston, though a woman of extraordinary attainments and culture, and an earnest outspoken advocate of the immediate abolition of slavery before the War, is extremely averse to any mention of her labors in behalf of the soldiers, alleging that they were not worthy to be compared with the sacrifices of those humbler and unnamed heroines, who in their country homes, toiled so incessantly for the boys in blue. We have no desire to detract one iota of

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UNION VOLUNTEER REFRESHMENT SALOON OF PHILADELPHIA.

UNION VOLUNTEER REFRESHMENT SALOON OF PHILADELPHIA.

W e have already in our sketch of the labors of Mrs. Mary W. Lee, one of the most efficient workers for the soldiers in every position in which she was placed, given some account of this institution, one of the most remarkable philanthropic organizations called into being by the War, as in the sketch of Miss Anna M. Ross we have made some allusions to the Cooper Shop Refreshment Saloon, its rival in deeds of charity and love for the soldier. The vast extent, the wonderful spirit of self-sacrific

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MRS. R. M. BIGELOW.

MRS. R. M. BIGELOW.

I n the ordinary acceptation of the term, Mrs. Bigelow has not been connected with Soldiers' Homes either in Washington or elsewhere; yet there are few if any ladies in the country who have taken so many sick or wounded soldiers to their own houses, and have made them at home there, as she. To hundreds, if not thousands, of the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, the name of "Aunty Bigelow," the title by which she was universally known among the sick and wounded soldiers, is as carefully, and q

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MISS SHARPLESS AND ASSOCIATES.

MISS SHARPLESS AND ASSOCIATES.

W hat the Hospital Transport service was under the management of the Sanitary Commission, we have elsewhere detailed, and have also given some glimpses of its chaotic confusion, its disorder and wretchedness under the management of government officials, early in the war. Under the efficient direction of Surgeon-General Hammond, and his successor, Surgeon-General Barnes, there was a material improvement; and in the later years of the war the Government Hospital Transports bore some resemblance to

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PART VI.

PART VI.

Annie Etheridge . H.L. Stephens, Del. John Sartain, Sc....

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MRS. ANNIE ETHERIDGE

MRS. ANNIE ETHERIDGE

N o woman attached to a regiment, as vivandiére , cantiniére , or fille du regiment (we use the French terms because we have no English ones which fully correspond to them), during the recent war, has won so high and pure a renown as Annie Etheridge. Placed in circumstances of peculiar moral peril, her goodness and purity of character were so strongly marked that she was respected and beloved not only by all her own regiment, but by the brigade division and corps to which that regiment belonged,

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DELPHINE P. BAKER

DELPHINE P. BAKER

T hough her attentions and efforts have had a specific direction widely different, for the most part, from those of the majority of the American women, who have devoted themselves to the cause of the country and its defenders, few have been more actively and energetically employed, or perhaps more usefully, than the subject of the following sketch. To her efforts, persistent, untiring, self-sacrificing, almost entirely does the Nation owe the organization of the National Military Asylum—a home f

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MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS.

MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS.

T his lady is a native of New York city, where she resided for the first seven years of her life. In 1844 her parents removed to Michigan, where she has lived ever since, receiving her education at the best schools, and spending much time in preparation for a classical course at the State University. She was, however, with other young ladies, denied admission there, on the ground of expediency; and finally entered the State Normal School where she graduated with high honors. She soon after becam

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BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

B arbara Frietchie was an aged lady of Frederick, Maryland, of German birth, but intensely patriotic. In September, 1862, when Lee's army were on their way to Antietam, "Stonewall" Jackson's corps passed through Frederick, and the inhabitants, though a majority of them were loyal, resolved not to provoke the rebels unnecessarily, knowing that they could make no effectual resistance to such a large force, and accordingly took down their flags; but Dame Barbara though nearly eighty years of age co

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MRS. HETTY M. McEWEN.

MRS. HETTY M. McEWEN.

M rs. McEwen is an aged woman of Nashville, Tennessee, of revolutionary stock, having had six uncles in the revolutionary war, four of whom fell at the battle of King's Mountain. Her husband, Colonel Robert H. McEwen, was a soldier in the war of 1812, as his father had been in the revolution. Her devotion to the Union, like that of most of those who had the blood of our revolutionary fathers in their veins is intense, and its preservation and defense were the objects of her greatest concern. Mak

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OTHER DEFENDERS OF THE FLAG.

OTHER DEFENDERS OF THE FLAG.

B arbara Frietchie and Hettie McEwen were not the only women of our country who were ready to risk their lives in the defense of the National Flag. Mrs. Effie Titlow, as we have already stated elsewhere, displayed the flag wrapped about her, at Middletown, Maryland, when the Rebels passed through that town in 1863. Early in 1861, while St. Louis yet trembled in the balance, and it seemed doubtful whether the Secessionists were not in the majority, Alfred Clapp, Esq., a merchant of that city, rai

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MILITARY HEROINES.

MILITARY HEROINES.

T he number of women who actually bore arms in the war, or who, though generally attending a regiment as nurses and vivandiéres, at times engaged in the actual conflict was much larger than is generally supposed, and embraces persons of all ranks of society. Those who from whatever cause, whether romance, love or patriotism, and all these had their influence, donned the male attire and concealed their sex, are hardly entitled to a place in our record, since they did not seek to be known as women

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THE WOMEN OF GETTYSBURG.

THE WOMEN OF GETTYSBURG.

T hose who have read Miss Georgiana Woolsey's charming narrative "Three Weeks at Gettysburg," in this volume, will have formed a higher estimate of the women of Gettysburg than of the men. There were some exceptions among the latter, some brave earnest-hearted men, though the farmers of the vicinity were in general both cowardly and covetous; but the women of the village have won for themselves a high and honorable record, for their faithfulness to the flag, their generosity and their devotion t

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LOYAL WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.

LOYAL WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.

W e have already had occasion to mention some of those whose labors had been conspicuous, and especially Mrs. Sarah R. Johnson, Mrs. Nellie M. Taylor, Mrs. Grier, Mrs. Clapp, Miss Breckinridge, Mrs. Phelps, Mrs. Shepard Wells, and others. There was however, beside these, a large class, even in the chief cities of the rebellion, who not only never bowed their knee to the idol of secession, but who for their fidelity to principle, their patient endurance of proscription and their humanity and help

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MISS HETTY A. JONES.[N]

MISS HETTY A. JONES.[N]

A mong the thousands of noble women who devoted their time and services to the cause of our suffering soldiers during the rebellion there were few who sacrificed more of comfort, money or health, than Miss Hetty A. Jones of Roxborough, in the city of Philadelphia. She was a daughter of the late Rev. Horatio Gates Jones, D.D. , for many years pastor of the Lower Merion Baptist Church, and a sister of the Hon. J. Richter Jones, who was Colonel of the Fifty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers,

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FINAL CHAPTER. THE FAITHFUL BUT LESS CONSPICUOUS LABORERS.

FINAL CHAPTER. THE FAITHFUL BUT LESS CONSPICUOUS LABORERS.

S o abundant and universal was the patriotism and self-sacrifice of the loyal women of the nation that the long list of heroic names whose deeds of mercy we have recorded in the preceding pages gives only a very inadequate idea of woman's work in the war. These were but the generals or at most the commanders of regiments, and staff-officers, while the great army of patient workers followed in their train. In every department of philanthropic labor there were hundreds and in some, thousands, less

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