Woman's Work in the Civil War Part 3

Faithful laborers in the hospitals at Cincinnati till the close of the war.

MRS. SHEPARD WELLS. _By Rev. J. G. Forman._

Driven from East Tennessee by the rebels--Becomes a member of the Ladies' Union Aid Society at St. Louis, and one of its Secretaries-- Superintends the special diet kitchen at Benton Barracks--An enthusiastic and earnest worker--Labor for the refugees.

MRS. E. C. WITHERELL. _By Rev. J. G. Forman._

A lady from Louisville--Her service in the Fourth Street Hospital, St.

Louis--"s.h.i.+ning Sh.o.r.e"--The soldier boy--On the "Empress" hospital steamer nursing the wounded--A faithful and untiring nurse--Is attacked with fever, and dies July, 1862--Resolutions of Western Sanitary Commission.

PHEBE ALLEN. _By Rev. J. G. Forman._

A teacher in Iowa--Volunteered as a nurse in Benton Barracks hospital-- Very efficient--Died of malarious fever in 1864, at the hospital.

MRS. EDWIN GREBLE.

Of Quaker stock--Intensely patriotic--Her eldest son, Lieutenant John Greble, killed at Great Bethel in 1861--A second son served through the war--A son-in-law a prisoner in the rebel prisons--Mrs. Greble a most a.s.siduous worker in the hospitals of Philadelphia, and a constant and liberal giver.

MRS. ISABELLA FOGG.

A resident of Calais, Maine--Her only son volunteers, and she devotes herself to the service of ministering to the wounded and sick--Goes to Annapolis with one of the Maine regiments--The spotted fever in the Annapolis Hospital--Mrs. Fogg and Mrs. Mayhew volunteer as nurses--The Hospital Transport Service--At the front after Fair Oaks--Savage's Station--Over land to Harrison's Landing with the army--Under fire--On the hospital s.h.i.+p--Home--In the hospitals around Was.h.i.+ngton, after Antietam--The Maine Camp Hospital a.s.sociation--Mrs. J. S. Eaton--After Chancellorsville--In the field hospitals for nearly a week, working day and night, and under fire--At Gettysburg the day after the battle--On the Rapidan--At Mine Run--At Belle Plain and Fredericksburg after the battle of the Wilderness--At City Point--Home again--A wounded son-- Severe illness of Mrs. Fogg--Recovery--Sent by Christian Commission to Louisville to take charge of a special diet kitchen--Injured by a fall-- An invalid for life--Happy in the work accomplished.

MRS. E. E. GEORGE.

Services of aged women in the war--Military agency of Indiana--Mrs.

George's appointment--Her services at Memphis--At Pulaski--At Chattanooga--Following Sherman to Atlanta--Matron of Fifteenth Army Corps Hospital--At Nashville--Starts for Savannah, but is persuaded by Miss Dix to go to Wilmington--Excessive labors there--Dies of typhus.

MRS. CHARLOTTE E. McKAY.

A native of Ma.s.sachusetts--Enters the service as nurse at Frederick city--Rebel occupation of the city--Chancellorsville--The a.s.sault on Marye's Heights--Death of her brother--Gettysburg--Services in Third Division Third Corps Hospital--At Warrenton--Mine Run--Brandy Station-- Grant's campaign--From Belle Plain to City Point--The Cavalry Corps Hospital--Testimonials presented to her.

MRS. f.a.n.n.y L. RICKETTS.

Of English parentage--Wife of Major-General Ricketts--Resides on the frontier for three years--Her husband wounded at Bull Run--Her heroism in going through the rebel lines to be with him--Dangers and privations at Richmond--Ministrations to Union soldiers--He is selected as a hostage for the privateersmen, but released at her urgent solicitation-- Wounded again at Antietam, and again tenderly nursed--Wounded at Middletown, Virginia, October, 1864, and for four months in great danger--The end of the war.

MRS. JOHN S. PHELPS.

Early history--Residence in the Southwest--Rescues General Lyon's body--Her heroism and benevolence at Pea Ridge and elsewhere.

MRS. JANE R. MUNSELL.

Maryland women in the war--Barbara Frietchie--Effie t.i.tlow--Mrs.

Munsell's labors in the hospitals after Antietam and Gettysburg--Her death from over-exertion.

PART III. LADIES WHO ORGANIZED AID SOCIETIES, RECEIVED AND FORWARDED SUPPLIES TO THE HOSPITALS, DEVOTING THEIR WHOLE TIME TO THE WORK, ETC.

WOMAN'S CENTRAL a.s.sOCIATION OF RELIEF. _By Mrs. Julia B. Curtis._

Organization and officers of the a.s.sociation--It becomes a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission--Its Registration Committee and their duties--The Selection and Preparation of Nurses for the Army--The Finance and Executive Committee--The unwillingness of the Government to admit any deficiency--The arrival of the first boxes for the a.s.sociation--The sacrifices made by the women in the country towns and hamlets--The Committee of Correspondence--Twenty-five thousand letters-- The receiving book, the day-book and the ledger--The alphabet repeated seven hundred and twenty-seven times on the boxes--Mrs. Fellows and Mrs.

Colby solicitors of donations--The call for nurses on board the Hospital Transports--Mrs. W. P. Griffin and Mrs. David Lane volunteer, and subsequently other members of the a.s.sociation--Mrs. D'Oremieulx's departure for Europe--Mr. S. W. Bridgham's faithful labors--Creeping into the a.s.sociation rooms of a Sunday, to gather up and forward supplies needed for sudden emergencies--The First Council of Representatives from the princ.i.p.al Aid Societies at Was.h.i.+ngton--Monthly boxes--The _Federal principle_--Antietam and Fredericksburg exhaust the supplies--Miss Louisa Lee Schuyler's able letter of inquiry to the Secretaries of Auxiliaries--The plan of "a.s.sociate Managers"--Miss Schuyler's incessant labors in connection with this--The set of boxes devised by Miss Schuyler to aid the work of the Committee on Correspondence--The employment of Lecturers--The a.s.sociation publish Mr. George T. Strong's pamphlet, "How can we best help our Camps and Hospitals"--The Hospital Directory opened--The lack of supplies of clothing and edibles, resulting from the changed condition of the country--Activity and zeal of the members of the Woman's Central a.s.sociation--Miss Ellen Collins'

incessant labors--Her elaborate tables of supplies and their disburs.e.m.e.nt--The a.s.sociation offers to purchase for the Auxiliaries at wholesale prices--Miss Schuyler's admirable Plan of Organization for Country Societies--Alert Clubs founded--Large contributions to the stations at Beaufort and Morris Island--Miss Collins and Mrs. W. P.

Griffin in charge of the office through the New York Riots in July, 1863--Mrs. Griffin, is chairman of Special Relief Committee, and makes personal visits to the sick--The Second Council at Was.h.i.+ngton--Miss Schuyler and Miss Collins delegates--Miss Schuyler's efforts--The whirlwind of Fairs--Aiding the feeble auxiliaries by donating an additional sum in goods equal to what they raised, to be manufactured by them--Five thousand dollars a month thus expended--A Soldiers' Aid Society Council--Help to Military Hospitals near the city, and the Navy, by the a.s.sociation--Death of its President, Dr. Mott--The news of peace--Miss Collins' Congratulatory Letter--The a.s.sociation continues its work to July 7--Two hundred and ninety-one thousand four hundred and seventy-five s.h.i.+rts distributed--Purchases made for Auxiliaries, seventy-nine thousand three hundred and ninety dollars and fifty-seven cents--Other expenditures of money for the purposes of the a.s.sociation, sixty-one thousand three hundred and eighty-six dollars and fifty-seven cents--The zeal of the a.s.sociated Managers--The Brooklyn Relief a.s.sociation--Miss Schuyler's labors as a writer--Her reports--Articles in the Sanitary Bulletin, "The Soldiers' Friend," "Nelly's Hospital,"

&c. &c.--The patient and continuous labors of the Committees on Correspondence and on Supplies--Territory occupied by the Woman's Central a.s.sociation--Resolutions at the Final Meeting.

SOLDIERS' AID SOCIETY OF NORTHERN OHIO.

Its organization--At first a Local Society--No Written Const.i.tution or By-laws--Becomes a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission in October, 1861--Its territory small and not remarkable for wealth--Five hundred and twenty auxiliaries--Its disburs.e.m.e.nt of one million one hundred and thirty-three thousand dollars in money and supplies--The Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair--The supplies mostly forwarded to the Western Depot of the United States Sanitary Commission at Louisville-- "The Soldiers' Home" built under the direction of the Ladies who managed the affairs of the Society, and supplied and conducted under their Supervision--The Hospital Directory, Employment Agency, War Claim Agency--The entire time of the Officers of the Society for five and a half years voluntarily and freely given to its work from eight in the morning till six or later in the evening--The President, Mrs. B. Rouse, and her labors in organizing Aid Societies and attending to the home work--The labors of the Secretary and Treasurer--Editorial work--The Society's printing press--Setting up and printing Bulletins--The Sanitary Fair originated and carried on by the Aid Society--The Ohio State Soldiers' Home aided by them--Sketch of Mrs. Rouse--Sketch of Miss Mary Clark Brayton, Secretary of the Society--Sketch of Miss Ellen F. Terry, Treasurer of the Society--Miss Brayton's "On a Hospital Train," "Riding on a Rail"--Visit to the Army--The first sight of a hospital train--The wounded soldiers on board--"Trickling a little sympathy on the Wounded"--"The Hospital Train a jolly thing"--The dying soldier--Arrangement of the Hospital Train--The arduous duties of the Surgeon.

NEW ENGLAND WOMEN'S AUXILIARY a.s.sOCIATION.

Its organization and territory--One million five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars collected in money and supplies by this a.s.sociation-- Its Sanitary Fair and its results--The chairman of the Executive Committee Miss Abby W. May--Her retiring and modest disposition--Her rare executive powers--Sketch of Miss May--Her early zeal in the Anti-slavery movement--Her remarkable practical talent, and admirable management of affairs--Her eloquent appeals to the auxiliaries--Her entire self-abnegation--Extract from one of her letters--Extract from her Final Report--The Boston Sewing Circle and its officers--The Ladies'

Industrial Aid a.s.sociation of Boston--Nearly three hundred and forty-seven thousand garments for the soldiers made by the employes of the a.s.sociation, most of whom were from soldiers' families--Additional wages beyond the contract prices paid to the workwomen, to the amount of over twenty thousand dollars--The lessons learned by the ladies engaged in this work.

THE NORTHWESTERN SANITARY COMMISSION.

The origin of the Commission--Its early labors--Mrs. Porter's connection with it--Her determination to go to the army--The appointment of Mrs.

Hoge and Mrs. Livermore as Managers--The extent and variety of their labors--The two Sanitary Fairs--Estimate of the amount raised by the Commission.

MRS. A. H. HOGE.

Her birth and early education--Her marriage--Her family--She identifies herself from the beginning with the National cause--Her first visit to the hospitals of Cairo, Mound City and St. Louis--The Mound City Hospital--The wounded boy--Turned over for the first time--"They had to take the Fort"--Rebel cruelties at Donelson--The poor French boy--The mother who had lost seven sons in the Army--"He had turned his face to the wall to die"--Mrs. Hoge at the Woman's Council at Was.h.i.+ngton in 1862--Labors of Mrs. Hoge and Mrs. Livermore--Correspondence-- Circulars--Addresses--Mrs. Hoge's eloquence and pathos--The ample contributions elicited by her appeals--Visit to the Camp of General Grant at Young's Point, in the winter of 1862-3--Return with a cargo of wounded--Second visit to the vicinity of Vicksburg--Prevalence of scurvy--The onion and potato circulars--Third visit to Vicksburg in June, 1863--Incidents of this visit--The rifle-pits--Singing Hymns under fire--"Did you drop from heaven into these rifle-pits?"--Mrs. Hoge's talk to the men--"Promise me you'll visit my regiment to-morrow"--The flag of the Board of Trade Regiment--"How about the blood?"--"Sing, Rally round the Flag Boys"--The death of R--"Take her picture from under my pillow"--Mrs. Hoge at Was.h.i.+ngton again--Her views of the value of the Press in benevolent operations--In the Sanitary Fairs at Chicago--Her address at Brooklyn, in March, 1865--Gifts presented her as a testimony to the value of her labors.

MRS. MARY A. LIVERMORE.

Mrs. Livermore's childhood and education--She becomes a teacher--Her marriage--She is a.s.sociated with her husband as Editor of _The New Covenant_--Her scholars.h.i.+p and ability as a writer and speaker--The vigor and eloquence of her appeals--"Women and the War"--The beginnings of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission--The appointment of Mrs.

Livermore and Mrs. Hoge as its managers--The contributions of Mrs.

Livermore to the press, on subjects connected with her work--"The backward movement of General McClellan"--The Hutchinsons prohibited from singing Whittier's Song in the Army of the Potomac--Mrs. Livermore's visit to Was.h.i.+ngton--Her description of "Camp Misery"--She makes a tour to the Military Posts on the Mississippi--The female nurses--The scurvy in the Camp--The Northwestern Sanitary Fair--Mrs. Livermore's address to the Women of the Northwest--Her tact in selecting the right persons to carry out her plans at the Fair--Her extensive journeyings--Her visit to Was.h.i.+ngton in the Spring of 1865--Her invitation to the President to be present at the opening of the Fair--Her description of Mr. Lincoln--His death and the funeral solemnities with which his remains were received at Chicago--The final fair--Mrs. Livermore's testimonials of regard and appreciation from friends and, especially from the soldiers.

GENERAL AID SOCIETY FOR THE ARMY, BUFFALO.

Organization of the Society--Its first President, Mrs. Follett--Its second President, Mrs. Horatio Seymour--Her efficient Aids, Miss Babc.o.c.k and Miss Bird--The friendly rivalry with the Cleveland Society--Mrs.