Part IV…

Part IV

LADIES DISTINGUISHED FOR SERVICES AMONG THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.

On 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 Ohio, and in the small country places inferior. A log-cabin in the woods was the Seminary where Frances Barker acquired the rudiments of education. The wolf's howl, the panther's cry, the hiss of the copperhead, often filled her young heart with terror.

Her father was a farmer, and the stirring life of a farmer's daughter in a new country, fell to her lot. To spin the garments she wore, to make cheese and butter, were parts of her education, while to lend a hand at out-door labor, perhaps helped her to acquire that vigor of body and brain for which she has since been distinguished.

She made frequent visits to her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Bancroft Dana, whose home was at Belpre, Ohio, upon the Ohio river, only one mile from Parkersburg, Virginia, and opposite Blennerhasset's Island. Mrs. Dana, was even then a radical on the subject of slavery, and Frances learned from her to hate the word, and all it represented. She never was on the side of the oppressor, and was frequently laughed at in childhood, for her sympathy with the poor fugitives from slavery, who often found their way to the neighborhood in which she lived, seeking kindness and charity of the people.

It had not then become a crime to give a crust of bread, or a cup of milk to the "fugitive from labor," and Mrs. Barker, a noble, true-thinking woman, often sent her daughter on errands of mercy to the neighboring cabins, where the poor creatures sought shelter, and would tarry a few days, often to be caught and sent back to their masters. Thus she early became familiarized with their sufferings, and their wants.

At the age of twenty, on the 1st of January, 1829, Frances Barker became the wife of James L. Gage, a lawyer of McConnellsville, Ohio, a good and noble man, whose hatred of the system of slavery in the South, was surpassed only by that of the great apostle of anti-slavery, Garrison, himself. Moral integrity, and unflinching fidelity to the cause of humanity, were leading traits of his character.

A family of eight children engrossed much of their attention for many years, but still they found time to wage moral warfare with the stupendous wrong that surrounded them, and bore down their friends and neighbors beneath the leaden weight of its prejudice and injustice.

Mrs. Gage records that "it never seemed to her to require any sacrifice to resist the popular will upon the subjects of freedom for the slave, temperance, or even the rights of woman." They were all so manifestly right, in her opinion, that she could not but take her stand as their advocates, and it was far easier for her to maintain them than to yield one iota of her conscientious views.

Thus she always found herself in a minority, through all the struggling years between 1832 and 1865. She had once an engagement with the editor of a "State Journal" to write weekly for his columns during a year. This, at that time seemed to her a great achievement. But a few plain words from her upon the Fugitive Slave Law, brought a note saying her services were no longer wanted; "He would not," the editor wrote, "publish sentiments in his Journal, which, if carried out, would strike at the foundations of all law, order, and government," and added much good advice. Her reply was prompt:

"Yours of ---- is at hand. Thanking you for your unasked counsel, I cheerfully retire from your columns.

"Respectfully yours, "F. D. GAGE."

She has lived to see that editor change many of his views, and approach her standard.

The great moral struggle of the thirty years preceding the war, in her opinion, required for its continuance far more heroism than that which marshalled our hosts along the Potomac, prompted Sheridan's raids, or Sherman's triumphant "march to the sea."

In all her warfare against existing wrong, that which she waged for the liberties of her own sex subjected her to the most trying persecution, insult and neglect. In the region of Ohio where she then resided, she stood almost alone, but she was never inclined to yield. Probably, unknown to herself, this very discipline was preparing her for the events of the future, and its supreme tests of her principles.

A member of Congress once called to urge her to persuade her husband to yield a point of principle (which he said if adhered to would prove the political ruin of Mr. Gage) holding out the bribe of a seat in Congress, if he would stand by the old Whig party in some of its tergiversations, and insisting that if he persisted in doing as he had threatened, he would soon find himself standing alone. She promised the gentleman that she would repeat to her husband what he had said, and as soon as he had gone seized her pencil and wrote the following impromptu, which serves well to illustrate her firm persistence in any course she believes right, as well as the principle that animates her.

DARE TO STAND ALONE.

"Be bold, be firm, be strong, be true, And dare to stand alone. Strike for the Right whate'er ye do, Though helpers there be none.

"Oh! bend not to the swelling surge Of popular crime and wrong. 'Twill bear thee on to Ruin's verge With current wild and strong.

"Strike for the Right, tho' falsehood rail And proud lips coldly sneer. A poisoned arrow cannot wound A conscience pure and clear.

"Strike for the Right, and with clean hands Exalt the truth on high, Thou'lt find warm sympathizing hearts Among the passers by,

"Those who have thought, and felt, and prayed, Yet could not singly dare The battle's brunt; but by thy side Will every danger share.

"Strike for the Right. Uphold the Truth. Thou'lt find an answering tone In honest hearts, and soon no more Be left to stand alone."

She handed this poem to the gentleman with whom she had been conversing, and he afterwards told her that it decided him to give up all for principle. He led off in his district in what was soon known as the Free Soil party, the root of the present triumphant Republican party.

In 1853 the family of Mrs. Gage removed to St. Louis. Those who fought the anti-slavery battle in Massachusetts have little realization of the difficulty and danger of maintaining similar sentiments in a slaveholding community, and a slave State. Mrs. Gage spoke boldly whenever her thought seemed to be required, and soon found herself branded as an "abolitionist" with every adjective appended that could tend to destroy public confidence.

While Colonel Chambers, the former accomplished editor of the Missouri Republican lived, she wrote for his columns, and at one time summing up the resources of that great State, she advanced this opinion: "Strike from your statute books the laws that give man the right to hold property in man, and ten years from this time Missouri will lead its sister State on the eastern shore of the Mississippi."

After the publication of this article, Colonel Chambers was waited upon and remonstrated with by some old slaveholders, for allowing an abolitionist to write for his journal. "Such sentiments," they said, "would destroy the Union." "If your Union," replied he, "is based upon a foundation so unstable that one woman's breath can blow it down, in God's name let her do it. She shall say her say while I live and edit this paper."

He died soon after, and Mrs. Gage was at once excluded from its columns, by the succeeding editors, refused payment for past labors, or a return of her manuscripts.

The Missouri Democrat soon after hoisted the flag of Emancipation under the leadership of Frank Blair. She became one of its correspondents, and for several years continued to supply its columns with an article once or twice a week. Appearing in 1858 upon the platform of the Boston Anti-Slavery Society, she was at once excluded as dangerous to the interests of the party which the paper represented.

During all the years of her life in Missouri Mrs. Gage frequently received letters threatening her with personal violence, or the destruction of her husband's property. Slaves came to her for aid, and were sent to entrap her, but she succeeded in evading all positive difficulty and trial.

During the Kansas war she labored diligently with pen, tongue, and hands, for those who so valiantly fought the oppressor in that hour of trial. She expected to be waylaid and to be made to suffer for her temerity, and perhaps she did; for about the close of that perilous year three disastrous fires, supposed to be the work of incendiaries, greatly reduced the family resources.

This portion of the life of Mrs. Gage has been dwelt upon at considerable length, because she regards the struggle then made against the wickedness, prejudice, and bigotry of mankind, as the main bravery of her life, and that if there has been heroism in any part of it, it was then displayed. "If as a woman," she says, "to take the platform amidst hissing, and scorn, and newspaper vituperations, to maintain the right of woman to the legitimate use of all the talents God invests her with; to maintain the rights of the slave in the very ears of the masters; to hurl anathemas at intemperance in the very camps of the dram-sellers; if to continue for forty years, in spite of all opposing forces, to press the triune cause persistently, consistently, and unflinchingly, entitles me to a humble place among those noble ones who have gone about doing good, you can put me in that place as it suits you."

At the breaking out of the war, by reason of her husband's failure in business at St. Louis, and his ill-health, Mrs. Gage found herself filling the post of Editor of the Home Department of an Agricultural paper in Columbus, Ohio. The call for help for the soldiers, was responded to by all loyal women. Mrs. Gage did what she could with her hands, but found them tied by unavoidable labors. She offered tongue and pen, and found them much more efficient agents. The war destroyed the circulation of the paper, and she was set free.

The cry of suffering from the Freedmen reached her, and God seemed to speak to her heart, telling her that there was her mission.

In the autumn of 1862, without appointment, or salary, with only faith in God that she should be sustained, and with a firm reliance on the invincible principles of Truth and Justice, in the hope of doing good, she left Ohio, and proceeded directly to Port Royal.

She remained among the freedmen of Beaufort, Paris, Fernandina, and other points, thirteen months; administering also to the soldiers, as often as circumstances gave opportunity. Her own four boys were in the Union army, and this, if no more, would have given every "boy in blue," a claim upon her sympathy and kindness.

In the fall of 1863, Mrs. Gage returned North, and with head and heart filled to overflowing with the claims of the great mission upon which she had entered, she commenced a lecturing tour, speaking to the people of her "experiences among the Freedmen." To show them as they were, to give a truthful portrayal of Slavery, its barbarity and heinousness, its demoralization of master and man, its incompatibility with all things beautiful or good, its defiance of God and his truth; and to show the intensely human character of the slave, who, through this fearful ordeal of two hundred years, had preserved so much goodness, patient hope, unwavering trust in Jesus, faith in God, such desire for knowledge and capability of self-support--such she felt to be her mission, and as such she performed it! She believed that by removing prejudice, and inspiring confidence in the Emancipation Proclamation, and by striving to unite the people on this great issue, she could do more than in any other way toward ending the war, and relieving the soldier--such was the aim of her lectures, while she never omitted to move the hearts of the audience toward those so nobly defending the Union and the Government.

Thus, in all the inclement winter weather, through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri, she pursued her labors of love, never omitting an evening when she could get an audience to address, speaking for Soldiers' Aid Societies, and giving the proceeds to those who worked only for the soldier,--then for Freedmen's Associations. She worked without fee or reward, asking only of those who were willing, to give enough to defray her expenses--for herself--thankful if she received, cheerful if she did not.

Following up this course till the summer days made lecturing seem impossible, she started from St. Louis down the Mississippi, to Memphis, Vicksburg, and Natchez. On this trip she went as an unsalaried agent of the Western Sanitary Commission--receiving only her expenses, and the goods and provisions wherewith to relieve the want and misery she met among our suffering men.

A few months' experience among the Union Refugees, and unprotected fugitives, or unprotected Freedmen, convinced her that her best work for all was in the lecturing field, in rousing the hearts of the multitude to good deeds.

She had but one weak pair of hands, while her voice might set a hundred, nay, a thousand pairs in motion, and believing that we err if we fail to use our best powers for life's best uses, she again, after a few months with the soldiers and other sufferers, entered the lecturing field in the West, speaking almost nightly.

In the month of September, she was overturned in a carriage at Galesburg, Illinois. Some bones were broken, and she was otherwise so injured as to be entirely crippled for that year. She has since been able to labor only occasionally, and in great weakness for the cause. This expression she uses for all struggle against wrong. "Temperance, Freedom, Justice to the negro, Justice to woman," she says, "are but parts of one great whole, one mighty temple whose maker and builder is God."

Through all the vicissitudes of the past; through all its years of waiting, her faith in Him who led, and held, and comforted, has never wavered, and to Him alone does she ascribe the Glory of our National Redemption.

MRS. LUCY GAYLORD POMEROY.

In 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 married. Their first home was of logs, containing one room, with a rude loft above, and an excavation beneath for a cellar.

In this humble abode was born Lucy Ann Gaylord, the subject of this sketch, who afterwards became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, United States Senator from Kansas.

Plain and humble as was this home, it was a consecrated one, where God was worshipped, and the purest religious lessons taught. Mrs. Gaylord was a woman of remarkable strength of character and principles, one who carried her religion into all the acts of daily life, and taught by a consistent example, no less than by a wise precept. Her mother had early been widowed, and had afterwards married Mr. Eliakim Clark, from Massachusetts, and had become the mother of the well-known twin-brothers, Lewis Gaylord, and Willis Gaylord Clark, destined to develop into scholars and poets, and to leave their mark upon the literature of America. She had been entrusted with the care of these beautiful and noble boys for some years, and was already experienced in duties of that kind, before children of her own were given her. Doubtless to her high order of intellect, refined taste, amiable disposition, and sterling good sense, all the children who shared her care are indebted to a great extent for the noble qualities they possess.

Other children succeeded Lucy, and as the elder sister, she shared, in their primitive mode of life, her mother's cares and duties. Her character developed and expanded, and she grew in mental grace as in stature, loving all beautiful things and noble thoughts, and early making a profession of religion.

By this time the family occupied a handsome rural homestead, where neatness, order, regularity, industry and kindness reigned, and where a liberal hospitality was always practiced. Here gathered all the large group of family relatives, here the aged grandmother Clark lived, and hither came her gifted twin sons, from time to time, as to their home. The most beautiful scenery surrounded this homestead; peace, order, intelligence, truth and godliness abounded there, and amidst such influences Lucy Gaylord had the training which led to the future usefulness of her life. Even in her youth she was the friend and safe counsellor of her brothers, as in her maturer years she was of her gifted husband.

At eighteen she made a public profession of religion, and soon after the thought of consecrating herself to the missionary work took possession of her mind. To this end she labored and studied for several years, steadfastly educating herself for a vocation to which she believed herself called, though often afflicted with serious doubts as to whether she, being an only daughter, could leave her parents.

In early life she became an earnest and efficient teacher in Sunday-schools, her intellectual pursuits furnishing her with ever fresh means of rendering her instruction interesting and useful to her classes. She undoubtedly at the first considered this as a training for the work to which, in time, she hoped to devote herself.

But this hope was destined to disappointment. One violent illness after another finally destroyed her health, and she never quite recovered the early tone of her system. Yet she worked on, doing good wherever the means presented.

Soon afterwards she met with the great sorrow of her life. The young man to whom she was soon to be married, between whom and herself the strongest attachment existed, cemented by a mutual knowledge of noble qualities, was suddenly snatched from her, and she became a widow in all but the name.

This sorrow still more refined and beautified her character. By degrees the sharpness of the grief wore away, and it became a sweet, though saddened memory. Eight years after her loss, she became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Southampton, Massachusetts. "They were of kindred feelings in life's great work, had suffered alike by early bereavement, and were drawn together by that natural affinity which unites two lives in one."

He had given up mercantile business in Western New York not long before, and had returned to his early home to care for the declining years of his aged parents. And this was the missionary work to which Mrs. Pomeroy found herself appointed. She was welcomed heartily, and found her duties rendered light by appreciation and affection.

Here, as elsewhere, Mrs. Pomeroy made herself actively useful beyond, as well as within, her home. She performed duties of Sabbath School and general religious instruction, that might be called arduous, especially when added to her domestic cares and occupations. These, with other labors, exhausted her strength and a protracted season of illness followed.

From that time, 1850, for five or six years, she continued to suffer, being most of the time very ill, her life often despaired of. During all this season of peculiar trial she never lost her faith and courage, even when her physicians gave no hope of her recovery, being contented to abide by the will of Providence, convinced that if God had any work for her to do He would spare her life. During this time her husband was often absent, being first in the Massachusetts Legislature, and afterwards sent out as Agent by the Northeastern Aid Society to Kansas, which they were desirous to settle as a free State. Into this last duty she insisted with energy that he should enter. During his absence she experienced other afflictions, but her health notwithstanding rallied, and as soon as possible she made preparations to remove to Kansas where Mr. Pomeroy wished to make a home. In the spring of 1857 she finally arrived there, and there she remained until the spring of 1861, when she accompanied her husband to Washington, when he went thither to take his seat in the Senate.

The hardships and the usefulness of her life in Kansas are matters of history, and it is truly surprising to read how one so long an invalid was enabled to perform such protracted and exhausted labors. All who knew her there bear ample and enthusiastic testimony to the usefulness of her life. To the whites she was friend, hostess, counsellor, assistant, in sickness and in health. To the poor and despised blacks, striving to find freedom, she was friend and teacher, even at the time when her near neighborhood to the slave State of Missouri, made the service most dangerous. Then followed the terrible famine year of 1860. During all that time she freely gave her services in the work of providing for the sufferers. Mr. Pomeroy, aided by the knowledge he had acquired in his experience as Agent of Emigration, was able at once to put the machinery in motion for obtaining supplies from the East, and Mrs. Pomeroy transformed her home into an office of distribution, of which she was superintendent and chief clerk. It was a year that taxed far too heavily her already much exhausted strength.

When she accompanied her husband to Washington in the spring, her health failed, cough and hoarseness troubled her, and she was obliged to leave for visits in her native air, and for a stay of some months at Geneva Water Cure.

From the breaking out of the war Mrs. Pomeroy, on all occasions, proved herself desirous of the welfare of our soldiers. The record of her deeds of kindness in their behalf is not as ample as that of some others, for her health forbade the active nursing, and visiting of the sick in hospitals, which is the most showy part of the work. But her contributions of supplies were always large; and she had always a peculiar care and interest in the religious and moral welfare of the volunteers, who, far from the influences of home, and exposed to new and numerous temptations, were, she felt, in more than one sense encircled by peculiar dangers.

Only once did she revisit her Kansas home, and in the autumn of 1862 spent some months there. There was at that time a regiment in camp at Atchison, and she was enabled to do great good to the sick in hospital, not only with supplies, but by her own personal efforts for their physical and spiritual welfare.

On her return to Washington she there entered as actively as possible into this work. Her form became known in the hospitals, and many a suffering man hailed her coming with a new light kindling his dimmed eyes. She brought them comforts and delicacies, and she added her prayers and her precious instructions. She cared both for souls and bodies, and earned the immortal gratitude of those to whom she ministered.

In January, 1863, her last active benevolent work was commenced, namely the foundation of an asylum at the National Capital for the freed orphans and destitute aged colored women whom the war, and the Proclamation of Emancipation, had thrown upon the care of the benevolent. For several months she was actively engaged in this enterprise. A charter was immediately obtained, and when the Association was organized, Mrs. Pomeroy was chosen President.

Almost entirely by her exertions, a building for the Asylum was obtained, as well as some condemned hospital furniture, which was to be sold at auction by the Government, but was instead transferred--a most useful gift--to the Asylum.

But when the time came, about the 1st of June, 1863, for the Association to be put in possession of the buildings and grounds assigned them, Mrs. Pomeroy was too ill to receive the keys, and the Secretary took her place. She was never able to look upon the fruit of her labors. Again, she had exhausted her feeble powers, and she was never more to rally.

A slow fever followed, which at last assumed the form of typhoid. She lingered on, slightly better at times, until the 17th of July, when preparations were completed for removing her to the Geneva Water Cure, and she started upon her last journey. She went by water, and arrived at New York very comfortably, leaving there again on the boat for Albany, on the morning of the 20th. But death overtook her before even this portion of the journey was finished. She died upon the passage, on the afternoon of July 20th, 1863. After her life of usefulness and devotion, her name at last stands high upon the roll of martyr-women, whom this war has made.

MARIA R. MANN.

Among 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 Ohio.

Miss Mann, is a native of Massachusetts, and spent the greater portion of her mature life previous to the war, as a teacher. In this, her chosen profession, she attained a high position, and for a number of years taught in the High Schools. As a teacher she was highly esteemed for her varied and accurate knowledge, the care and minuteness with which she imparted instruction to her pupils, the high moral and religious principle which controlled her actions, and made her life an example of truth and goodness to her pupils, and for her enthusiastic interest in the cause of education, of freedom and justice for the slave, and of philanthropy and humanity towards the orphan, the prisoner, the outcast, the oppressed and the poor, to whom her heart went out in kindly sympathies, and in prayer and effort for the improvement of their condition.

During the first year of the rebellion, she left all her pleasant associations in New England, and came out to St. Louis, that she might be nearer to the scene of conflict, and aid in the work of the Western Sanitary Commission, and in nursing the sick and wounded soldiers, with whom the hospitals at St. Louis were crowded that year. On her arrival, she was duly commissioned by Mr. Yeatman, (the agent of Miss Dix for the employment of women nurses), and entered upon her duties in the Fifth Street Hospital.

For several months, she devoted herself to this work with great fidelity and patience, and won the gratitude of many a poor sufferer by her kindness, and the respect of the surgeons, by her good judgment and her blended gentleness and womanly dignity.

Late in the fall of 1862, the Western Sanitary Commission was moved to establish an agency at Helena, Ark., for the special relief of several hundred colored families at that military post who had gathered there from the neighboring country, and from the opposite shore in Mississippi, as a place of refuge from their rebel owners. It was at that time a miserable refuge, for the post was commanded by pro-slavery Generals, who succeeded the humane and excellent Major-General Curtis, who was unfortunately relieved of his command, and transferred to St. Louis, in consequence of slanders against him at Washington, which some of his pro-slavery subordinates had been busy in fabricating; and the free papers which he gave to the colored people were violated; they were subjected to all manner of cruelties and hardships; they were put under a forced system of labor; driven by mounted orderlies to work on the fortifications, and to unload steamboats and coal barges; and discharged at night without compensation, or a comfortable shelter. No proper record was kept of their services, and most of them never received any pay for months of incessant toil. They were compelled to camp together in the outskirts of the town, in huts and condemned tents, and the rations issued to them were cut down to a half ration for the women and children; so that they were neither well fed nor sheltered properly from the weather, while they were entirely destitute of comfortable clothing, and were without the means of purchasing new. Subjected to this treatment, very great sickness and mortality prevailed among them. In the miserable building assigned them for a hospital, which was wholly unprovided with hospital furniture and bedding, and without regular nurses or attendants, they were visited once a day by a contract surgeon, who merely looked in upon them, administered a little medicine, and left them to utter neglect and misery. Here they died at a fearful rate, and their dead bodies were removed from the miserable pallet of straw, or the bare floor where they had breathed their last, and buried in rude coffins, and sometimes coffinless, in a low piece of ground near by. The proportion of deaths, was about seventy-five percent. of all who were carried sick to this miserable place, so that the colored people became greatly afraid of being sent to the hospital, considering it the same as going to a certain death; and many of them refused to go, even in the last stages of sickness, and died in their huts, and in and out of the very places into which they had crawled for concealment, neglected and alone.

This state of things was fully known to the Generals commanding, and to the medical director, and the army surgeons at Helena, without the least effort being made on their part towards their improvement or alleviation. From August, 1862, to January, 1863, they continued to suffer in this manner, until the printed report and appeal of the chaplains at Helena for aid, brought some voluntary contributions of clothing, and secured the attention of the Western Sanitary Commission, at St. Louis, to the great need of help at Helena, for the "contrabands."

It was at this juncture that the Commission proposed to Miss Mann to go to Helena, and act the part of the Good Samaritan to the colored people who had congregated there; to establish a hospital for the sick among them; to supply them with clothing and other necessaries, and in all possible ways to improve their condition. The offer was readily accepted by her, and in the month of January she arrived at Helena, with an ample supply of sanitary goods and clothing, and with letters commending her to the protection and aid of the commanding general, and to the chaplain of the post, (who now furnishes this sketch from his memory), and to the superintendent of freedmen, who welcomed her as a providential messenger whom God had sent to his neglected and suffering poor.

The passage from St. Louis to Helena, a distance of six hundred miles, in mid-winter, at a time when the steamers were fired on by guerrillas from the shore, and sometimes captured, was made by Miss Mann, unattended, and without knowing where she would find a shelter when she arrived. The undertaking was attended with difficulty and danger, and many obstacles were to be overcome, but the brave spirit of this noble woman knew no such word as fail. Fortunately, the post chaplain, who had been detailed to a service requiring clerks, was able to receive Miss Mann, provide rooms for her, give her a place at the mess board, and render useful aid in her work. He remembers with a grateful interest how bravely she encountered every difficulty, and persevered in her humane undertaking, until almost every evil the colored people suffered was removed. A new hospital building was secured, furnished, and provided with good surgeons and nurses, and the terrible sickness and mortality reduced to the minimum per-centage of the best regulated hospitals; a new and better camping ground was obtained, and buildings erected for shelter; a school for the children was established, and the women taught how to cut and make garments, and advised and instructed how to live and be useful to themselves and their families. Material for clothing was furnished them, which they made up for themselves. As the season of spring came, the able-bodied men were enlisted as soldiers, by a new order of the Government; those who were not fit for the military service were hired by the new lessees of the plantations, and the condition of the colored people was changed from one of utter misery and despair, to one of thrift, improvement and comparative happiness.

In all these changes Miss Mann was a moving spirit, and with the co-operation of the chaplains, and the friendly sanction and aid of Major-General Prentiss--who on his arrival in February, 1863, introduced a more humane treatment of the freed people--she was able to fulfil her benevolent mission, and remained till the month of August of that year.

The heroism of Miss Mann during the winter season at Helena, was a marvel to us all. It was an exceedingly rainy winter, and the streets were often knee deep with mud. The town is built on a level, marshy region of bottom land, and for weeks the roads became almost impassable, and had to be waded on horseback, or the levee followed, and causeways had to be built by the military. But Miss Mann was not to be prevented by these difficulties from visiting the "Contraband Hospital," as it was called, and from going her rounds to the families of the poor colored people who needed her advice and assistance. I have often taken her myself in an open wagon with which we carried the mail bags to and from the steamers--having charge of the military post-office--and conveyed her from place to place, when the wheels would sink almost to the hubs, and returned with her to her quarters; and on several occasions when she had gone on foot when the side-walks were dry, and she came to a crossing that required deep wading, I have known her to call some stout black man to her aid, to carry her across, and set her down on the opposite sidewalk. In these cases the service was rendered with true politeness and gallantry, and with the remark, "Bress the Lord, missus, it's no trouble to carry you troo de mud, and keep your feet dry, you who does so much for us black folks. You's light as a fedder, anyhow, and de good Lord gibs you a wonderful sight of strength to go 'bout dis yere muddy town, to see de poor culled folks, and gib medicines to the sick, and feed the hungry, and clothe de naked, and I bress de good Lord dat he put it into your heart to come to Helena."

In the autumn of 1863 Miss Mann felt that her work in Helena was accomplished, and she returned to St. Louis, the colored people greatly lamenting her departure. In her work there she not only had the co-operation and assistance of the Western Sanitary Commission, but of many benevolent ladies in New England, personal friends of Miss Mann and others, who, through Rev. Dr. Eliot of St. Louis, supplied a large portion of the funds that were necessary to defray the expenses of our mission.

A new call to a theatre of usefulness in Washington City, in the District of Columbia, now came to Miss Mann, to become the teacher of a colored orphan asylum, which she accepted, where she devoted her energies to the welfare of the children of those who in the army, or in some other service to their country and race have laid down their lives, and left their helpless offspring to be cared for by Him, who hears even the young ravens when they cry, and moves human hearts to fulfil the ministry of his love; and who by his Spirit is moving the American people to do justly to the freed people of this land, and to make reparation for the oppression and wrong they have endured for so many generations.

After rendering a useful and excellent service as a teacher in the Colored Orphan Asylum at Washington, she was induced by the colored people, who greatly appreciated her work for their children, to establish an independent school in Georgetown. Friends at the North purchased a portable building for a school-house; the Freedmen's Bureau offered her a lot of ground to put it on, but not being in the right locality she rented one, and the building was sent to her, and has been beautifully fitted up for the purpose. The school has been successfully established, and under her excellent management, teaching, and discipline, it has become a model school. Intelligent persons visiting it are impressed by the perfect order maintained, and the advancement of the scholars in knowledge and good behaviour.

Miss Mann has made many personal sacrifices in establishing and carrying forward this school without government patronage or support, and the only fear concerning it is that the colored people will not be able from their limited resources to sustain it. It is her wish to prepare her scholars to become teachers of other colored schools, a work she is amply and remarkably qualified to do, and one in which she would be sustained by philanthropic aid, if the facts were known to those who feel the importance of all such efforts for the education and improvement of the colored people of this country, in the new position upon which they have entered as free citizens of the republic.

Among the gratifying results which Miss Mann has found in this work of instruction among the colored people are the rapid improvement she has witnessed among them, the capacity and eagerness with which they pursue the acquisition of knowledge, the gratitude they have evinced to her, and the consciousness that she has contributed to their welfare and happiness.

As a noble, self-sacrificing woman, devoted to the service of her fellow-beings, and endowed with the best attributes of human nature, Miss Mann deserves the title of a Christian philanthropist, and her life and labors will be remembered with gratitude, and the blessing of him that was ready to perish, and of those who had no helper, will follow her all the remainder of her days.

SARAH J. HAGAR

It 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 climate of the lower Mississippi, while engaged in the arduous work of ministering to the physical wants and the education of the freed people, who in the winter and spring of 1864, had gathered in camps around Vicksburg, and along the Louisiana shore.

Miss Hagar was the eldest daughter of Mrs. C. C. Hagar, who also was one of the army of heroic nurses who served in the hospitals of St. Louis during the greater part of the war. For many months they had served together in the same hospital, and by their faithfulness and careful ministrations to the sick and wounded soldier had won the highest confidence of the Western Sanitary Commission, by whose President they were appointed.

During the fall of 1863 the National Freedmen's Aid Commission of New York, under the presidency of Hon. Francis G. Shaw, sent two agents, Messrs. William L. Marsh and H. R. Foster, to Vicksburg, to establish an agency there, and at Natchez, for the aid of the freed people, in furnishing supplies of food and clothing to the destitute, and establishing schools for the children of the freedmen, and for such adults as could attend, and to help them in all possible ways to enter upon the new and better civilization that awaited them. In this work the Western Sanitary Commission co-operated, and Messrs. Marsh and Foster wrote to the writer of this sketch, then acting as Secretary of the above Commission, to send them several teachers and assistants in their work. Among those who volunteered for the service was Miss Hagar, who was wanted in another situation in St. Louis, but preferred this more arduous work for the freedmen.

The reasons she gave for her choice were, that she was well and strong, and felt a real interest in the welfare of the freed people; that she had no prejudices against them, and that while there were enough who were willing to fill the office of nurse to the white soldiers, it was more difficult to get those who would render equal kindness and justice to the black troops, and to the freed people, and therefore she felt it her duty and pleasure to go. She was accordingly commissioned, and with Miss A. M. Knight, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, (another worthy laborer in the same cause) went down the river to Vicksburg, in the winter of 1864.

For several months she labored there with untiring devotion to the interests and welfare of the colored people, under the direction of Messrs. Marsh and Foster. No task was too difficult for her to undertake that promised good results, and in danger of all kinds, whether from disease, or from the assaults of the enemy, she never lost her presence of mind, nor was wanting in the requisite courage for that emergency. In person she was above the medium height, and had a face beaming with kindness, and pleasant to look upon. Her mind had received a good degree of culture, and her natural intelligence was of a high order. And better than all within her earthly form dwelt a noble and heroic soul.

Late in April of that year, she had an attack of malarial fever, which prostrated her very suddenly, and just in the proportion that she had been strong and apparently well fortified against disease, it took a deep hold of her vital powers, and on the 3d of May, she yielded to the fell destroyer, and breathed no more.

The following tribute to her character, is taken from the letter of Mr. Marsh, in which he communicated the sad tidings of her death.

"In her death the National Freedmen's Aid Association, has lost a most earnest, devoted, Christian laborer. She entered upon her duties at a time of great suffering and destitution among the Freedmen at Vicksburg, and when we were much in need of aid. The fidelity with which she performed her labors, and the deep interest she manifested in them soon endeared her to us all. We shall miss her sorely; but the noble example she has left us will encourage us to greater efforts, and more patient toil. She seemed also to realize the magnitude and importance of this work upon which she had entered, and the need of Divine assistance in its performance. She seemed also to realize what sacrifice might be demanded of one engaged in a work like this, and the summons, although sudden, did not find her unprepared to meet it. She has done a noble work, and done it well.

"The sacrifice she made is the greatest one that can be made for any cause, the sacrifice of life. 'Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' She has gone to receive her reward."

Her remains were brought to her native town in Illinois, and deposited there, where the blessed memory she has left among her friends and kindred, is cherished with heartfelt reverence and affection.

MRS. JOSEPHINE R. GRIFFIN.

If 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 and culture, has always been remarkable for her energy and resolution, as well as for her philanthropic zeal for the poor and oppressed. The beginning of the war found her a widow, with, we believe, three children, all daughters, in Washington, D. C. Of these daughters, the eldest has a position in the Treasury Department, a second has for some time assisted her mother in her labors, and the youngest is in school. Mrs. Griffin was too benevolent ever to be rich, and when the freedmen and their families began to concentrate in the District of Columbia, and on Arlington Heights, across the Potomac, she sought them out, and made the effort to ameliorate their condition. At that time they hardly knew whether they were to be permanently free or not, and massed together as they were, their old slave habits of recklessness, disorder, and over-crowding soon gained the predominance, and showed their evil effect in producing a fearful amount of sickness and death. They were not, with comparatively few exceptions, indolent; but they had naturally lapsed into the easy, slovenly methods, or rather want of method of the old slave life, and a few were doing the greater part of what was done. They were mere children in capacity, will and perseverance. Mrs. Griffin, with her intensely energetic nature, soon effected a change. Order took the place of disorder, under her direction; new cabins were built, neatness and system maintained, till their good effects were so apparent, that the freedmen voluntarily pursued the course advised by their teacher and friend; all who were able to do any work were provided as far as possible with employment, and schools for the children in the day time, and for adults in the evening, were established. In this good work she received material assistance from that devoted young Christian now gone to his rest, the late Cornelius M. Welles. After awhile, the able-bodied men were enlisted in the army, and the stronger and healthier women provided with situations in many instances at the North, and the children, and feeble, decrepit men and women, could not perform work enough for their maintenance. Mrs. Griffin began to solicit aid for them, and carried them through one winter by the assistance she was able to collect, and by what she gave from her own not over-full purse. Some land was now allotted to them, and by the utmost diligence they were enabled to provide almost entirely for themselves, till autumn; but meantime the Act of Emancipation in the District of Columbia had drawn thither some thousands of people of color from the adjacent states of Maryland and Virginia. All looked up to Mrs. Griffin as their special Providence. She was satisfied that it was better for them, as far as possible, to find places and work in the Northern States, than to remain there, where employment was precarious, and where the excessive number of workers had reduced the wages of such as could find employment. She accordingly commenced an extensive correspondence, to obtain from persons at the North in want of servants, orders for such as could be supplied from the colored people residing in the District of Columbia. Having completely systematized the matter, she has been in the habit, for nearly two years past, of leaving Washington once or twice a week, with a company of colored persons, for whom she had obtained situations in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, or smaller cities, paying their fare, providing them with food on the journey, and at its termination until she could put them into the families who had engaged them, and then returning to make up another company. The cost of these expeditions she has provided almost entirely from her own means, her daughters who have imbibed their mother's spirit, helping as far as possible in this noble work. In the autumn of 1865 she found that notwithstanding all for whom she could provide situations, there were likely to be not less than twenty thousand colored persons, freedmen and their families, in a state of complete destitution before the 1st of December, and she published in the Washington and other papers, an appeal to the benevolent to help. The Freedmen's Bureau at first denied the truth of her statements, but further investigation convinced them that she was right, and they were wrong, and Congress was importuned for an appropriation for their necessities. Twenty-five thousand dollars were appropriated, and its distribution left to the Freedmen's Bureau. It would have been more wisely distributed had it been entrusted to Mrs. Griffin, as she was more thoroughly cognizant of the condition and real wants of the people than the Bureau could be. Mrs. Griffin has pursued her work of providing situations for the freedmen, and watching over their interests to the present time; and so long as life and health lasts, she is not likely to give it up.

MRS. M. M. HALLOWELL.

The 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 with great peril, to escape to the Union army, where they became valuable soldiers, and by their thorough knowledge of the country and their skill in wood-craft rendered important service as scouts and pioneers. Whenever they escaped the Rebels visited them, their houses were plundered, their cattle and other live stock seized, and if the house was in a Rebel neighborhood or in a secluded situation, it was burned and the wife and children driven out penniless, and often maltreated, outraged or murdered. If they escaped with their lives they were obliged to hide in the caves or woods by day, and travel often hundreds of miles by night, to reach the Union lines. They came in, wearied, footsore, in rags, and often sick and nearly dead from starvation. When they reached Nashville, or Knoxville after it came into our possession, they were in need of all things; shelter, food, clothing, medicine and care. A few of them were well educated; the majority were illiterate so far as book knowledge was concerned, but intelligent and thoughtful on the subject of loyalty and the war; not a few were almost reduced to a state of fatuity by their sufferings, and seemed to have lost all distinct consciousness of what was occurring around them. Nashville and Knoxville a little later, Memphis, Cairo, St. Louis, and Louisville swarmed with these poor loyal people, and efforts were made in each city to aid them. In the Northern cities large contributions of money and clothing were made for their relief. In Boston, Edward Everett, ever ready to aid the suffering, gave the great influence of his name, as well as his personal efforts, (almost the last act of his well-spent life) in raising a liberal fund for their help. In New York, Brooklyn and other cities, efforts were made which resulted in large contributions. In Philadelphia, Mrs. M. M. Hallowell, a lady of high position and great energy, appealed to the public for aid for these unfortunate people, and Governor Curtin and many other State and National official personages, gave their influence and contributions to the work. A large amount of money and stores having been collected, Mrs. Hallowell and a committee of ladies from Philadelphia visited Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Huntsville to distribute their stores in person. The journey undertaken early in May, 1864, was not unattended with danger; for, though General Sherman had commenced his great march toward Atlanta, Forrest, Morgan and Wheeler were exerting themselves to cut his communications and break up his connection with his base. Along some portions of the route the guerrillas swarmed, and more than once the cars were delayed by reports of trouble ahead. The courageous ladies, however, pushed forward and received from the generals in command the most hearty welcome, and all the facilities they required for their mission. They found that the suffering of the loyal refugees had not been exaggerated; that in many cases their misery was beyond description, and that from hunger, cold, nakedness, the want of suitable shelter, and the prevalence of malignant typhoid fever, measles, scarlet fever and the other diseases which usually prevail among the wretched and starving poor, very many had died, and others could not long survive. They distributed their stores freely yet judiciously, arranged to aid a home and farm for Refugees and Orphans which had been established near Nashville, and to render future assistance to those in need at Knoxville, Chattanooga, &c., and returned to Philadelphia. Mrs. Hallowell visited them again in the autumn, and continued her labors for them till after the close of the war. The Home for Refugees and Orphans near Nashville, formed a part of the battle ground in the siege and battles of Nashville in December, 1864, and was completely ruined for the time. Some new buildings of a temporary character were subsequently erected, but the close of the war soon rendered its further occupation unnecessary.

Mrs. Hallowell's earnest and continued labors for the refugees drew forth from the loyal men and women of East Tennessee letters full of gratitude and expressive of the great benefits she had conferred on them. Colonel N. G. Taylor, representative in Congress from East Tennessee, and one of the most eloquent speakers and writers in the West, among others, addressed her an interesting and touching letter of thanks for what she had done for his persecuted and tried constituents, from which we quote a single paragraph.

"Accept, my dear madam, for yourself and those associated with you, the warmest thanks of their representative, for the noble efforts you have been and are making for the relief of my poor, afflicted, starving people. Most of the men of East Tennessee are bleeding at the front for our country (this letter was written before the close of the war) whilst their wives and little ones are dying of starvation at home. They are worthy of your sympathy and your labor, for they have laid all their substance upon the altar of our country and have sacrificed everything they had for their patriotism."

OTHER FRIENDS OF THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

In 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. Governor Hawley of Connecticut was among the first to instruct them at Fernandina and Hilton Head. Miss Gilson devoted nearly the whole of the last year of her service in the army to the freedmen and the hospital for colored soldiers. In the West, Mrs. Lucy E. Starr, while Matron of the Soldiers' Home at Memphis, bestowed a large amount of labor on the Refugees who were congregated in great numbers in that city. Mrs. Clinton B. Fisk, the wife of the gallant Christian, General Fisk, exerted herself to collect clothing, money and supplies for the Refugees, black and white, at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and distributed it to them in person. Mrs. H. F. Hoes and Miss Alice F. Royce of Wisconsin, were very active in instructing and aiding the children of Refugees at Rolla, Missouri, in 1864 and 1865. Mrs. John S. Phelps established with the aid of a few other ladies a school for the children of Refugees at Springfield, Missouri, and Mrs. Mary A. Whitaker, an excellent and efficient teacher, had charge of it for two years.

At Leavenworth and Fort Scott, large and well conducted schools for the children of Refugees and Freedmen were established, and several teachers employed, one of them, Mrs. Nettie C. Constant, at Leavenworth, winning a very high reputation for her faithfulness and skill as a teacher.

The Western Sanitary Commission, the National Freedmen's Relief Association, Relief Societies in Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and elsewhere, and later the American Union Commission, were all engaged in labor for either the Freedmen or the Refugees or both.

All these organizations employed or supported teachers, an all worked in remarkable harmony. At Vicksburg the Western Sanitary Commission sent, in the spring of 1864, Miss G. D. Chapman of Exeter, Maine, to take charge of a school for the children of Refugees, of whom there were large numbers there. Miss Chapman served very faithfully for some months, and then was compelled by her failing health, to return home. The Commission then appointed Miss Sarah E. M. Lovejoy, daughter of Hon. Owen Lovejoy, to take charge of the school. It soon became one of the largest in the South, and was conducted with great ability by Miss Lovejoy till the close of the War.

The National Freedmen's Relief Association had, at the same time, a school for Freedmen and the children of Freedmen there, and Miss Mary E. Sheffield, a most faithful and accomplished teacher from Norwich, Connecticut, was in charge of it. The climate, the Rebel prejudices and the indifference or covert opposition to the school of those from whom better things might have been expected, made the position one of great difficulty and responsibility; but Miss Sheffield was fully equal to the work, and continued in it with great usefulness until late in May, 1865, when finding herself seriously ill she attempted to return North, but on reaching Memphis was too ill to proceed farther, and died there on the 5th of June, 1865, a martyr to her faithfulness and zeal.

In Helena, a Refugee Home was established by the Western Sanitary Commission, and Mrs. Sarah Coombs, a benevolent and excellent lady of that town, placed in charge of it. At Nashville, Tennessee, the Nashville Refugee Relief Society, under the management of Mrs. Mary R. Fogg, established a Refugees' Home which was aided by the Western Sanitary Commission, the Philadelphia ladies, and other associations. At Little Rock, Arkansas, was another Home which did good service. But the most extensive institution of this description, was the Refugee and Freedmen's Home at St. Louis, occupying the Lawson Hospital in that city, and established by the Western Sanitary Commission with the co-operation of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Ladies' Freedmen's Relief Association. Mrs. H. M. Weed was its efficient matron, and was supported by a staff of six or seven assistants and teachers. Over three thousand Refugees were received and aided here in the six months from February to July, 1865, and both children and adults were taught not only elementary studies but housework, cooking and laundry work; the women were paid moderate wages with which to clothe themselves and their children, and were taught some of the first lessons of a better civilization. In the superintendence of this good work, Mrs. Alfred Clapp, the President of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, Mrs. Joseph Crawshaw, an active member of that Society, Mrs. Lucien Eaton, the President of the Ladies' Freedmen's Association, and Mrs. N. Stevens, one of the managers of that Society, were assiduous and faithful.

There were great numbers of other ladies equally efficient in the Freedmen's Schools and Homes in the Atlantic States, but their work was mainly under the direction of the Freedmen's Relief, and subsequently of the American Union Commission, and it is not easy to obtain from them accounts of the labors of particular individuals. The record of the women who have labored faithfully, and not a few of them to the loss of their health or lives in work which was in some respects even more repulsive to the natural sensibilities than that in the hospitals, if smaller in numbers, is not less honorable than that of their sisters in the hospitals.

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Part V

LADIES DISTINGUISHED FOR SERVICES IN SOLDIERS' HOMES, VOLUNTEER REFRESHMENT SALOONS, ON GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL TRANSPORTS, ETC.

MRS. O. E. HOSMER.

At 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 from them, willing to perish themselves, if the national life might be preserved.

Her first sacrifice was that of two of her sons, whom she gave to the service of the country in the army. Then, to use her own words, "feeling a burning desire to aid personally in the work, I did not wait to hear of sufferings I have since so often witnessed, but determined, as God had given me health and a good husband to provide for me, to go forth as a volunteer and do whatever my hands found to do." Few perhaps will ever know to the full extent, how much the soldier benefited by this resolve.

To such a spirit, waiting and ardent, opportunities were not long in presenting themselves. Mrs. Hosmer's first experiences, away from home, were at Tipton, and Smithtown, Missouri. This was early in the winter of 1862, only a few months after the commencement of the War; but as all will remember there had already been desperate campaigns, and hard fighting in Missouri, and there were the usual consequences, devastation, want and suffering to be met on all sides.

At this time the effects of that beneficent and excellent institution, the Northwestern Sanitary Commission, had not been felt at all points where need existed; for the field was vast, and even with the wonderful charities of the great Northwest, pouring into its treasury and store-houses, with a powerful organization, and scores of willing hands and brains at command, time was necessary to enable it to assume that sort of omnipresence which afterward caused it to be found in all places where battles were fought, or hospitals erected, or men suffered from the casualties of war, throughout that great territory.

Mrs. Hosmer found the hospitals at Tipton and Smithtown in the worst possible condition, and the men suffering for almost everything required for their comfort. This, under the circumstances, caused no surprise, for medical stores were not readily available at points so remote. But Mrs. Hosmer had the pleasure of causing a large box of Sanitary stores and comforts to be sent them by the kind and efficient agent at St. Louis, which she helped to distribute. She was thus enabled to leave them in a much more comfortable condition.

On her return to Chicago, a number of influential ladies residing there, formed an association to which the name of the "Ladies' War Committee" was given. Mrs. Hosmer was appointed secretary of this organization.

This association was very useful and efficient, and met daily to work for the soldiers, particularly in making up garments for the Regiments sent out by the Board of Trade of Chicago.

When these, the Eighty-eighth and Seventy-second Illinois Regiments, and the Board of Trade Battery, participated in any battle, they volunteered to go and look after the wounded. The first volunteers were sent out upon this charitable mission after the battle of Stone River, about the 1st of January, 1863, when two ladies, Mrs. Hosmer and Mrs. Smith Tinkham proceeded to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with a large quantity of supplies. They remained there, in constant and unwearied attendance upon the large number of wounded from this important battle, for nine or ten weeks.

The writer of this sketch was at that time in Chicago, and well remembers the return of these ladies from this errand of mercy, and the simple pathos of the report they then made, to the Board of Trade, of their work and their stewardship of the funds entrusted to them by that body for the expenses of the expedition, and the use of the wounded.

As these ladies were the first volunteers upon the ground, they were warmly welcomed by the medical director and surgeons, and their services at once rendered available both in the preparation of delicacies for the sufferers, and in personal attendance upon them. Here Mrs. Hosmer met with a most singular and touching incident. A soldier who had been wounded in the leg, and taken prisoner, had his leg amputated by a Rebel surgeon. He was afterwards recaptured, and being found in a dreadful and dangerous condition, had to suffer a second amputation. It was only by the closest and best of care that there remained a possibility that his life might be saved; and this the surgeon in charge requested of Mrs. Hosmer.

On approaching his bed, Mrs. Hosmer was almost painfully struck by his strong resemblance to one of her sons, while he was at the same instant, bewildered and excited by discovering in her an equally strong likeness to the mother he was never to see again.

It need hardly be said that this accidental likeness caused a strong bond of feeling between those till that moment utter strangers. The soldier begged to be allowed to call the lady mother, and she was only too glad to minister to him as she hoped some kind soul might do to the son he resembled, should an hour of need occur. She found him to be an educated and intelligent young man. She did for him all she could, and watched and tended him with real devotion, but in vain. It was found impossible to save him; and when he was gone, she performed the last of her sad offices, by cutting from above his brow a mass of clustering, raven curls, which she enclosed in a letter to his mother, telling her all she knew of her boy's bravery, and his fate.

These days at Murfreesboro were days of hard labor, but of great satisfaction. There had been more than five thousand men in hospital, but these were thinned out by deaths, convalescence, etc., until but few remained. Then Mrs. Hosmer and her friend returned to their home.

The following summer that admirable and most useful institution, the "Soldiers' Home," was established in Chicago, and Mrs. Hosmer was appointed first vice-president.

This "Home" occupied much of her time for the following year. In connection with this was the Soldiers' Rest, where hundreds, and sometimes thousands of men, in transitu, were furnished with good warm meals, and with lodging for the sick, to the extent of its accommodations. This was entirely sustained and carried on by the ladies of Chicago, and Mrs. Hosmer often passed entire days and nights there, in these labors of love.

After the battle of Chickamauga she again felt it a duty and privilege to proceed to the field, on a mission of mercy. Her friend, Mrs. Tinkham, again accompanied her. As they neared Chattanooga, they were unfortunately taken prisoners. They suffered much fatigue, and many privations, but no other ill-treatment, though they were, a part of the time, in great danger from the shells which were exploding all about them. They were however soon recaptured, and proceeded on their way.

Having lost their supplies, however, they found they could be of little service. Provisions were very scarce, as in fact were all necessaries, both for the wounded and well. Therefore, being provided with an escort, they slowly retraced their way, and, after a disastrous and fatiguing journey, arrived in Chicago, completely worn and exhausted, and without the cheering influence of the consciousness of having accomplished much good by their efforts.

From this time, with the exception of occasional trips to Cairo, to look after the sick and wounded there, Mrs. Hosmer remained in Chicago, laboring for the soldiers at the "Home" and "Rest," until the close of the year, 1864. The "Northwestern Sanitary and Soldiers' Home Fair," was then in contemplation, and was to take place in June, 1865. Mrs. Hosmer had been appointed one of the Executive Committee, and Corresponding Secretary of the organization, which had the mammoth fair in charge.

In pursuance of the objects in view, she then went down the Mississippi River, to solicit donations of money and articles for the fair. Thinking she could materially aid the object, by visiting hospitals, and giving her testimony that supplies were still needed, she paid particular attention to this part of her duty, and visited nearly every hospital from Cairo to New Orleans. She had the satisfaction of raising about five thousand dollars in money for the fair, besides obtaining a variety and large amount of valuable articles for sale. She also had the pleasure of causing supplies to be sent, at that time, to points where they were much needed.

She was at Vicksburg when five thousand emaciated wrecks of manhood from the prisons of Andersonville and Catawba, were brought thither to be exchanged, and often visited their camp and aided in distributing the supplies so greatly needed.

Many a time her kind heart was bursting with pain and sympathy for these suffering men, many of whom had been tortured and starved till already beyond the reach of help. But she was to see still greater horrors, when, as the culmination of their fate, the steamer Sultana, on which their homeward passage was taken, exploded, and, she, being near, beheld hundreds who had escaped the sufferings of the prison pens, drawn from the water, dying or dead, drowned or scalded, in that awful accident. As she says, herself, her heart was nearly broken by this dreadful sight.

Mrs. Hosmer returned to Chicago, and did not cease her labors until the Soldiers' Rest was closed, and the war ended. For about four years she gave untiring devotion to the cause, and few have accomplished more real, earnest and persistent service. Since the close of the war, Mrs. Hosmer has become a resident of New York, though she is, at this present writing, established at St. Paul, Minnesota, in charge of a sick son, who seeks the recovery of his health in that bracing climate.

MISS HATTIE WISWALL.

Miss 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 went through the same experience to which so many brave women, fresh from the quiet and happy scenes of their peaceful homes, have been willing to subject themselves for the sake of humanity. Sensitive and delicate though she was, she acquired here, by constant attention to her duties, a coolness in the presence of appalling sights that we have rarely seen equaled even in the stronger sex, and which, when united with a tender sympathy, as in her case, makes the model nurse. The feeling of horror which shrinks from the sight of agony and vents itself in vapid exclamations, she rightly deemed had no place in the character of one who proposes to do anything. So putting this aside she learned to be happy in the hospital, and consequently made others happy. Never in our observation has this first condition of success in nursing been so completely met. It became so intense a satisfaction to her to lessen, in ever so slight a degree, the misery of a sick or wounded soldier that the horror of the case seemed never to occur to her. It was often remarked that "Miss Hattie was never quite so happy as when administering medicine or dressing a wound."

From Benton Barracks she was ordered in the autumn of 1863 to Nashville, Tennessee, where she remained a short time and was then ordered to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to assist in conducting a Soldiers' Home. Here she remained until the close of the war. How faithfully she discharged her duties, first as assistant and then as principal Matron, the one hundred and fifteen thousand guests who were entertained there during her stay know, and the living can testify. Her position for much of the time was an extremely responsible and laborious one, the capacities of the Home being sometimes extended to the accommodation of six hundred men, and averaging, for nearly the whole period of her stay, two hundred daily. The multiplicity of duties in the charge of the household affairs of such an institution, with the uncertain assistance to be found in such a place, may be better imagined than told. Under her satisfactory management the Vicksburg Home acquired an enviable reputation, and was the favorite stopping-place on the river. The great difficulty in conducting a Soldiers' Home in time of war, as every one knows who has been connected with one, is to keep it neat and clean, to have the floors, the tables, the beds sufficiently respectable to remind the soldier of the home he has left. Nothing but ceaseless vigilance could do this at Vicksburg, as men were constantly arriving from filthy camps, and still filthier prisons, covered not with greenbacks but with what was known there as the rebel "currency." But on any one of the hundreds of beds that filled the dormitories of this Home our most fastidious reader could have slept in peace and safety; and, but for the fact that the bill of fare was mostly limited to the army ration, could have set down at any of the tables and enjoyed a meal.

The good work of Miss Wiswall in Vicksburg was not confined to the Soldiers' Home. She did not forget the freedmen, but was true to the teachings of her uncles, the great and good Lovejoys. Of the sufferings of these poor people she had opportunity to see much, and often did her sympathies lead her beyond the sphere of her ordinary duties, to carry food and clothing and medicine to such as were ready to perish.

In these charities, which were extended also to the white refugees, Miss Wiswall did not lose sight of the direct line of her duty, the work she had set out to do. The needs of the loyal soldier took precedence in her mind of all others. No service so delighted her as this, and to none was she so well fitted.

We remember after the calamitous Red River expedition, boat-load after boat-load of the wounded were sent up to Vicksburg. As soon as they touched the shore, our friend and her companions met the poor fellows stretched upon the decks and scattered through the cabins and around the engines, with words of womanly cheer, and brought the delicacies and refreshments prepared by thoughtful hands at home. Many a brave man will remember to his dying day how he shed tears of joy at sight of the first true Northern woman's face that met him after that toilsome, disastrous march.

At length a boat-load of the severely wounded were about to be sent up the river to Northern hospitals, or on furlough to go to their homes. The surgeon in charge desired the aid of a competent lady assistant; and Miss Wiswall obtained temporary leave of absence to accompany him and help take care of the sufferers. Her influence, we were told, was inspiriting to all on board. She was once more in hospital and entirely at home. At Cairo, where a portion of the wounded were discharged, she took charge of an officer, whose limb had been amputated, and saw him safely to his home in Elgin, Illinois. Making her friends in Chicago a brief visit, she returned to her duties at Vicksburg, where she remained until, with the close of the war, the Soldiers' Home was discontinued about the 1st of June, 1865.

MRS. LUCY E. STARR.

In 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 she entered at once upon her duties as a nurse in the Fifth Street Hospital at St. Louis, which was in charge of the excellent Dr. John T. Hodgen, an eminent surgeon of that city.

For nearly two years Mrs. Starr served as nurse in this hospital, having charge of one of the special diet kitchens, and ministering with her own hands to the sick and wounded inmates. In these services the great kindness of her manners, the cheerful and hopeful spirit that animated her, the words of sympathy and encouragement she gave her patients, and the efficiency and excellence of everything she did won for her a large measure of esteem and confidence, and made her a favorite nurse with the authorities of the hospital, and with the sick and wounded, who received her ministrations and care. Small in stature, it was wonderful how much labor she was able to accomplish, and how she was sustained by a soul full of noble purposes and undoubting faith.

In the autumn of 1863 Mrs. Starr was needed by the Western Sanitary Commission to take the position of Matron of the Soldiers' Home at Memphis, to have charge of the domestic arrangements of the institution, and to extend a true hospitality to the many invalid soldiers going on furlough to their homes or returning to the hospitals, or to their regiments, passing through Memphis on their way. The number thus entertained sometimes reached as high as three hundred and fifty in one day. The average daily number for two years and a half was one hundred and six. When the Home was first opened, and before it was much known, the first guests were brought in by Mrs. Governor Harvey, of Wisconsin, who found them wandering in the streets, sadly in need of a kind friend to give them assistance and care. Sometimes the Superintendent, Mr. O. E. Waters, would have from twenty to thirty discharged, furloughed and invalid soldiers to aid, in collecting their pay, procuring transportation, many of whom he found lying on the hard pavements in the streets and on the bluff near the steamboat landing, in a helpless condition, with no friend to assist them. The object of the Soldiers' Home was to take care of such, give them food and lodging without charge, make them welcome while they stayed, and send them rejoicing on their way.

In the internal management of this institution, and in the kind hospitality extended to the soldiers Mrs. Starr was doing a congenial work. For two years she filled this position with great fidelity and success, and to the highest satisfaction of those who placed her here, and of all who were the guests of the Home. At the end of this service, on the closing of the Home, the Superintendent in his final report to the Western Sanitary Commission, makes this acknowledgment of her services:

"It would not only be improper but unjust, not to speak of the faithfulness and hearty co-operation of the excellent and much esteemed Matron, Mrs. Lucy E. Starr. Her mission has been full of trials and discouragements, yet she has patiently and uncomplainingly struggled through them all; and during my frequent absences she has cheerfully assumed the entire responsibility of the Home. Her Christian forbearance and deep devotion to the cause of humanity have won the admiration of all who have come within the sphere of her labors."

On the closing of the Soldiers' Home, Mrs. Starr became connected with an institution for the care of suffering refugees and freedmen at Memphis, under the patronage of the Freedmen's Aid Commission of Cincinnati, Ohio. She took a great interest in the thousands of this class of destitute people who had congregated in the vicinity of Memphis; visited them for weeks almost daily; and in the language of Mr. Waters' report, "administered to the sick with her own hands, going from pallet to pallet, giving nourishing food and medicines to many helpless and friendless beings."

Thus she continued to be a worker for the suffering soldiers of the Union army from the beginning to the end of the war, and when peace had come, devoted herself to the poor and suffering refugees and freedmen, whom the war had driven from their homes and reduced to misery and want. With a wonderful fortitude, endurance and heroism she persevered in her faithfulness to the end, and through the future of her life on earth and in heaven, those whom she has comforted and relieved of their sorrows and distresses will constitute for her a crown of rejoicing, and their tears of gratitude will be the brightest jewels in her diadem.

CHARLOTTE BRADFORD

This 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 the honors justly due to these noble and self-sacrificing women; but when one is called to a position of more prominent usefulness than others, and performs her duties with great ability, system and perseverance, though her merits may be no greater than those of humbler and more obscure persons, yet the public position which she assumes, renders her service so far public property, that she cannot with justice, refuse to accept the consequences of such public action or the sacrifices it entails. Holding this opinion we deem it a part of our duty to speak of Miss Bradford's public and official life. With her motives and private feelings we have no right to meddle.

So far as we can learn, Miss Bradford's first public service in connection with the Sanitary Commission, was in the Hospital Transport Corps in the waters of the Peninsula, in 1862. Here she was one of the ladies in charge of the Elm City, and afterward of the Knickerbocker, having as associates Mrs. Bailey, Miss Helen L. Gilson, Miss Amy M. Bradley, Mrs. Balustier, Miss Gardner and others.

Miss Bradley was presently called to Washington by the officers of the Sanitary Commission, to take charge of the Soldiers' Home then being established there, and Miss Bradford busied herself in other Relief work. In February following, Miss Bradley relinquished her position as Matron of the Home, to enter upon her great work of reforming and improving the Rendezvous of Distribution, which under the name of "Camp Misery," had long been the opprobrium of the War Department, and Miss Bradford was called to succeed her in charge of the Soldiers' Home at Washington. Of the efficiency and beneficence of her administration here for two and a half years there is ample testimony. Thoroughly refined and ladylike in her manners, there was a quiet dignity about her which controlled the wayward and won the respect of all. Her executive ability and administrative skill were such, that throughout the realm where she presided, everything moved with the precision and quietness of the most perfect machinery. There was no hurry, no bustle, no display, but everything was done in time and well done. To thousands of the soldiers just recovering from sickness or wounds, feeble and sometimes almost disheartened, she spoke words of cheer, and by her tender and kind sympathy, encouraged and strengthened them for the battle of life; and in all her intercourse with them she proved herself their true and sympathizing friend.

After the close of the war, Miss Bradford returned to private life at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

UNION VOLUNTEER REFRESHMENT SALOON OF PHILADELPHIA.

We 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-sacrifice and persevering patience and fidelity in which these labors were performed, demand, however, a more than incidental notice in a record like this.

No philanthropic work during the war was more thoroughly free from self-seeking, or prompted by a higher or nobler impulse than that of these Refreshment Saloons. Beginning in the very first movements of troops in the patriotic feeling which led a poor man[M] to establish his coffee boilers on the sidewalk to give a cup of hot coffee to the soldiers as they waited for the train to take them on to Washington, and in the generous impulses of women in humble life to furnish such food as they could provide for the soldier boys, it grew to be a gigantic enterprise in its results, and the humble commencement ere long developed into two rival but not hostile organizations, each zealous to do the most for the defenders of their country. Very early in the movement some men of larger means and equally earnest sympathies were attracted to it, and one of them, a thorough patriot, Samuel B. Fales, Esq., gave himself wholly to it for four and a half years. The interest of the community was excited also in the labors of these humble men and women, and the enterprise seldom lacked for funds; the zealous and earnest Chairman, Mr. Arad Barrows, and Corresponding Secretary, Mr. Fales, of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, took good care of that part of the work, and Mr. W. M. Cooper and his associates did the same for the Cooper Shop Saloon.

[Footnote M: Mr. Bazilla S. Brown]

Ample provision was made to give the regiments the benefit of a bath and an ample repast at whatever hour of day or night they might come into the city. In the four and a half years of their labors, the Volunteer Refreshment Saloon fed between eight hundred thousand and nine hundred thousand soldiers and expended about one hundred thousand dollars in money, aside from supplies. The Cooper Shop Saloon, closing a little earlier, fed about four hundred thousand men and expended nearly seventy thousand dollars. Both Saloons had hospitals attached to them for sick and wounded soldiers. The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon had, during the war, nearly fifteen thousand patients, the Cooper Shop, perhaps half that number.

But noble and patriotic as were the labors of the men connected with these Saloons, they were less deserving of the highest meed of praise than those of the women who, with a patience and fidelity which has never been surpassed, winter and summer, in cold and heat, at all hours of night as well as in the day, at the boom of the signal gun, hastened to the Refreshment Saloons and prepared those ample repasts which made Philadelphia the Mecca to which every soldier turned longingly during his years of Army life. These women were for the most part in the middle and humbler walks of life; they were accustomed to care for their own households, and do their own work; and it required no small degree of self-denial and patriotic zeal on their part, after a day of the housekeeper's never ending toil, to rise from their beds at midnight (for the trains bringing soldiers came oftener at night than in the day time), and go through the darkness or storm, a considerable distance, and toil until after sunrise at the prosaic work of cooking and dish-washing.

Of some of these noble women we have the material for brief sketches, and we know of none more deserving a place in our record.

MRS. ELIZA G. PLUMMER was a native of Philadelphia, of revolutionary stock, born in 1812, and had been a widow for nearly twenty-five years. Though possessed of but little property, she had for many years been the friend and helper of the poor, attending them in sickness, and from her scanty purse and by her exertions, securing to them a decent and respectable Christian burial when they were called to die. At the very commencement of the War, she entered into the Refreshment Saloon enterprise with a zeal and perseverance that never flagged. She was particularly devoted to the hospital, and when the accommodations of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Hospital were too limited for the number who needed relief, as was the case in 1862, she received a considerable number of the worst cases of sick or wounded soldiers into her own house, and nursed them without any compensation till they recovered. At the second fair held by the Saloon in June, 1863, she was instant in season and out of season, feeding the soldiers as well as attending the fair; and often remaining at her post till long after midnight. In July and August, 1863, she was constantly engaged in nursing the wounded from Gettysburg, who crowded the Saloon Hospitals for some time, and in supplying the needs of the poor fellows who passed through in the Hospital Cars on their way to Northern hospitals. For these she provided tea and toast always, having everything ready immediately on their arrival. These excessive labors impaired her health, and being called to nurse her aged blind mother during a severe fit of sickness, her strength failed and she sank rapidly, and died on the 21st of October, 1863. The soldier has lost no more earnest or faithful friend than she.

MRS. MARY B. WADE, a widow and now nearly eighty years of age, but a woman of remarkable energy and perseverance, was throughout the whole four and a half years, as constantly at her post, as faithful and as efficient as any of the Executive Committee of the Saloon. Suffering from slight lameness, she literally hobbled down to the Saloon with a cane, by night or day; but she was never absent. Her kind, winning and motherly ways made her always a great favorite with the soldiers, who always called her Mother Wade. She is a woman of rare conscientiousness, truthfulness and amiability of character. She is a native of Southwark, Philadelphia, and the widow of a sea-captain.

MRS. ELLEN J. LOWRY, a widow upwards of fifty years of age, a native of Baltimore, was in the beginning of the War a woman of large and powerful frame, and was surpassed by none in faithfulness and efficiency, but her labors among the wounded from Gettysburg seriously injured her health, and have rendered her, probably a permanent invalid; she suffered severely from typhoid fever, and her life was in peril in the summer of 1864.

MRS. MARGARET BOYER, a native of Philadelphia, the wife of a sea-captain, but in very humble circumstances, and advanced in years, was also one of the faithful untiring workers of the Union Saloon, but like Mrs. Lowry, lost her health by her care of the Gettysburg wounded, and those from the great battles of Grant's Campaign.

MRS. PRISCILLA GROVER and MRS. GREEN, both women about sixty years of age, were constant in their attendance and remarkably faithful in their services at the Saloon. Our record of these remarkable women of advanced age would be incomplete did we omit MRS. MARY GROVER, MRS. HANNAH SMITH, MRS. SARAH FEMINGTON and MISS SARAH HOLLAND, all noble, persevering and efficient nurses, and strongly attached to their work. Nor were the younger women lacking in skill, patience or activity. Mrs. Ellen B. Barrows, wife of the Chairman of the Saloon, though blessed with more ample means of usefulness than some of the others, was second to none in her untiring energy and persistency in the discharge of her duties both in the hospitals and the Saloon. Mrs. Eliza J. Smith, whose excessive labors have nearly cost her her life, Mrs. Mary A. Cassedy, Mrs. Kate B. Anderson, Mrs. Mary E. Field, Mrs. Emily Mason, Mrs. Anna A. Elkinton and Mrs. Hannah F. Bailey were all notable women for their steady and efficient work in the hospitals and Saloon. Of Mrs. Mary W. Lee and her daughter, Miss Amanda Lee, we have spoken elsewhere.

Miss Catharine Bailey, Mrs. Eliza Helmbold, Mrs. Mary Courteney, Mrs. Elizabeth Horton and Misses Grover, Krider and Field were all useful and active, though their duties were less severe than those we have previously named.

The Cooper Shop Saloon was smaller and its work consequently less severe, yet, as we have seen, the labors of Miss Ross in its hospital proved too severe for even her vigorous constitution, and she added another to the long list of blessed martyrs in the cause of liberty. Others there were in that Saloon and hospital, who, by faithful labor, patient and self-denying toil, and great sacrifices, won for themselves an honorable place in that record which the great day of assize shall reveal. We may not know their names, but God knows them, and will reward them for their deeds of mercy and love.

MRS. R. M. BIGELOW.

In 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 quite as gratefully cherished as the name of their commanders. Mrs. Bigelow is a native of Washington, in which city she has always resided. She was never able, in consequence of her family duties, to devote herself exclusively to hospital work, but was among the first to respond to the call for friendly aid to the sick soldier. She was, in 1861, a daily visitor to the Indiana Hospital in the Patent Office Building, coming at such hours as she could spare from her home duties; and she was always welcome, for no one was more skillful as a nurse than she, or could cheer and comfort the sick better. When she could not come, she sent such delicacies as would tempt the appetite of the invalid to the hospital. Many a soldier remembers to this day the hot cakes, or the mush and milk, or the custard which came from Aunty Bigelow's, on purpose for him, and always exactly at the right time. Mrs. R. K. Billing, a near relative of Mrs. Bigelow, and the mother of that Miss Rose M. Billing whose patriotic labors ended only with her life--a life freely sacrificed for the relief of our poor returned prisoners from Andersonville, as related in our sketch of the Annapolis Hospital Corps,--was the co-laborer of her kinswoman in these labors of love. Both were indefatigable in their labors for the sick soldiers; both knew how to make "that bread which tasted exactly like mother's" to the convalescent soldier, whose feeble appetite was not easily tempted; and both opened their houses, as well as their hearts to these poor suffering invalids, and many is the soldier who could and did say: "I don't know what would have become of me if I had not met with such good friends."

Mrs. Bigelow became, ere long, the almoner of the bounty of many Aid Societies at the North, and vast quantities of supplies passed through her hands, to the patients of the hospitals; and they were always judiciously distributed. She not only kept up a constant correspondence with these societies, but wrote regularly to the soldier-boys who had been under her care, after they returned to their regiments, and thus retained her influence over them, and made them feel that somebody cared for them, even when they were away from all other home influences.

Besides these labors, which were seemingly sufficient to occupy her entire time, she visited continually the hospitals about the city, and always found room in her house for any sick one, who came to her begging that he might "come home," rather than go to a boarding-house or to a hospital. Three young officers, who came to her with this plea, were received and watched over till death relieved them of their sufferings, and cared for as tenderly as they could have been in their own homes; and those who came thither were nursed and tended till their recovery were numbered by scores.

To all the hospital workers from abroad, and the number was not few, her house was always a home. There was some unappropriated room or some spare bed in which they could be accommodated, and they were welcome for the sake of the cause for which they were laboring. Had she possessed an ample fortune, this kindness, though honorable, might not have been so noteworthy, but her house was small and her means far from ample. In the midst of these abundant labors for the soldiers, she was called to pass through deep affliction, in the illness and death of her husband; but she suffered no personal sorrow to so absorb her interest as to make her unmindful of her dear hospital and home-work for the soldiers. This was continued unfalteringly as long as there was occasion for it.

Few, if any, of the "Women of the War," have been or have deserved to be, more generally beloved by the soldiers and by all true hospital-workers than Mrs. Bigelow.

MISS SHARPLESS AND ASSOCIATES.

What 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 a well ordered General Hospital. There was not, indeed, the complete order and system, the thorough ventilation, the well regulated diet, and the careful and systematic treatment which marked the management of the great hospitals, for these were to a considerable extent impossible on shipboard, and especially where the changes of patients were so frequent.

For a period of nearly seventeen months, during the last two years of the war, the United States Steamship Connecticut was employed as a hospital transport, bringing the sick and wounded from City Point to Washington and Baltimore, and later, closing up one after another, the hospitals in Virginia and on the shores of Maryland and Delaware, and transferring their patients to convalescent camps or other hospitals, or some point where they could be put en route for home. On this steamship Miss HATTIE R. SHARPLESS commenced her labors as matron, on the 10th of May, 1864, and continued with only a brief intermission till September 1st, 1865. She was no novice in hospital work when she assumed this position. A native and resident of Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pa., she had first entered upon her duties as nurse in the Army in July, 1862, when in connection with Miss Rose M. Billing and Miss Belle Robinson, the latter being also a Pennsylvanian, she commenced hospital work at Fredericksburg. Subsequently, with her associate, she was at the Falls Church Hospital and at Antietam, and we believe also at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. She is a lady admirably adapted to the hospital-work; tender, faithful, conscientious, unselfish, never resting while she could minister to the suffering, and happiest when she could do most for those in her care. During her service on the Connecticut, thirty-three thousand sick and wounded men were conveyed on that steamer to hospitals in Washington, Alexandria, Baltimore and other points. Constant and gentle in the discharge of her duties, with a kind and if possible a cheering word for each poor sufferer, and skillful and assiduous in providing for them every needed comfort so far as lay in her power, she proved herself a true Christian heroine in the extent and spirit of her labors, and sent joy to the heart of many who were on the verge of despair.

Her religious influence upon the men was remarkable. Never obtrusive or professional in her treatment of religious subjects, she exhibited rare tact and ability in bringing those who were in the possession of their reason and consciousness to converse on their spiritual condition, and in pointing them affectionately to the atoning Sacrifice for sin.

In these works of mercy and piety she was ably seconded by her cousin, Miss Hattie S. Reifsnyder, of Catawissa, Columbia County, Pa., a lady of very similar spirit and tact, who was with her for about eight months; and subsequently by Mrs. Cynthia Case, of Newark, Ohio, who succeeded Miss Reifsnyder, and entered into her work in the same thorough Christian spirit.

Miss W. F. HARRIS is a native, and was previous to the war, a resident of Providence, Rhode Island. She was a faithful worker through the whole war, literally wearing herself out in the service. She commenced her work at the Indiana Hospital, in the Patent Office, Washington, in the spring of 1862. After the closing of that hospital, she transferred her service to Ascension Church Hospital, and subsequently early in 1863, to the Carver Hospital, both in Washington, where she labored with great assiduity and faithfulness. Early in May, 1864, she was appointed to service on the Transport Connecticut, where she was indefatigable in her service, and manifested the same tender spirit, and the same skill and tact, as Miss Sharpless. Of less vigorous constitution than her associates, she was frequently a severe sufferer from her over exertions. In the summer of 1864, she was transferred to the Hospital at Harper's Ferry, and at that hospital and at Winchester continued her service faithfully, though amid much pain and weariness, to the close of the war. Though her health was much shattered by her labors she could not rest, and has devoted herself to the instruction and training of the Freedmen from that time to the present. A gentleman who was associated with her in her service in the Carver Hospital and afterward on the Transport Connecticut, says of her: "I know of no more pure-minded, unselfish and earnest laborer among all the Women of the war that came under my notice."

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Part VI

LADIES DISTINGUISHED FOR OTHER SERVICES IN THE NATIONAL CAUSE.

MRS. ANNIE ETHERIDGE

No woman attached to a regiment, as vivandiere, cantiniere, 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, and so fully convinced were the officers from the corps commander down, of her usefulness and faithfulness in the care of the wounded, that at a time when a peremptory order was issued from the headquarters of the army that all women, whatever their position or services should leave the camp, all the principal field officers of the corps to which her regiment was attached united in a petition to the general-in-chief, that an exception might be made in her favor.

The greater part of Annie Etheridge's childhood was passed in Wisconsin. Her father was a man of considerable property, and her girlhood was passed in ease and luxury; but as she drew near the age of womanhood, he met with misfortunes by which he lost nearly all he had possessed, and returned to her former home in Michigan. Annie remained in Wisconsin, where she had married, but was on a visit to her father in Detroit at the outbreak of the war, and joined the Second Michigan Regiment when they departed for the seat of war, to fulfil the office of a daughter of the regiment, in attending to its sick and wounded. When that regiment was sent to Tennessee she went to the Third Regiment in which she had many friends, and was with them in every battle in which they were engaged. When their three years' service was completed, she with the re-enlisted veterans joined the Fifth Michigan. Through this whole period of more than four years' service she conducted herself with such modesty and propriety, and was at the same time so full of patriotism and courage, that she was a universal favorite with the soldiers as well as officers.

She was in the skirmish of Blackburn's Ford, and subsequently in the first battle of Bull Run, where she manifested the same courage and presence of mind which characterized her in all her subsequent career in the army. She never carried a musket, though she had a pair of pistols in her holsters, but seldom or never used them. She was for a time during the winter following engaged in hospital service, and when the Army of the Potomac went to the Peninsula, during the Chickahominy campaign she was on a hospital transport with Miss Amy M. Bradley, and rendered excellent service there. She was a very tender and careful nurse, and seemed to know instinctively what to do for the sick and wounded. She returned to Alexandria with her regiment, and was with them at the second battle of Bull Run, on the 29th of August, 1862. Early in this battle she was on a portion of the battle-field which had been warmly contested, where there was a rocky ledge, under shelter of which, some of the wounded had crawled. Annie lingered behind the troops, as they changed position, assisted several poor helpless fellows to this cover and dressed their wounds. One of these was William ---- of the Seventh New York Infantry, a noble-looking boy, to whose parched lips she had held the cooling draught, and had bound up his wounds, receiving in return a look of unutterable gratitude from his bright blue eyes, and his faintly murmured "God's blessing on you," when a shot from the rebel battery tore him to pieces under her very hands. She discovered at the same moment that the rebels were near, and almost upon her, and she was forced to follow in the direction taken by her regiment. On another portion of that bloody field, Annie was kneeling by the side of a soldier binding up his wounds, when hearing a gruff voice above her, she looked up and to her astonishment saw General Kearny checking his horse beside her. He said, "That is right; I am glad to see you here helping these poor fellows, and when this is over, I will have you made a regimental sergeant;" meaning of course that she should receive a sergeant's pay and rations. But two days later the gallant Kearny was killed at Chantilly, and Annie never received the appointment, as has been erroneously asserted.

At Chancellorsville on the 2d of May, 1863, when the Third Corps were in such extreme peril, in consequence of the panic by which the Eleventh Corps were broken up, one company of the Third Michigan, and one of the sharp-shooters were detailed as skirmishers. Annie, although advised to remain in the rear accompanied them, taking the lead; meeting her colonel however, he told her to go back, as the enemy was near, and he was every moment expecting an attack. Very loth to fall back, she turned and rode along the front of a line of shallow trenches filled with our men; she called to them, "Boys, do your duty and whip the rebels." The men partially rose and cheered her, shouting "Hurrah for Annie," "Bully for you." This revealed their position to the rebels, who immediately fired a volley in the direction of the cheering; Annie rode to the rear of the line, then turned to see the result; as she did so, an officer pushed his horse between her and a large tree by which she was waiting, thus sheltering himself behind her. She looked round at him with surprise, when a second volley was fired, and a Minie ball whizzing by her, entered the officer's body, and he fell a corpse, against her and then to the ground. At the same moment another ball grazed her hand, (the only wound she received during the war), pierced her dress, the skirt of which she was holding, and slightly wounded her horse. Frightened by the pain, he set off on a run through a dense wood, winding in and out among the trees so rapidly that Annie feared being torn from her saddle by the branches, or having her brains dashed out by violent contact with the trunks. She raised herself upon the saddle, and crouching on her knees clung to the pommel. The frightened animal as he emerged from the woods plunged into the midst of the Eleventh Corps, when his course was soon checked. Many of the men, recognizing Annie, received her with cheers. As she was now at a distance from her regiment, she felt a strong impulse to see and speak with General Berry, the commander of her division, with whom she was well acquainted. Meeting an aid, she asked where the General was. "He is not here," replied the aid. "He is here," replied Annie; "He is my Division General, and has command on the right to-day. I must see him." The aid turned his horse and rode up to the General, who was near at hand, and told him that a woman was coming up who insisted on seeing him. "It is Annie," said General Berry, "let her come; let her come, I would risk my life for Annie, any time." As she approached from one side, a prisoner was brought up on the other, said to be an aid of General Hill's. After some words with him, and receiving his sword, the General sent him to the rear; and after giving Annie a cordial greeting and some kind words, he put the prisoner under her charge, directing him to walk by her horse. It was her last interview with the brave General. Early the next morning he was slain, in the desperate fight for the possession of the plank road past the Chancellor House. In the neighborhood of the hospital, Annie, working as usual among the wounded, discovered an artillery man badly injured and very much in need of her assistance. She bound up his wounds and succeeded in having him brought to the hospital. The batteries were not usually accompanied by surgeons, and their men were often very much neglected, when wounded, as the Infantry Surgeons with their hands full with their own wounded would not, and perhaps could not, always render them speedy assistance. A year later Annie received the following letter, which was found on the body of a Lieutenant Strachan, of her division, who was killed in one of the early battles of Grant's campaign.

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 14th, 1864.

ANNIE--Dearest Friend: I am not long for this world, and I wish to thank you for your kindness ere I go.

You were the only one who was ever kind to me, since I entered the Army. At Chancellorsville, I was shot through the body, the ball entering my side, and coming out through the shoulder. I was also hit in the arm, and was carried to the hospital in the woods, where I lay for hours, and not a surgeon would touch me; when you came along and gave me water, and bound up my wounds. I do not know what regiment you belong to, and I don't know if this will ever reach you. There is only one man in your division that I know. I will try and send this to him; his name is Strachan, orderly sergeant in Sixty-third Pennsylvania volunteers.

But should you get this, please accept my heartfelt gratitude; and may God bless you, and protect you from all dangers; may you be eminently successful in your present pursuit. I enclose a flower, a present from a sainted mother; it is the only gift I have to send you. Had I a picture, I would send you one; but I never had but two, one my sister has; the other, the sergeant I told you of; he would give it you, if you should tell him it is my desire. I know nothing of your history, but I hope you always have, and always may be happy; and, since I will be unable to see you in this world, I hope I may meet you in that better world, where there is no war. May God bless you, both now and forever, is the wish of your grateful friend,

GEORGE H. HILL, CLEVELAND, OHIO.

During the battle of Spottsylvania, Annie met a number of soldiers retreating. She expostulated with them, and at last shamed them into doing their duty, by offering to lead them back into the fight, which she did under a heavy fire from the enemy. She had done the same thing more than once on other battle-fields, not by flourishing a sword or rifle, for she carried neither: nor by waving a flag, for she was never color-bearer; but by inspiring the men to deeds of valor by her own example, her courage, and her presence of mind. On the 1st or 2nd of June, when the Second Corps attacked the enemy at Deep Bottom, Annie became separated from her regiment, and with her usual attendant, the surgeon's orderly, who carried the "pill box" (the medicine chest), she started in search of it, and before long, without being aware of the fact, she had passed beyond the line of Union pickets. Here she met an officer, apparently reconnoitering, who told her she must turn back, as the enemy was near; and hardly were the words spoken, when their skirmishers suddenly appeared. The officer struck his spurs into his horse and fled, Annie and the orderly following with all speed, and arrived safe within our lines. As the Rebels hoped to surprise our troops, they did not fire lest they should give the alarm; and to this fact Annie probably owed her escape unscathed.

On the 27th of October, 1864, in one of the battles for the possession of Hatcher's Run and the Boydtown Plank Road, a portion of the Third Division of the Second Corps, was nearly surrounded by the enemy, in what the soldiers called the "Bull Ring." The regiment to which Annie was attached was sorely pressed, the balls flying thick and fast, so that the surgeon advised her to accompany him to safer quarters; but she lingered, watching for an opportunity to render assistance. A little drummer boy stopped to speak to her, when a ball struck him, and he fell against her, and then to the ground, dead. This so startled her, that she ran towards the line of battle. But to her surprise, she found that the enemy occupied every part of the ground held a few moments before by Union troops. She did not pause, however, but dashed through their line unhurt, though several of the chivalry fired at her.

So strong was the confidence of the soldiers in her courage and fidelity to her voluntarily assumed duties, that whenever a battle was to be fought it was regarded as absolutely certain that "Gentle Annie" (so the soldiers named her) would be at hand to render assistance to any in need. General Birney never performed an act more heartily approved by his entire command, than when in the presence of his troops, he presented her with the Kearny cross.

At the close of the war, though her health had been somewhat shaken by her varied and trying experiences, she felt the necessity of engaging in some employment, by which she could maintain herself, and aid her aged father, and accepted an appointment in one of the Government departments, where she labors assiduously for twelve hours daily. Her army experiences have not robbed her of that charming modesty and diffidence of demeanor, which are so attractive in a woman, or made her boastful of her adventures. To these she seldom alludes, and never in such a way as to indicate that she thinks herself in the least a heroine.

DELPHINE P. BAKER

Though 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 for the maimed and permanently disabled veterans who gave themselves to the cause which has so signally triumphed.

Delphine P. Baker was born in Bethlehem, Grafton County, New Hampshire, in the year 1828, and she resided in New England during her early youth. Her father was a respectable mechanic of good family, an honest, intellectual, industrious man, of sterling principle and a good member of society. Her mother possessed a large self-acquired culture, a mind of uncommon scope, and a vivid and powerful imagination. She was in a large degree capable of influencing the minds of others, and was endowed with a natural power of leadership.

These qualities and traits of both parents we find remarkably developed in the daughter, and to them is doubtless largely due the successful achievement of the great object of her later labors. A feeling, from some cause always cherished by her mother, until it became an actual belief, that her child was destined to an extraordinary career, was so impressed upon her daughter's mind, and inwrought with her higher being as to become a controlling impulse. It is easy, in tracing the history of Miss Baker, to mark the influence of this fixed idea in every act of her life.

For some years previous to the breaking out of the war, Miss Baker had devoted herself to the inculcation of proper ideas of the sphere and culture of woman. She belonged to no party, or clique, had no connection with the Women's Rights Movement, but desired to see her sex better educated, and in the enjoyment of the fullest mental development. To that end she had travelled in many of the Western States, giving lectures upon her favorite subject, and largely influencing the public mind. In this employment her acquaintance had become very extensive.

At the time of the first breaking out of hostilities, Miss Baker was residing in Chicago, Illinois, enjoying a respite from public labors, and devoting herself to her family. But she soon saw that there was much need of the efforts of woman--a great deal to be done by her in preparing for the sudden emergency into which the nation had been plunged. Government had not at hand all the appliances for sending its newly raised forces into the field properly equipped, and women, who could not wield the bayonet, were skillful in the use of another implement as sharp and bright, and which just at that period could be as usefully brought into action.

The devoted labors of the women of Chicago for the soldiers, have long since become a part of the history of the war. In these Miss Baker had her own, and a large share. She collected materials for garments, exerted her influence among her extensive circle of acquaintances in gathering up supplies, and providing for the yet small, but rapidly increasing, demand for hospital comforts. She took several journeys to St. Louis and Chicago, ministered in the hospitals, and induced others to enter upon the same work. Perceiving, with a quick eye, what was most needed in the hastily-arranged and half-furnished places to which the sick and wounded were consigned, she journeyed backward and forward, gathering up from the rich and well-disposed the needed articles, and then conveying them herself to those points where they were most wanted.

Not in strong health, a few months of such indefatigable labors exhausted her strength. She returned to Chicago, but her ardent spirit chafed in inaction. After a time she resolved to commence a literary enterprise in aid of the object she had so much at heart, and in the spring of 1862 she announced the forthcoming publication of the "National Banner," a monthly paper of sixteen pages, the profits of which were to be devoted to the needs of the volunteer soldiery of the United States.

After publishing in Chicago a few numbers of this very readable paper, she removed it to Washington, D. C., where its publication was for some time continued. It was then transferred to New York.

The National Banner did not meet with all the success, its patriotic object and its real literary excellence, demanded. During the last year of the war it was not published with complete regularity, owing to this cause, and to the lack of pecuniary means. But it was undoubtedly the means of doing a great deal of good. Among other things it kept constantly before the people the great object into which Miss Baker had now entered with all the ardor and the persistence of her nature.

This object was the founding of a National Home for totally disabled volunteers of the Union service, and included all who had in their devotion to the cause of the nation become incompetent to provide for their own wants or those of their families.

For years, with a devotion seldom equalled, and a self-sacrifice almost unparalleled, Miss Baker gave herself to this work. She wrote, she travelled, she enlisted the aid of her numerous friends, she importuned the Executive, Heads of Departments, and members of Congress. She gave herself no rest, she flinched at no privations. She apparently existed by the sheer necessity of living for her object, and in almost total self-abnegation she encountered opposition, paralyzing delays, false promises, made only to be broken, and hypocritical advice, intended only to mislead.

Hopeful, unsubdued, unchanged, she at last saw herself nearing success. The session of 1865 was drawing to a close, and repeated promises of reporting the bill for the establishment of the Asylum had been broken. But at length her almost agonized pleadings had their effect. Three days before the adjournment of Congress Hon. Henry Wilson, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, in the Senate introduced the bill. It provided for the establishment of a National Military and Naval Asylum for the totally disabled of both branches of the service.

In the confusion and hurry of the closing scenes of the session the bill did not probably meet the attention it would have done under other circumstances. But it was well received, passed by a large vote of both houses, was sanctioned by the signature of President Lincoln, and became a law before the adjournment of Congress.

The bill appointed one hundred corporators who were to organize and assume the powers granted them under its provisions, for the immediate foundation of the proper establishment or establishments, for the reception of the contemplated recipients of its benefits. The fund accrued from military fines and unclaimed pay of members of the service, was to be handed over to the use of the Asylum as soon as a corresponding sum was raised by public gift.

Unfortunately for the success of the organization, the meeting of the corporators for that purpose was appointed for the day afterward so mournfully conspicuous as that of the funeral obsequies of our assassinated President. Amidst the sad and angry excitement of the closing scenes of that terrible tragedy, it was found impossible to convene a sufficient number of the corporators (although present in the city) to form a quorum for the transaction of business. The opportunity thus lost did not recur, and though an effort was made to substitute proxies for actual members of the body, it was unsuccessful, and an organization was not effected.

Thus a year dragged its slow length along. Miss Baker was busy enlarging her sphere of influence--encountering and overcoming opposition and obstacles, endeavoring to secure co-operation, and in securing also personal possession of the property at Point Lookout, Maryland, which she believed to be a desirable site for the Asylum. Her object in this was that she might hold this property until the organization was effected, and it might be legally transferred to the corporators.

Point Lookout was a watering-place previous to the war. The hospital property there consists of three hundred acres of land, occupying the point which divides the mouth of the Potomac River from Chesapeake Bay, at the confluence of the former with the Bay. One or more large hotels, numerous cottages and other buildings remained from the days of peace. The Government also established there, during the war, Hammond General Hospital with its extensive buildings, and a stockade and encampment for prisoners. The air is salubrious, the land fertile, a supply of excellent water brought from neighboring heights, and an extensive oyster-bed and a fine beach for bathing, add to its attractions. Believing the place well calculated to meet the wants of the Asylum, Miss Baker desired to secure the private property together with a grant from the Government of that portion which belongs to it. She succeeded in securing the latter, and in delaying the contemplated sale of the former.

A change being imperatively demanded in the Act of Incorporation, efforts were immediately commenced at the next session of Congress to effect this purpose. Again the painful, anxious delays, again the wearisome opposition were encountered. But Miss Baker and the movement had friends--and in the highest quarters. Her efforts were countenanced and aided by these, but it was not till the session of 1866 approached its close that the amended bill was reached, and the votes of both Houses at last placed the whole matter on a proper footing, and in competent hands.

With Major-General Butler at the head of the Managing Board of Trustees, the successful commencement of the Institution is a foregone conclusion. The Board is composed of some of the best men of the Nation--men, some of them unequalled in their various spheres. The United States will soon boast for its disabled defenders Institutions (for the present management contemplate the establishment of Homes at several points), fully equal to those which the great Powers of Europe have erected for similar purposes. In the autumn and winter of 1866-7 Miss Baker succeeded in consummating the purchase, and tender to the Trustees of the Asylum of the Point Lookout property.

The labors of Miss Baker for this purpose are now ended. She retires, not to rest or idleness, but still to lend her efforts to this or any other great and worthy cause. She has no official connection with the organization which controls the destiny of the Asylum. But it will not cease to be remembered in this country that to her efforts the United States owes in great part all that, as a nation, it has done for the men who have thus given all but life itself to its cause.

MRS. S. BURGER STEARNS.

This 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 became Mrs. Stearns, her husband being a graduate of the Literary and Law Departments of the Michigan University. But choosing to devote himself to the service of his country, he entered the army as First Lieutenant, afterwards rising to the rank of Colonel.

Mrs. Stearns determined to devote herself to the work of lecturing in behalf of the Aid movement, and did extensive, and much appreciated services in this direction. From time to time she visited the hospitals, and learned the details of the work, as well as the necessities required there; in that way rendering herself peculiarly competent for her chosen field of labor. She continued in this service until the close of the war, accomplishing much good, and laboring with much acceptance.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

Barbara 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 could not brook that the flag of the Union should be humbled before the rebel ensign, and from her upper window waved her flag, the only one visible that day in Frederick. Whittier has told the whole story so admirably that we cannot do better than to transfer his exquisite poem to our pages. Dame Barbara died in 1865.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand, Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep, Apple and peach trees fruited deep,

Fair as a garden of the Lord To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain-wall--

Over the mountains winding down, Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town, She took up the flag the men hauled down;

In her attic-window the staff she set, To show that one heart was loyal yet,

Up the street came the rebel tread, Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

Under his slouched hat left and right He glanced; the old flag met his sight.

"Halt!"--the dust-brown ranks stood fast, "Fire!"--out blazed the rifle-blast.

It shivered the window, pane and sash: It rent the banner with seam and gash.

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;

She leaned far out on the window-sill, And shook it forth with a royal will.

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country's flag," she said.

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, Over the face of the leader came;

The nobler nature within him stirred To life at that woman's deed and word:

"Who touches a hair of yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.

All day long through Frederick street Sounded the tread of marching feet:

All day long that free flag tost Over the heads of the rebel host.

Ever its torn folds rose and fell On the loyal winds that loved it well;

And through the hill-gaps sunset light Shone over it with a warm good-night.

Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

Honor to her! and let a tear Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!

Peace and order and beauty draw Round thy symbol of light and law;

And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick town!

MRS. HETTY M. McEWEN.

Mrs. 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. Making a flag with her own hands, she raised it in the first movements of secession, in Nashville, and when through the treachery of Isham Harris and his co-conspirators, Tennessee was dragged out of the Union, and the secessionists demanded that the flag should be taken down, the brave old couple nailed it to the flag-staff, and that to the chimney of their house. The secessionists threatened to fire the house if it was not lowered, and the old lady armed with a shot-gun, undertook to defend it, and drove them away. She subsequently refused to give up her fire-arms on the requisition of the traitor Harris. Mrs. Lucy H. Hooper has told the story of the rebel efforts to procure the lowering of her flag very forcibly and truthfully:

HETTY McEWEN.

Oh Hetty McEwen! Hetty McEwen! What were the angry rebels doing, That autumn day, in Nashville town, They looked aloft with oath and frown, And saw the Stars and Stripes wave high Against the blue of the sunny sky; Deep was the oath, and dark the frown, And loud the shout of "Tear it down!"

For over Nashville, far and wide, Rebel banners the breeze defied, Staining heaven with crimson bars; Only the one old "Stripes and Stars" Waved, where autumn leaves were strewing, Round the home of Hetty McEwen.

Hetty McEwen watched that day Where her son on his death-bed lay; She heard the hoarse and angry cry-- The blood of "76" rose high. Out-flashed her eye, her cheek grew warm, Up rose her aged stately form; From her window, with steadfast brow, She looked upon the crowd below.

Eyes all aflame with angry fire Flashed on her in defiant ire, And once more rose the angry call, "Tear down that flag, or the house shall fall!" Never a single inch quailed she, Her answer rang out firm and free: "Under the roof where that flag flies, Now my son on his death-bed lies; Born where that banner floated high, 'Neath its folds he shall surely die. Not for threats nor yet for suing Shall it fall," said Hetty McEwen.

The loyal heart and steadfast hand Claimed respect from the traitor band; The fiercest rebel quailed that day Before that woman stern and gray. They went in silence, one by one-- Left her there with her dying son, And left the old flag floating free O'er the bravest heart in Tennessee, To wave in loyal splendor there Upon that treason-tainted air, Until the rebel rule was o'er And Nashville town was ours once more.

Came the day when Fort Donelson Fell, and the rebel reign was done; And into Nashville, Buell, then, Marched with a hundred thousand men, With waving flags and rolling drums Past the heroine's house he comes; He checked his steed and bared his head, "Soldiers! salute that flag," he said; "And cheer, boys, cheer!--give three times three For the bravest woman in Tennessee!"

OTHER DEFENDERS OF THE FLAG.

Barbara 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, raised the flag on his own house, then the only loyal house for nearly half a mile, on that street, and nailed it there. His secession neighbors came to the house and demanded that it should be taken down. Never! said his heroic wife, afterwards president of the Union Ladies' Aid Society. The demand was repeated, and one of the secessionists at last said, "Well, if you will not take it down, I will," and moved for the stairs leading to the roof. Quick as thought, Mrs. Clapp intercepted him. "You can only reach that flag over my dead body," said she. Finding her thus determined, the secessionist left, and though frequent threats were muttered against the flag, it was not disturbed.

Mrs. Moore (Parson Brownlow's daughter) was another of these fearless defenders of the flag. In June, 1861, the Rebels were greatly annoyed at the sturdy determination of the Parson to keep the Stars and Stripes floating over his house; and delegation after delegation came to his dwelling to demand that they should be lowered. They were refused, and generally went off in a rage. On one of these occasions, nine men from a Louisiana regiment stationed at Knoxville, determined to see the flag humbled. Two men were chosen as a committee to proceed to the parson's house to order the Union ensign down. Mrs. Moore (the parson's daughter) answered the summons. In answer to her inquiry as to what was their errand, one said, rudely:

"We have come to take down that d----d rag you flaunt from your roof--the Stripes and Stars."

Mrs. Moore stepped back a pace or two within the door, drew a revolver from her dress pocket, and leveling it, answered:

"Come on, sirs, and take it down!"

The chivalrous Confederates were startled.

"Yes, come on!" she said, as she advanced toward them.

They cleared the piazza, and stood at bay on the wall.

"We'll go and get more men, and then d----d if it don't come down!"

"Yes, go and get more men--you are not men!" said the heroic woman, contemptuously, as the two backed from the place and disappeared.

Miss Alice Taylor, daughter of Mrs. Nellie Maria Taylor, of New Orleans, a young lady of great beauty and intelligence, possessed much of her mother's patriotic spirit. The flag was always suspended in one or another of the rooms of Mrs. Taylor's dwelling, and notwithstanding the repeated searches made by the Rebels it remained there till the city was occupied by Union troops. The beauty and talent of the daughter, then a young lady of seventeen, had made her very popular in the city. In 1860, she had made a presentation speech when a flag was presented to one of the New Orleans Fire Companies. In May, 1861, a committee of thirteen gentlemen called on Mrs. Taylor, and informed her that the ladies of the district had wrought a flag for the Crescent City (Rebel) regiment to carry on their march to Washington, and that the services of her daughter Alice were required to make the presentation speech. Of course Mrs. Taylor's consent was not given, and the committee insisted that they must see the young lady, and that she must make the presentation address. She was accordingly called, and after hearing their request, replied that she would readily consent on two conditions. First, that her mother's permission should be obtained; and second, that the Stars and Stripes should wave around her, and decorate the arch over her head, as on the former occasion. The committee, finding that they could get no other terms, withdrew, vexed and mortified at their failure.

Mrs. Booth, the widow of Major Booth, who fell contending against fearful odds at Fort Pillow, at the time of the bloody massacre, a few weeks after presented the blood-stained flag of the fort which had been saved by one of the few survivors, to the remnant of the First Battalion of Major Booth's regiment, then incorporated with the Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, with these thrilling words, "Boys, I have just come from a visit to the hospital at Mound City. There I saw your comrades, wounded at the bloody struggle in Fort Pillow. There I found the flag--you recognize it! One of your comrades saved it from the insulting touch of traitors. I have given to my country all I had to give--my husband--such a gift! Yet I have freely given him for freedom and my country. Next to my husband's cold remains, the dearest object left to me in the world, is that flag--the flag that waved in proud defiance over the works of Fort Pillow! Soldiers! this flag I give to you, knowing that you will ever remember the last words of my noble husband, 'never surrender the flag to traitors!'"

Colonel Jackson received from her hand--on behalf of his command--the blood-stained flag, and called upon his regiment to receive it as such a gift ought to be received. At that call, he and every man of the regiment fell upon their knees, and solemnly appealing to the God of battles, each one swore to avenge their brave and fallen comrades, and never, never surrender the flag to traitors.

MILITARY HEROINES.

The number of women who actually bore arms in the war, or who, though generally attending a regiment as nurses and vivandieres, 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, but preferred to pass for men; but aside from these there were not a few who, without abandoning the dress or prerogatives of their sex, yet performed skillfully and well the duties of the other.

Among these we may name Madame Turchin, wife of General Turchin, who rendered essential service by her coolness, her thorough knowledge of military science, her undaunted courage, and her skill in command. She is the daughter of a Russian officer, and had been brought up in the camps, where she was the pet and favorite of the regiment up to nearly the time of her marriage to General Turchin, then a subordinate officer in that army. When the war commenced she and her husband had been for a few years residents of Illinois, and when her husband was commissioned colonel of a regiment of volunteers she prepared at once to follow him to the field. During the march into Tennessee in the spring of 1862, Colonel Turchin was taken seriously ill, and for some days was carried in an ambulance on the route. Madame Turchin took command of the regiment during his illness, and while ministering kindly and tenderly to her husband, filled his place admirably as commander of the regiment. Her administration was so judicious that no complaint or mutiny was manifested, and her commands were obeyed with the utmost promptness. In the battles that followed, she was constantly under fire, now encouraging the men, and anon rescuing some wounded man from the place where he had fallen, administering restoratives and bringing him off to the field-hospital. When, in consequence of the "Athens affair," Colonel Turchin was court-martialed and an attempt made by the conservatives to have him driven from the army, she hastened to Washington, and by her skill and tact succeeded in having the court-martial set aside and her husband promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and confounded his accusers by bringing his commission and the order to abandon the trial into court, just as the officers comprising it were about to find him guilty. In all the subsequent campaigns at the West, Madame Turchin was in the field, confining herself usually to ministrations of mercy to the wounded, but ready if occasion required, to lead the troops into action and always manifesting the most perfect indifference to the shot and shell or the whizzing minie balls that fell around her. She seemed entirely devoid of fear, and though so constantly exposed to the enemy's fire never received even a scratch.

Another remarkable heroine who, while from the lower walks of life, was yet faithful and unwearied in her labors for the relief of the soldiers who were wounded and who not unfrequently took her place in the ranks, or cheered and encouraged the men when they were faltering and ready to retreat, was Bridget Divers, better known as "Michigan Bridget," or among Sheridan's men as "Irish Biddy." A stout robust Irish woman, she accompanied the First Michigan Cavalry regiment in which her husband was a private soldier, to the field, and remained with that regiment and the brigade to which it belonged until the close of the war. She became well known throughout the brigade for her fearlessness and daring, and her skill in bringing off the wounded. Occasionally when a soldier whom she knew fell in action, after rescuing him if he was only wounded, she would take his place and fight as bravely as the best. In two instances and perhaps more, she rallied and encouraged retreating troops and brought them to return to their position, thus aiding in preventing a defeat. Other instances of her energy and courage are thus related by Mrs. M. M. Husband, who knew her well.

"In one of Sheridan's grand raids, during the latter days of the rebellion, she, as usual, rode with the troops night and day wearing out several horses, until they dropped from exhaustion. In a severe cavalry engagement, in which her regiment took a prominent part, her colonel was wounded, and her captain killed. She accompanied the former to the rear, where she ministered to his needs, and when placed in the cars, bound to City Point Hospitals, she remained with him, giving all the relief in her power, on that fatiguing journey, although herself almost exhausted, having been without sleep four days and nights. After seeing her colonel safely and comfortably lodged in the hospital, she took one night's rest, and returned to the front. Finding that her captain's body had not been recovered, it being hazardous to make the attempt, she resolved to rescue it, as "it never should be left on rebel soil." So, with her orderly for sole companion, she rode fifteen miles to the scene of the late conflict, found the body she sought, strapped it upon her horse, rode back seven miles to an embalmer's, where she waited whilst the body was embalmed, then again strapping it on her horse, she rode several miles further to the cars in which, with her precious burden she proceeded to City Point, there obtained a rough coffin, and forwarded the whole to Michigan. Without any delay Biddy returned to her Regiment, told some officials, that wounded men had been left on the field from which she had rescued her Captain's body. They did not credit her tale, so she said, "Furnish me some ambulances and I will bring them in." The conveyances were given her, she retraced her steps to the deserted battle-field, and soon had some eight or ten poor sufferers in the wagons, and on their way to camp. The roads were rough, and their moans and cries gave evidence of intense agony. While still some miles from their destination, Bridget saw several rebels approaching, she ordered the drivers to quicken their pace, and endeavoured to urge her horse forward, but he baulked and refused to move. The drivers becoming alarmed, deserted their charge and fled to the woods, while the wounded men begged that they might not be left to the mercy of the enemy, and to suffer in Southern prisons. The rebels soon came up, Bridget plead with them to leave the sufferers unmolested, but they laughed at her, took the horses from the ambulances, and such articles of value as the men possessed, and then dashed off the way they came. Poor Biddy was almost desperate, darkness coming on, and with none to help her, the wounded men beseeching her not to leave them. Fortunately, an officer of our army rode up to see what the matter was, and soon sent horses and assistance to the party."

When the war ended, Bridget accompanied her regiment to Texas, from whence she returned with them to Michigan, but the attractions of army life were too strong to be overcome, and she has since joined one of the regiments of the regular army stationed on the plains in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains.

Mrs. Kady Brownell, the wife of an Orderly Sergeant of the First and afterwards of the Fifth Rhode Island Infantry, who, like Madame Turchin was born in the camp, and was the daughter of a Scottish soldier of the British army, was another of these half-soldier heroines; adopting a semi-military dress, and practicing daily with the sword and rifle, she became as skillful a shot and as expert a swordsman as any of the company of sharp-shooters to which she was attached. Of this company she was the chosen color-bearer, and asking no indulgence, she marched with the men, carrying the flag and participating in the battle as bravely as any of her comrades. In the first battle of Bull Run, she stood by her colors and maintained her position till all her regiment and several others had retreated, and came very near falling into the hands of the enemy. She was in the expedition of General Burnside to Roanoke Island and Newbern and by her coolness and intrepidity saved the Fifth Rhode Island from being fired upon by our own troops by mistake. Her husband was severely wounded in the engagement at Newbern, and she rescued him from his position of danger and having made him as comfortable as possible attempted to rescue others of the wounded, both rebel and Union troops. By some of the rebels, both men and women, she was grossly insulted, but she persevered in her efforts to help the wounded, though not without some heart-burnings for their taunts. Her husband recovering very slowly, and being finally pronounced unfit for service, she returned to Rhode Island with him after nursing him carefully for eighteen months or more, and received her discharge from the army.

There were very, probably, many others of this class of heroines who deserve a place in our record; but there is great difficulty in ascertaining the particulars of their history, and in some cases they failed to maintain that unsullied reputation without which courage and daring are of little worth.

THE WOMEN OF GETTYSBURG.

Those 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 to the wounded.

Chief among these, since she gave her life for the cause, we must reckon MRS. JENNIE WADE. Her house was situated in the valley between Oak Ridge and Seminary Hill, and was directly in range of the guns of both armies. But Mrs. Wade was intensely patriotic and loyal, and on the morning of the third day of the battle, that terrible Friday, July 3, she volunteered to bake bread for the Union troops. The morning passed without more than an occasional shot, and though in the midst of danger, she toiled over her bread, and had succeeded in baking a large quantity. About two o'clock, P. M., began that fearful artillery battle which seemed to the dwellers in that hitherto peaceful valley to shake both earth and heaven. Louder and more deafening crashed the thunder from two hundred and fifty cannon, but as each discharge shook her humble dwelling, she still toiled on unterrified and only intent on her patriotic task. The rebels, who were nearest her had repeatedly ordered her to quit the premises, but she steadily refused. At length a shot from the rebel batteries struck her in the breast killing her instantly. A rebel officer of high rank was killed almost at the same moment near her door, and the rebel troops hastily constructing a rude coffin, were about to place the body of their commander in it for burial, when, in the swaying to and fro of the armies, a Union column drove them from the ground, and finding Mrs. Wade dead, placed her in the coffin intended for the rebel officer. In that coffin she was buried the next day amidst the tears of hundreds who knew her courage and kindness of heart.

MISS CARRIE SHEADS, the principal of Oak Ridge Female Seminary, is also deserving of a place in our record for her courage, humanity and true womanly tact. The Seminary buildings were within a few hundred yards of the original battle-field of the first day's fight, and in the course of the day's conflict, after the death of General Reynolds, the Union troops were driven by the greatly superior force of the enemy into the grounds of the Seminary itself, and most of them swept past it. The Ninety-seventh New York volunteer infantry commanded on that day by Lieutenant-Colonel, afterwards General Charles Wheelock, were surrounded by the enemy in the Seminary grounds, and after repeated attempts to break through the ranks of the enemy, were finally compelled to surrender. Miss Sheads who had given her pupils a holiday on the previous day, and had suddenly found herself transformed into the lady superintendent of a hospital, for the wounded were brought to the Seminary, at once received Colonel Wheelock and furnished him with the signal for surrender. The rebel commander demanded his sword, but the colonel refused to give it up, as it was a gift of friends. An altercation ensued and the rebel officer threatened to kill Colonel Wheelock. Mr. Sheads, Miss Carrie's father, interposed and endeavored to prevent the collision, but was soon pushed out of the way, and the rebel officer again presented his pistol to shoot his prisoner. Miss Sheads now rushed between them and remonstrated with the rebel on his inhumanity, while she urged the colonel to give up his sword. He still refused, and at this moment the entrance of other prisoners attracted the attention of the rebel officer for a few moments, when Miss Sheads unbuckled his sword and concealed it in the folds of her dress unnoticed by the rebel officer. Colonel Wheelock, when the attention of his foe was again turned to him, said that one of his men who had passed out had his sword, and the rebel officer ordered him with the other prisoners to march to the rear. Five days after the battle the colonel, who had made his escape from the rebels, returned to the Seminary, when Miss Sheads returned his sword, with which he did gallant service subsequently.

The Seminary buildings were crowded with wounded, mostly rebels, who remained there for many weeks and were kindly cared for by Miss Sheads and her pupils. The rebel chief undertook to use the building and its observatory as a signal station for his army, contrary to Miss Sheads' remonstrances, and drew the fire of the Union army upon it by so doing. The buildings were hit many times and perforated by two shells. But amid the danger, Miss Sheads was as calm and self-possessed as in her ordinary duties, and soothed some of her pupils who were terrified by the hurtling shells. From the grounds of the Seminary she and several of her pupils witnessed the terrible conflict of Friday. The severe exertion necessary for the care of so large a number of wounded, for so long a period, resulted in the permanent injury of Miss Sheads' health, and she has been since that time an invalid. Two of her brothers were slain in the war, and two others disabled for life. Few families have made greater sacrifices in the national cause.

Another young lady of Gettysburg, Miss Amelia Harmon, a pupil of Miss Sheads, displayed a rare heroism under circumstances of trial. The house where she resided with her aunt was the best dwelling-house in the vicinity of Gettysburg, and about a mile west of the village, on Oak or Seminary Ridge. During the fighting on Wednesday (the first day of the battle) it was for a time forcibly occupied by the Union sharp-shooters who fired upon the rebels from it. Towards evening the Union troops having retreated to Cemetery Hill, the house came into possession of the rebels, who bade the family leave it as they were about to burn it, in consequence of its having been used as a fort. Miss Harmon and her aunt both protested against this, explaining that the occupation was forcible and not with their consent. The young lady added that her mother, not now living, was a Southern woman, and that she should blush for her parentage if Southern men would thus fire the house of defenseless females, and deprive them of a home in the midst of battle. One of the rebels, upon this, approached her and proposed in a confidential way, that if she would prove that she was not a renegade Southerner by hurrahing for the Southern Confederacy, he would see what could be done. "Never!" was the indignant reply of the truly loyal girl, "burn the house if you will! I will never do that, while the Union which has protected me and my friends, exists." The rebels at once fired the house, and the brave girl and her aunt made their way to the home of friends, running the gauntlet of the fire of both armies, and both were subsequently unwearied in their labors for the wounded.

LOYAL WOMEN OF THE SOUTH.

We 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 helpfulness to Union men, and especially Union prisoners, are deserving of all honor.

The loyal women of Richmond were a noble band. Amid obloquy, persecution and in some cases imprisonment (one of them was imprisoned for nine months for aiding Union prisoners) they never faltered in their allegiance to the old flag, nor in their sympathy and services to the Union prisoners at Libby and Belle Isle, and Castle Thunder. With the aid of twenty-one loyal white men in Richmond they raised a fund of thirteen thousand dollars in gold, to aid Union prisoners, while their gifts of clothing, food and luxuries, were of much greater value. Some of these ladies were treated with great cruelty by the rebels, and finally driven from the city, but no one of them ever proved false to loyalty. In Charleston, too, hot-bed of the rebellion as it was, there was a Union league, of which the larger proportion were women, some of them wives or daughters of prominent rebels, who dared everything, even their life, their liberty and their social position, to render aid and comfort to the Union soldiers, and to facilitate the return of a government of liberty and law. Had we space we might fill many pages with the heroic deeds of these noble women. Through their assistance, scores of Union men were enabled to make their escape from the prisons, some of them under fire, in which they were confined, and often after almost incredible sufferings, to find their way to the Union lines. Others suffering from the frightful jail fever or wasted by privation and wearisome marches with little or no food, received from them food and clothing, and were thus enabled to maintain existence till the time for their liberation came. The negro women were far more generally loyal than their mistresses, and their ready wit enabled them to render essential service to the loyal whites, service for which, when detected, they often suffered cruel tortures, whipping and sometimes death.

In New Orleans, before the occupation of the city by the Union troops under General Butler, no woman could declare herself a Unionist without great personal peril; but as we have seen there were those who risked all for their attachment to the Union even then. Mrs. Taylor was by no means the only outspoken Union woman of the city, though she may have been the most fearless. Mrs. Minnie Don Carlos, the wife of a Spanish gentleman of the city, was from the beginning of the war a decided Union woman, and after its occupation by Union troops was a constant and faithful visitor at the hospitals and rendered great service to Union soldiers. Mrs. Flanders, wife of Hon. Benjamin Flanders, and her two daughters, Miss Florence and Miss Fanny Flanders were also well known for their persistent Unionism and their abundant labors for the sick and wounded. Mrs. and Miss Carrie Wolfley, Mrs. Dr. Kirchner, Mrs. Mills, Mrs. Bryden, Mrs. Barnett and Miss Bennett, Mrs. Wibrey, Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Hodge, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Charles Howe of Key West, and Miss Edwards from Massachusetts, were all faithful and earnest workers in the hospitals throughout the war, and Union women when their Unionism involved peril. Miss Sarah Chappell, Miss Cordelia Baggett and Miss Ella Gallagher, also merit the same commendation.

Nor should we fail to do honor to those loyal women in the mountainous districts and towns of the interior of the South. Our prisoners as they were marched through the towns of the South always found some tender pitying hearts, ready to do something for their comfort, if it were only a cup of cold water for their parched lips, or a corn dodger slyly slipped into their hand. Oftentimes these humble but patriotic women received cruel abuse, not only from the rebel soldiers, but from rebel Southern women, who, though perhaps wealthier and in more exalted social position than those whom they scorned, had not their tenderness of heart or their real refinement. Indeed it would be difficult to find in history, even among the fierce brutal women of the French revolution, any record of conduct more absolutely fiendish than that of some of the women of the South during the war. They insisted on the murder of helpless prisoners; in some instances shot them in cold blood themselves, besought their lovers and husbands to bring them Yankee skulls, scalps and bones, for ornaments, betrayed innocent men to death, engaged in intrigues and schemes of all kinds to obtain information of the movements of Union troops, to convey it to the enemy, and in every manifestation of malice, petty spite and diabolical hatred against the flag under which they had been reared, and its defenders, they attained a bad pre-eminence over the evil spirits of their sex since the world began. It is true that these were not the characteristics of all Southern, disloyal women, but they were sufficiently common to make the rebel women of the south the objects of scorn among the people of enlightened nations. Many of these patriotic loyal women, of the mountainous districts, rendered valuable aid to our escaping soldiers, as well as to the Union scouts who were in many cases their own kinsmen. Messrs. Richardson and Browne, the Tribune correspondents so long imprisoned, have given due honor to one of this class, "the nameless heroine" as they call her, Miss Melvina Stevens, a young and beautiful girl who from the age of fourteen had guided escaping Union prisoners past the most dangerous of the rebel garrisons and outposts, on the borders of North Carolina and East Tennessee, at the risk of her liberty and life, solely from her devotion to the national cause. The mountainous regions of East Tennessee, Northern Alabama and Northern Georgia were the home of many of these loyal and energetic Union women--women, who in the face of privation, persecution, death and sometimes outrages worse than death, kept up the courage and patriotic ardor of their husbands, brothers and lovers, and whose lofty self-sacrificing courage no rebel cruelties or indignities could weaken or abate.

MISS HETTY A. JONES.[N]

[Footnote N: The sketch of Miss Jones belonged appropriately in Part II. but the materials for it were not received till that part of the work was printed, and we are therefore under the necessity of inserting it here.]

Among 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, and who was killed at the head of his regiment, near Newbern, N. C., in May, 1863, and grand-daughter of Rev. Dr. David Jones, a revolutionary chaplain, eminently patriotic.

At the commencement of the war Miss Jones freely gave of her means to equip the companies which were organized in her own neighborhood, and when the news came of the death of her brave oldest brother, although for a time shocked by the occurrence, she at once devoted her time and means to relieve the wants of the suffering. She attached herself to the Filbert Street Hospital in Philadelphia, and thither she went for weeks and months, regardless of her own comfort or health. Naturally of a bright and cheerful disposition, she carried these qualities into her work, and wherever she went she dispensed joy and gladness, and the sick men seemed to welcome her presence. One who had abundant means of observing, bears testimony to the power of her brave heart and her pleasant winning smile. He says, "I have often seen her sit and talk away the pain, and make glad the heart of the wounded." Nor did she weary in well-doing. Her services at the hospital were constant and efficient, and when she heard of any sick soldier in her village she would visit him there and procure medicine and comforts for him.

In the fall of 1864 she accompanied a friend to Fortress Monroe to meet his sick and wounded son, and thus was led to see more of the sufferings of our brave patriots. On returning home she expressed a wish to go to the front, and although dissuaded on account of her delicate health, she felt it to be her duty to go, and accordingly on the 2d of November, 1864, she started on her errand of mercy, to City Point, Va., the Headquarters of General Grant. The same untiring energy, the same forgetfulness of self, the same devotion to the sick and wounded, were exhibited by her in this new and arduous field of labor. She became attached to the Third Division Second Corps Hospital of the Army of the Potomac, and at once secured the warm affections of the soldiers.

She continued her work with unremitting devotion until the latter part of November, when she had an attack of pleurisy, caused no doubt, by her over exertions in preparing for the soldiers a Thanksgiving Dinner. On her partial recovery she wrote to a friend, describing her tent and its accommodations. She said: "When I was sick, I did want some home comforts; my straw bed was very hard. But even that difficulty was met. A kind lady procured some pillows from the Christian Commission, and sewed them together, and made me a soft bed. But I did not complain, for I was so much better off than the sick boys." The italics are ours, not hers. She never put her own ease before her care for "the sick boys."

She not only attended to the temporal comforts of the soldiers, but she was equally interested in their spiritual welfare, and was wont to go to the meetings of the Christian Commission. Her letters home and to her friends, were full of details of these meetings, and her heart overflowed with Christian love as she spoke of the brave soldiers rising in scores to ask for the prayers of God's people.

She continued her labors, as far as possible, on her recovery, but was unable to do all that her heart prompted her to attempt. She was urged by her friends at home to return and recruit her strength. In her brief journal she alludes to this, but says, "Another battle is expected; and then our poor crippled boys will need all the care that we can give. God grant that we may do something for them!"

Two days after writing this, in her chilly, leaking tent, she was prostrated again. She was unwilling at first that her family should be made uneasy by sending for them. But her disease soon began to make rapid and alarming progress. She consented that they should be summoned. But on the 21st of December, 1864, the day after this consent was obtained, she passed away to her rest. Like a faithful soldier, she died at her post.

She was in early life led to put her trust in Christ, and was baptized about thirty years ago, by her father, on confession of her faith. She continued from that time a loved member of the Lower Merion Baptist church. In her last hours she still rested with a calm, child-like composure on the finished work of Christ. Though called to die, with none of her own kindred about her, she was blessed with the presence of her Lord, who, having loved his own, loves them unto the end.

Her remains were laid beside those of her father, in the cemetery of the Baptist church at Roxborough, Pa., on Friday, the 30th of December, 1864. A number of the convalescent soldiers from the Filbert Street Hospital in the city, with which she was connected, attended her funeral; and her bier was borne by four of those who had so far recovered as to be able to perform this last office for their departed friend.

Her memory will long be cherished by those who knew her best, and tears often shed over her grave by the brave soldiers whom she nursed in their sickness.

The soldiers of the Filbert Street Hospital, on receiving the intelligence of her death, met and passed resolutions expressive of their high esteem and reverence for her who had been their faithful and untiring friend, and deep sympathy with her friends in their loss.

FINAL CHAPTER.

THE FAITHFUL BUT LESS CONSPICUOUS LABORERS.

So 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 conspicuous indeed than these, but not less deserving. We regret that the necessities of the case compel us to pass by so many of these without notice, and to give to others of whom we know but little beyond their names, only a mere mention.

Among those who were distinguished for services in field, camp or army hospitals, not already named, were the following, most of whom rendered efficient service at Antietam or at the Naval Academy Hospital at Annapolis. Some of them were also at City Point; Miss Mary Cary, of Albany, N. Y., and her sister, most faithful and efficient nurses of the sick and wounded, as worthy doubtless, of a more prominent position in this work as many others found in the preceding pages, Miss Agnes Gillis, of Lowell, Mass., Mrs. Guest, of Buffalo, N. Y., Miss Maria Josslyn, of Roxbury, Mass., Miss Ruth L. Ellis, of Bridgewater, Mass., Miss Kate P. Thompson, of Roxbury, Mass., whose labors at Annapolis, have probably made her permanently an invalid, Miss Eudora Clark, of Boston, Mass., Miss Sarah Allen, of Wilbraham, Mass., Miss Emily Gove, of Peru, N. Y., Miss Caroline Cox, of Mott Haven, N. Y., first at David's Island and afterward at Beverly Hospital, N. J., with Mrs. Gibbons, Miss Charlotte Ford, of Morristown, N. J., Miss Ella Wolcott, of Elmira, N. Y., who was at the hospitals near Fortress Monroe, for some time, and subsequently at Point Lookout.

Another corps of faithful hospital workers were those in the Benton Barracks and other hospitals, in and near St. Louis. Of some of these, subsequently engaged in other fields of labor we have already spoken; a few others merit special mention for their extraordinary faithfulness and assiduity in the service; Miss Emily E. Parsons, the able lady superintendent of the Benton Barracks Hospital, gives her testimony to the efficiency and excellent spirit of the following ladies; Miss S. R. Lovell, of Galesburg, Michigan, whose labors began in the hospitals near Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1864 was transferred to Benton Barracks, but was almost immediately prostrated by illness, and after her recovery returned to the Tennessee hospitals. Her gentle sympathizing manners, and her kindness to the soldiers won for her their regard and gratitude.

Miss Lucy J. Bissell, of Meremec, St. Louis County, Mo., offered her services as volunteer nurse as soon as the call for nurses in 1861, was issued; and was first sent to one of the regimental hospitals at Cairo, in July, 1861, afterward to Bird's Point, where she lived in a tent and subsisted on the soldiers' rations, for more than a year. After a short visit home she was sent in January, 1863, by the Sanitary Commission to Paducah, Ky., where she remained till the following October. In February, 1864, she was assigned to Benton Barracks Hospital where she continued till June 1st, 1864, except a short sickness contracted by hospital service. In July, 1864, she was transferred to Jefferson Barracks Hospital and continued there till June, 1865, and that hospital being closed, served a month or two longer, in one of the others, in which some sick and wounded soldiers were still left. Many hundreds of the soldiers will testify to her untiring assiduity in caring for them.

Mrs. Arabella Tannehill, of Iowa, after many months of assiduous work at the Benton Barracks Hospital, went to the Nashville hospitals, where she performed excellent service, being a most conscientious and faithful nurse, and winning the regard and esteem of all those under her charge.

Mrs. Rebecca S. Smith, of Chelsea, Ill., the wife of a soldier in the army, had acquitted herself so admirably at the Post Hospital of Benton Barracks, that one of the surgeons of the General Hospital, who had formerly been surgeon of the Post, requested Miss Parsons to procure her services for his ward. She did so, and found her a most excellent and skillful nurse.

Mrs. Caroline E. Gray, of Illinois, had also a husband in the army; she was a long time at Benton Barracks and was one of the best nurses there, an estimable woman in every respect.

Miss Adeline A. Lane, of Quincy, Ill., a teacher before the war, came to Benton Barracks Hospital in the Spring of 1863, and after a service of many months there, returned to her home at Quincy, where she devoted her attention to the care of the sick and wounded soldiers sent there, and accomplished great good.

Miss Martha Adams, of New York city, was long employed in the Fort Schuyler Hospital and subsequently at Benton Barracks, and was a woman of rare devotion to her work.

Miss Jennie Tileston Spaulding, of Roxbury, Mass., was for a long period at Fort Schuyler Hospital, where she was much esteemed, and after her return home busied herself in caring for the families of soldiers around her.

Miss E. M. King, of Omaha, Nebraska, was a very faithful and excellent nurse at the Benton Barracks Hospital.

Mrs. Juliana Day, the wife of a surgeon in one of the Nashville hospitals, acted as a volunteer nurse for them, and by her protracted services there impaired her health and died before the close of the war.

Other efficient nurses appointed by the Western Sanitary Commission (and there were none more efficient anywhere) were, Miss Carrie C. McNair, Miss N. A. Shepard, Miss C. A. Harwood, Miss Rebecca M. Craighead, Miss Ida Johnson, Mrs. Dorothea Ogden, Miss Harriet N. Phillips, Mrs. A. Reese, Mrs. Maria Brooks, Mrs. Mary Otis, Miss Harriet Peabody, Mrs. M. A. Wells, Mrs. Florence P. Sterling, Miss N. L. Ostram, Mrs. Anne Ward, Miss Isabella M. Hartshorne, Mrs. Mary Ellis, Mrs. L. E. Lathrop, Miss Louisa Otis, Mrs. Lydia Leach, Mrs. Mary Andrews, Mrs. Mary Ludlow, Mrs. Hannah A. Haines and Mrs. Mary Allen. Most of these were from St. Louis or its vicinity.

The following, also for the most part from St. Louis, were appointed somewhat later by the Western Sanitary Commission, but rendered excellent service. Mrs. M. I. Ballard, Mrs. E. O. Gibson, Mrs. L. D. Aldrich, Mrs. Houghton, Mrs. Sarah A. Barton, Mrs. Olive Freeman, Mrs. Anne M. Shattuck, Mrs. E. C. Brendell, Mrs. E. J. Morris, Miss Fanny Marshall, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Nichols, Mrs. H. A. Reid, Mrs. Reese, Mrs. M. A. Stetler, Mrs. M. J. Dykeman, Misses Marian and Clara McClintock, Mrs. Sager, Mrs. Peabody, Mrs. C. C. Hagar, Mrs. J. E. Hickox, Mrs. L. L. Campbell, Miss Deborah Dougherty and Mrs. Ferris.

As in other cities, many ladies of high social position, devoted themselves with great assiduity to voluntary visiting and nursing at the hospitals. Among these were Mrs. Chauncey I. Filley, wife of Mayor Filley, Mrs. Robert Anderson, wife of General Anderson, Mrs. Jessie B. Fremont, wife of General Fremont, Mrs. Clinton B. Fisk, wife of General Fisk, Mrs. E. M. Webber, Mrs. A. M. Clark, Mrs. John Campbell, Mrs. W. F. Cozzens, Mrs. E. W. Davis, Miss S. F. McCracken, Miss Anna M. Debenham, since deceased, Miss Susan Bell, Miss Charlotte Ledergerber, Mrs. S. C. Davis, Mrs. Hazard, Mrs. T. D. Edgar, Mrs. George Partridge, Miss E. A. Hart, since deceased, Mrs. H. A. Nelson, Mrs. F. A. Holden, Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Baily, Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, Mrs. C. V. Barker, Miss Bettie Broadhead, Mrs. T. M. Post, Mrs. E. J. Page, Miss Jane Patrick, since deceased, Mrs. R. H. Stone, Mrs. C. P. Coolidge, Mrs. S. R. Ward, Mrs. Washington King, Mrs. Wyllys King, Miss Fales, since deceased.

The following were among the noble women at Springfield, Ill., who were most devoted in their labors for the soldier in forwarding sanitary supplies, in visiting the hospitals in and near Springfield, in sustaining the Soldiers' Home in that city, and in aiding the families of soldiers. Mrs. Lucretia Jane Tilton, Miss Catharine Tilton, Mrs. Lucretia P. Wood, Mrs. P. C. Latham, Mrs. M. E. Halbert, Mrs. Zimmerman, Mrs. J. D. B. Salter, Mrs. John Ives, Mrs. Mary Engleman, Mrs. Paul Selby, Mrs. S. H. Melvin, Mrs. Stoneberger, Mrs. Schaums, Mrs. E. Curtiss, Mrs. L. Snell, Mrs. J. Nutt and Mrs. J. P. Reynolds. Mrs. R. H. Bennison, of Quincy, Ill., was also a faithful hospital visitor and friend of the soldier. Mrs. Dr. Ely, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, efficient in every good work throughout the war, and at its close the active promoter and superintendent of a Home for Soldiers' Orphans, near Davenport, Iowa, is deserving of all honor.

Miss Georgiana Willets, of Jersey City, N. J., a faithful and earnest helper at the front from 1864 to the end of the war, deserves especial mention, as do also Miss Molineux, sister of General Molineux and Miss McCabe, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who were, throughout the war, active in aiding the soldiers by all the means in their power. Miss Sophronia Bucklin, of Auburn, N. Y., an untiring and patient worker among the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, also deserves a place in our record.

Cincinnati had a large band of noble hospital workers, women who gave freely of their own property as well as their personal services for the care and comfort of the soldier. Among these were, Mrs. Crafts J. Wright, wife of Colonel Crafts J. Wright, was among the first hospital visiters of the city, and was unwearied in her efforts to provide comforts for the soldiers in the general hospitals of the city as well as for the sick or wounded soldiers of her husband's regiment in the field. Mrs. C. W. Starbuck, Mrs. Peter Gibson, Mrs. William Woods and Mrs. Caldwell, were also active in visiting the hospitals and gave largely to the soldiers who were sick there. Miss Penfield and Mrs. Elizabeth S. Comstock, of Michigan, Mrs. C. E. Russell, of Detroit, Mrs. Harriet B. Dame, of Wisconsin and the Misses Rexford, of Illinois, were remarkably efficient, not only in the hospitals at home, but at the front, where they were long engaged in caring for the soldiers.

From Niagara Falls, N. Y., Miss Elizabeth L. Porter, sister of the late gallant Colonel Peter A. Porter, went to the Baltimore Hospitals and for nineteen months devoted her time and her ample fortune to the service of the soldiers, with an assiduity which has rendered her an invalid ever since.

In Louisville, Ky., Mrs. Menefee and Mrs. Smith, wife of the Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the diocese of Kentucky, were the leaders of a faithful band of hospital visitors in that city.

Boston was filled with patriotic women; to name them all would be almost like publishing a directory of the city. Mrs. Lowell, who gave two sons to the war, both of whom were slain at the head of their commands, was herself one of the most zealous laborers in behalf of the soldier in Boston or its vicinity. Like Miss Wormeley and Miss Gilson, she took a contract for clothing from the government, to provide work for the soldiers' families, preparing the work for them and giving them more than she received. Her daughter, Miss Anna Lowell, was on one of the Hospital Transports in the Peninsula, and arrived at Harrison's Landing, where she met the news of her brother's death in the battles of the Seven Days, but burying her sorrows in her heart, she took charge of a ward on the Transport when it returned, and from the summer of 1862 till the close of the war was in charge as lady superintendent, of the Armory Square Hospital, Washington. Other ladies hardly less active were Mrs. Amelia L. Holmes, wife of the poet and essayist, Miss Hannah E. Stevenson, Miss Ira E. Loring, Mrs. George H. Shaw, Mrs. Martin Brimmer and Mrs. William B. Rogers. Miss Mary Felton, of Cambridge, Mass., served for a long time with her friend, Miss Anna Lowell, at Armory Square Hospital, Washington. Miss Louise M. Alcott, daughter of A. B. Alcott, of Concord, Mass., and herself the author of a little book on "Hospital Scenes," as well as other works, was for some time an efficient nurse in one of the Washington hospitals.

Among the leaders in the organization of Soldiers' Aid Societies in the smaller cities and towns, those ladies who gave the impulse which during the whole war vibrated through the souls of those who came within the sphere of their influence, there are very many eminently deserving of a place in our record. A few we must name. Mrs. Heyle, Mrs. Ide and Miss Swayne, daughter of Judge Swayne of the United States Supreme Court, all of Columbus, Ohio, did an excellent work there. The Soldiers' Home of that city, founded and sustained by their efforts, was one of the best in the country. Mrs. T. W. Seward, of Utica, was indefatigable in her efforts for maintaining in its highest condition of activity the Aid Society of that city. Mrs. Sarah J. Cowen was similarly efficient in Hartford, Conn. Miss Long, at Rochester, N. Y., was the soul of the efforts for the soldier there, and her labors were warmly seconded by many ladies of high standing and earnest patriotism. In Norwalk, Ohio, Mrs. Lizzie H. Farr was one of the most zealous coadjutors of those ladies who managed with such wonderful ability the affairs of the Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio, at Cleveland. To her is due the origination of the Alert Clubs, associations of young girls for the purpose of working for the soldiers and their families, which rapidly spread thence over the country. Never flagging in her efforts for the soldiers, Mrs. Farr exerted a powerful and almost electric influence over the region of which Norwalk is the centre.

Equally efficient, and perhaps exerting a wider influence, was the Secretary of the Soldiers' Aid Society at Peoria, Ill., Miss Mary E. Bartlett, a lady of superior culture and refinement, and indefatigable in her exertions for raising supplies for the soldiers, from the beginning to the close of the war. The Western Sanitary Commission had no more active auxiliary out of St. Louis, than the Soldiers' Aid Society of Peoria.

Among the ladies who labored for the relief of the Freedmen, Miss Sophia Knight of South Reading, Mass., deserves a place. After spending five or six months in Benton Barracks Hospital (May to October, 1864) she went to Natchez, Miss., and engaged as teacher of the Freedmen, under the direction of the Western Sanitary Commission. Not satisfied with teaching the colored children, she instructed also the colored soldiers in the fort, and visited the people in their homes and the hospitals for sick and wounded colored soldiers. She remained in Natchez until May, 1865. In the following autumn she accepted an appointment from the New England Freedman's Aid Society as teacher of the Freedmen in South Carolina, on Edisto Island, where she remained until July, 1866; she then returned to Boston, where she is still engaged in teaching freedmen.

But time and space would both fail us were we to attempt to put on record the tithe of names which memory recalls of those whose labors and sacrifices of health and life for the cause of the nation, have been not less heroic or noble than those of the soldiers whom they have sought to serve. In the book of God's remembrance their names and their deeds of love and mercy are all inscribed, and in the great day of reckoning, when that record shall be proclaimed in the sight and hearing of an assembled universe, it will be their joyful privilege to hear from the lips of the Supreme Judge, the welcome words, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me."

INDEX

OF NAMES OF WOMEN WHOSE SERVICES ARE RECORDED IN THIS BOOK.

Abernethy, Mrs. C., 528.

Adams, Miss H. A., 74, 79, 630, 636, 639.

Adams, Miss Martha, 789.

Adams, Mrs. N., 594.

Alcott, Miss Louise M., 793.

Aldrich, Mrs. L. D., 790.

Aldrich, Milly, 85.

Allen, Mrs. Mary, 790.

Allen, Miss Phebe, 502.

Allen, Miss Sarah, 459, 788.

Anderson, Mrs. Kate B., 737.

Anderson, Mrs. Robert, 630, 790.

Andrews, Emma, 84.

Andrews, Mrs. Mary, 790.

Archer, Mrs., 79.

Armstrong, Miss, 209.

Babcock, Miss Grace, 590.

Bacon, Mrs. Elbridge, 463.

Bailey, Mrs., 301, 731.

Bailey, Mrs. Catharine, 737.

Bailey, Mrs. Hannah F., 737.

Baily, Mrs., 791.

Baker, Miss Delphine P., 754-759.

Bakewell, Miss, 616.

Ballard, Mrs. M. I., 790.

Balustier, Mrs., 301, 732.

Barker, Mrs. C. N., 630, 632.

Barker, Mrs. C. V., 791.

Barker, Mrs. Stephen, 186, 200-211.

Barlow, Mrs. Arabella Griffith, 88, 225-233.

Barnard, Mrs., 664.

Barnett, Mrs., 780.

Barrows, Mrs. Ellen B., 737.

Bartlett, Miss Mary E., 794.

Bartlett, Mrs. Abner, 84.

Barton, Mrs. Sarah A., 790.

Barton, Miss Clara Harlowe, 73, 111-132.

Baylis, Mrs. H., 528.

Beck, Mrs., 157, 159, 485, 713.

Bell, Miss Annie, 616.

Bell, Miss Susan J., 630, 790.

Bellows, Mrs. H. W., 302.

Bennett, Miss, 780.

Bennison, Mrs. R. H., 791.

Bergen, Miss Rebecca, 428.

Bickerdyke, Mrs. Mary A., 74, 163, 165-170, 172-186, 209, 512.

Biddle, Misses, 644.

Bigelow, Mrs. R. M., 738-740.

Billing, Mrs. R. K., 738, 739.

Billing, Miss Rose M., 460, 738, 739, 742.

Bird, Miss, 590.

Bissell, Miss Lucy J., 788.

Bissell, Miss Mary, 616.

Blackmar, Miss M. A., 429, 430.

Blackwell, Miss Emily, 527.

Blackwell, Miss Elizabeth, 527, 528, 529.

Blanchard, Miss Anna, 600.

Blanchard, Miss H., 600.

Booth, Mrs., 769.

Botta, Mrs. Vincenzo, 528.

Boyer, Mrs. Margaret, 736.

Bradford, Miss Charlotte, 153, 301, 316, 731, 732.

Bradley, Miss Amy M., 212-224, 301, 316, 584, 732, 748.

Brady, Mrs. Mary A., 597, 647-9.

Brayton, Miss Mary Clark, 74, 79, 540, 543, 545, 546, 547-552.

Breckinridge, Miss Margaret E., 74, 88, 187, 199, 779.

Brendell, Mrs. E. C., 790.

Brewster, Mrs., 664.

Bridgham, Mrs. S. W., 531.

Brimmer, Mrs. Martin, 557, 793.

Broadhead, Mrs. Bettie, 632, 791.

Brooks, Mrs. Maria, 790.

Brownell, Mrs. Kady, 773, 774.

Bryden, Mrs., 780.

Bucklin, Miss Sophronia, 791.

Caldwell, Mrs., 792.

Campbell, Mrs. John, 790.

Campbell, Mrs. Lucy L., 790.

Campbell, Miss Valeria, 79, 594, 595.

Canfield, Mrs. S. A. Martha, 495.

Carver, Mrs. Anna, 647.

Cary, Miss Mary, 459, 787.

Case, Mrs. Cynthia, 742.

Cassedy, Mrs. Mary A., 737.

Chase, Miss Nellie, 644.

Chapman, Mrs. 354.

Chapman, Miss G. D., 714.

Chipman, Mrs. H. L., 594.

Clapp, Mrs. Anna L., 79, 630, 634-636, 715, 767, 779.

Clapp, Mrs. Samuel H., 599.

Clark, Mrs. A. M., 790.

Clark, Miss Eudora, 458, 788.

Clark, Mrs. Lincoln, 165.

Colby, Mrs. Robert, 530.

Colfax, Mrs. Harriet R., 74, 395-399.

Collins, Miss Ellen, 79, 528, 533, 534, 536.

Colt, Mrs. Henrietta L., 79, 568, 586, 607, 609-613.

Colwell, Mrs. Stephen, 643.

Conrad, Mrs. R. E., 377.

Constant, Mrs. Nettie C., 714.

Coolidge, Mrs. C. P., 791.

Combs, Mrs. Sarah, 715.

Comstock, Mrs. Elizabeth S., 792.

Cowen, Mrs. Sarah J., 793.

Courteney, Mrs. Mary, 737.

Cox, Miss Caroline, 788.

Cozzens, Mrs. W. F., 790.

Craighead, Miss Rebecca M., 790.

Crawshaw, Mrs. Joseph, 630, 715.

Curtis, Mrs. George, 537.

Curtiss, Mrs. E., 791.

Dada, Miss Hattie A., 431-439.

Dame, Mrs. Harriet B., 792.

Dana, Miss Emily W., 456, 462.

Davis, Miss Clara, 295, 400-403, 480.

Davis, Mrs. E. W., 790.

Davis, Mrs. G. T. M., 352-356, 666, 680.

Davis, Mrs. Samuel C., 630, 790.

Day, Mrs. Juliana, 789.

Debenham, Miss Anna M., 630, 790.

Delafield, Mrs. Louisa M., 607.

Denham, Mrs. Z., 644.

Detmold, Miss Z. T., 537.

Divers, Bridget, 480, 593, 771-773.

Dix, Miss Dorothea L., 71, 97-108, 134, 271, 290, 431, 432, 449, 472, 478, 512, 579.

Dodge, Mrs., 664.

Don Carlos, Mrs. Minnie, 780.

D'Oremieulx, Mrs. T., 528, 531.

Dougherty, Miss Deborah, 790.

Duane, Miss M. M., 599.

Dunlap, Miss S. B., 599.

Dupee, Miss Mary E., 456, 462, 463, 464.

Dykeman, Mrs. M. J., 790.

Eaton, Mrs. J. S., 463, 507, 508.

Eaton, Mrs. Lucien, 715.

Edgar, Mrs. T. D., 791.

Edson, Mrs. Sarah P., 440-447.

Edwards, Miss, 780.

Elkinton, Mrs. Anna A., 737.

Elliott, Miss Melcenia, 74, 380-384.

Ellis, Mrs. Mary, 790.

Ellis, Miss Ruth L., 458, 787.

Ely, Mrs. Charles L., 630.

Ely, Mrs. Dr., 791.

Engleman, Mrs. Mary, 791.

Etheridge, Mrs. Annie, 218, 301, 593, 747-753.

Fales, Mrs. Almira, 73, 279-283, 449, 450, 483, 677.

Fales, Miss, 791.

Farr, Mrs. Lizzie H., 793.

Fellows, Mrs. W. M., 530.

Felton, Miss Mary, 793.

Femington, Mrs. Sarah, 736.

Fenn, Mrs. Curtis T., 660-670.

Fernald, Mrs. James E., 463.

Ferris, Mrs., 790.

Field, Mrs. David Dudley, 88.

Field, Mrs. Mary E., 737.

Field, Miss, 737.

Field, Mrs. C. W., 528.

Field, Mrs. Samuel, 599.

Filley, Mrs. Chauncey I., 790.

Fish, Mrs. Hamilton, 528, 529.

Fisk, Mrs. Clinton B., 713, 790.

Flanders, Mrs. Benj., 780.

Flanders, Miss Fanny, 780.

Flanders, Miss Florence, 780.

Fogg, Mrs. Mary R., 715.

Fogg, Mrs. Isabella, 463, 506-510.

Follett, Mrs. Joseph E., 590.

Foote, Miss Kate, 418.

Ford, Miss Charlotte, 459, 788.

Fox, Miss Harriet, 463.

Francis, Miss Abby, 209.

Frederick, Mrs. M. L., 599.

Freeman, Mrs. Olive, 790.

Fremont, Mrs. Jessie B., 274, 790.

Frietchie, Barbara, 522, 761-763, 767

Furness, Mrs. W. H., 599.

Gage, Mrs. Frances Dana, 683-690.

Gardiner, Miss M., 301, 732.

George, Mrs. E. E., 511-513.

Gibbons, Mrs. A. H., 467-476, 788.

Gibbons, Miss Sarah H., 467-476.

Gibson, Mrs. E. O., 396, 399, 790.

Gibson, Mrs. Peter, 792.

Gillespie, Mrs. E. D., 599.

Gillis, Miss Agnes, 459, 787.

Gilson, Miss Helen L., 71, 73, 80, 81, 133-148, 232, 301, 316, 713, 732.

Glover, Miss Eliza S., 630.

Gove, Miss Emily, 459, 788.

Graff, Mrs. C, 599.

Gray, Mrs. Caroline E., 789.

Greble, Mrs. Edwin, 503, 504.

Green, Mrs., 736.

Grier, Mrs. Maria C., 597-599, 600, 601, 779.

Griffin, Mrs. Josephine R., 707-709.

Griffin, Mrs. William Preston, 301, 316, 528, 529, 530, 534.

Grover, Mrs. Mary, 736.

Grover, Mrs. Priscilla, 736.

Grover, Miss, 737.

Guest, Mrs., 459, 787.

Hagar, Mrs. C. C., 704, 790.

Hagar, Miss Sarah J., 704, 706.

Haines, Mrs. Hannah A., 790.

Hall, Miss Maria M. C., 157, 247, 290, 401, 448-454, 456, 457, 460, 483, 485, 644.

Hall, Miss Susan E., 431-439.

Halbert, Mrs. M. E., 791.

Hallowell, Mrs. M. M., 710-712.

Hancock, Miss Cornelia, 284-286, 487, 644.

Harlan, Mrs. James, 676, 678.

Harmon, Miss Amelia, 777, 778.

Harris, Mrs. John, 72, 73, 79, 149-160, 367, 450, 482, 483, 485, 596, 643, 644, 645, 713.

Harris, Miss W. F., 742, 743.

Hart, Miss E. A., 791.

Hartshorne, Miss Isabella M., 790.

Harvey, Mrs. Cordelia A. P., 73, 164, 260-268, 729.

Harwood, Miss C. A., 790.

Hawley, Miss E. P., 600.

Hawley, Mrs. Harriet Foote, 416-419, 513, 713.

Hazard, Mrs., 790.

Helmbold, Mrs. Eliza, 737.

Heyle, Mrs., 793.

Hickox, Mrs. J. E., 790.

Hicks, Mrs., 791.

Hoadley, Mrs. George, 79.

Hoes, Mrs. H. F., 713.

Hodge, Mrs., 780.

Hoge, Mrs. A. H., 74, 79, 178, 561, 562-576, 580, 583, 585, 589, 610.

Holden, Mrs. F. A., 791.

Holland, Miss Sarah, 736.

Holmes, Mrs. Amelia L., 793.

Holmes, Miss Belle, 630.

Holstein, Mrs. William H., 251-259.

Home, Miss Jessie, 422, 427, 428, 480.

Hooper, Mrs. Lucy H., 764.

Horton, Mrs. Elizabeth, 737.

Hosmer, Mrs. O. E., 719-724.

Houghton, Mrs., 790.

Howe, Miss Abbie J., 458, 465, 466.

Howe, Mrs. Charles, 780.

Howe, Mrs. T. O., 164.

Howell, Mrs., 780.

Howland, Mrs. Eliza W., 301, 324-326.

Howland, Mrs. Robert S., 88, 326, 327.

Humphrey, Miss, 164.

Husband, Mrs. Mary Morris, 157, 287-298, 301, 316, 401, 451, 483, 485, 486, 507, 596.

Ide, Mrs., 793.

Ives, Mrs. John, 791.

Jackson, Mrs. Margaret A., 607.

Jessup, Mrs. A. D., 599.

Johnson, Miss Addie E., 399.

Johnson, Miss Ida, 790.

Johnson, Mrs. J. Warner, 599.

Johnson, Mrs., 209, 210.

Johnston, Mrs. Sarah R., 269-272, 779.

Jones, Mrs. Elizabeth, 791.

Jones, Miss Hetty A., 783, 786.

Jones, Mrs. Joel, 79, 643.

Josslyn, Miss Maria, 459, 787.

Kellogg, Mrs. S. B., 630.

King, Miss E. M., 789.

King, Mrs. Washington, 630, 791.

King, Mrs. Wyllys, 791.

Kirchner, Mrs. Dr., 780.

Kirkland, Mrs. Caroline M., 88, 528.

Knight, Miss A. M., 705.

Knight, Miss Sophia, 794.

Krider, Miss, 737.

Lane, Miss Adeline A., 789.

Lane, Mrs. David, 530, 537.

Latham, Mrs. P. C., 791.

Lathrop, Mrs. L. E., 790.

Lathrop, Mrs., 599.

Leach, Mrs. Lydia, 790.

Ledergerber, Miss Charlotte, 790.

Lee, Miss Amanda, 480, 486, 737.

Lee, Mrs. Mary W., 73, 157, 480-488, 596, 644, 647, 733, 737.

Little, Miss Anna P., 647.

Livermore, Mrs. Mary A., 74, 79, 85, 178, 359, 561, 566, 569, 577-589, 610.

Long, Miss, 793.

Loring, Miss Ira E., 557, 793.

Lovejoy, Miss Sarah E. M., 714.

Lovell, Miss S. R., 788.

Lowell, Miss Anna, 792, 793.

Lowell, Mrs., 792.

Lowry, Mrs. Ellen J., 736.

Ludlow, Mrs. Mary, 790.

McCabe, Miss, 791.

McClintock, Miss Clara, 790.

McClintock, Miss Marian, 790.

McCracken, Miss Sarah F., 790.

McEwen, Mrs. Hetty M., 764-766, 767.

McFadden, Miss Rachel W., 79, 616.

McKay, Mrs. Charlotte E., 514-516.

McMeens, Mrs. Anna C., 491, 492.

McMillan, Mrs., 616.

McNair, Miss Carrie C., 790.

Maertz, Miss Louisa, 74, 390-394.

Maltby, Mrs. F. F., 630.

Mann, Miss Maria R., 697-703.

Marsh, Mrs. M. M., 534, 621-629.

Marshall, Miss Fanny, 790.

Mason, Mrs. Emily, 737.

May, Miss Abby W., 79, 554-557.

Mayhew, Mrs. Ruth S., 463, 506.

Melvin, Mrs. S. H., 791.

Mendenhall, Mrs. Elizabeth S., 79, 494, 617-620.

Menefee, Mrs., 792.

Merrill, Mrs. Eunice D., 457, 462.

Merritt, Mrs., 302.

Mills, Mrs., 780.

Mitchell, Miss Ellen E., 420-426.

Molineux, Miss, 791.

Moore, Mrs. Clara J., 597, 599.

Moore, Mrs., (of Knoxville, Tenn.), 767, 768.

Morris, Mrs. E. J., 790.

Morris, Miss, 354, 496.

Morris, Miss Rachel W., 600.

Moss, Miss M. J., 600.

Munsell, Mrs. Jane R., 522, 523.

Murdoch, Miss Ellen E., 616, 633.

Nash, Miss C., 537.

Nelson, Mrs. H. A., 791.

Newhall, Miss Susan, 456, 461, 464.

Nichols, Mrs. Elizabeth A., 790.

Noye, Miss Helen M., 456, 459.

Nutt, Mrs. J., 791.

Ogden, Mrs. Dorothea, 790.

Oliver, Mrs., 664.

Ostram, Miss N. L., 790.

Otis, Miss Louisa, 790.

Otis, Mrs. Mary, 790.

Page, Miss Eliza, 631.

Page, Mrs. E. J., 791.

Painter, Mrs. Hetty K., 644, 647.

Palmer, Mrs. Mary E., 81, 88, 630, 640-642.

Palmer, Mrs. John, 594.

Pancoast, Mrs., 656.

Parrish, Mrs. Lydia G., 362-373, 599.

Parsons, Miss Emily E., 74, 273-278, 382, 489, 502, 788.

Partridge, Mrs. George, 791.

Patrick, Miss Jane, 791.

Peabody, Miss Harriet, 790.

Peabody, Mrs., 790.

Penfield, Miss, 792.

Pettes, Miss Mary Dwight, 385-389.

Phelps, Mrs. John S., 520, 521, 713, 779.

Pierson, Miss Mary, 457, 462.

Phillips, Miss Harriet N., 790.

Pinkham, Miss, 644.

Plummer, Mrs. Eliza G., 73, 88, 735.

Plummer, Mrs. S. A., 396, 399.

Pomeroy, Mrs. Lucy G., 88, 691-696.

Pomeroy, Mrs. Robert, 664.

Porter, Mrs. Eliza C., 74, 161-171, 174, 182, 183, 185, 186, 209, 512, 560.

Porter, Miss Elizabeth L., 791.

Post, Miss A., 537.

Post, Mrs. T. M., 630, 791.

Preble, Mrs. William, 463.

Quimby, Miss Almira, 456-462.

Reese, Mrs. A., 790.

Reid, Mrs. H. A., 790.

Reifsnyder, Miss Hattie S., 742.

Reynolds, Mrs. J. P., 791.

Rexford, Misses, 792.

Rich, Miss, 370.

Richardson, Mrs., 780.

Ricketts, Mrs. Fanny L., 480, 517-519.

Robinson, Miss Belle, 742.

Rogers, Mrs. William B., 557, 793.

Ross, Miss Anna Maria, 88, 343-351, 644, 733.

Rouse, Mrs. B., 79, 540, 544, 545.

Royce, Miss Alice F., 713.

Russell, Mrs. E. A., 679.

Russell, Mrs. E. J., 477-479.

Russell, Mrs. C. E., 792.

Safford, Miss Mary J., 163, 357-361.

Sager, Mrs., 790.

Salomon, Mrs. Eliza, 613, 614.

Salter, Mrs. J. D. B., 791.

Sampson, Mrs., 644.

Schaums, Mrs., 791.

Schuyler, Mrs. G. L., 528.

Schuyler, Miss Louisa Lee, 79, 532, 534, 537.

Selby, Mrs. Paul, 791.

Seward, Mrs. T. W., 793.

Seymour, Mrs. Horatio, 79, 590-592.

Sharpless, Miss Hattie R., 741-743.

Shattuck, Mrs. Anna M., 790.

Shaw, the Misses, 537.

Shaw, Mrs. G. H., 557, 793.

Sheffield, Miss Mary E., 714.

Sheads, Miss Carrie, 776, 777.

Shepard, Miss N. A., 790.

Sibley, Miss S. A., 594.

Small, Mrs. Jerusha C., 493, 494.

Smith, Mrs. Aubrey H., 599.

Smith, Mrs. Hannah, 736.

Smith, Mrs., 792.

Smith, Mrs. Eliza J., 737.

Smith, Mrs. Rebecca S., 789.

Snell, Mrs. L., 791.

Spaulding Miss Jennie Tileston, 789.

Spencer, Mrs. R. H., 404-415.

Springer, Mrs. C. R., 80, 630, 639, 640.

Starr, Mrs. Lucy E., 713, 728-730.

Starbuck, Mrs. C. W., 792.

Stearns, Mrs. S. Burger, 760.

Steel, Mrs., 209.

Sterling, Mrs. Florence P., 790.

Stetler, Mrs. M. A., 790.

Stevens, Miss Gertrude, 537.

Stevens, Miss Melvina, 782.

Stevens, Mrs. N., 715.

Stevenson, Miss Hannah E., 793.

Steward, Miss Ella, 616.

Stille, Mrs. Charles J., 599.

Stone, Mrs. R. H., 791.

Stoneberger, Mrs., 791.

Stranahan, Mrs. Mariamne F., 79, 537, 651-658.

Streeter, Mrs. Elizabeth M., 655-659.

Strong, Mrs. George T., 301.

Swett, Mrs. J. A., 528.

Swayne, Miss, 793.

Tannehill, Mrs. Arabella, 789.

Taylor, Miss Alice, 239, 240, 768, 769.

Taylor, Mrs. Nellie Maria, 234, 240, 779, 780.

Terry, Miss Ellen F., 540, 543, 546, 547.

Tevis, Mrs. J., 599.

Thomas, Mrs. E., 496.

Thomas, Mrs. (of New Orleans), 780.

Thompson, Miss Kate P., 458, 788.

Ticknor, Miss Anna, 557.

Ticknor, Mrs. George, 323, 557.

Tileston, Miss Jennie, 789.

Tilton, Miss Catherine, 791.

Tilton, Mrs. Lucretia Jane, 791.

Tinkham, Mrs. Smith, 720, 722.

Titcomb, Miss Louise, 247, 453, 456, 461, 463.

Titlow, Mrs. Effie, 522, 767.

Tompkins, Miss Cornelia M., 489, 490.

Trotter, Mrs. Laura, 301.

Turchin, Madame, 480, 770, 771.

Tyler, Mrs. Adaline, 241-250, 453, 456, 461, 464.

Tyson, Miss, 157, 159, 485, 713.

Usher, Miss Rebecca R., 456, 461, 463.

Vance, Miss Mary, 429, 430.

Vanderkieft, Mrs. Dr., 247.

Wade, Mrs. Jennie, 88, 775, 776.

Wade, Mrs. Mary B., 736.

Walker, Miss Adeline, 456, 457, 462.

Wallace, Miss, 209.

Wallace, Mrs. Martha A., 73.

Ward, Mrs. Anne, 790.

Ward, Mrs. S. R., 791.

Waterbury, Miss Kate E., 651, 658.

Waterman, Mrs., 644.

Webber, Mrs. E. M., 790.

Weed, Mrs. H. M., 715.

Wells, Mrs. Shepard, 497, 498, 779.

Whetten, Miss Harriet Douglas, 301, 316, 322.

Whitaker, Miss Mary A., 714.

Wibrey, Mrs., 780.

Willets, Miss Georgiana, 791.

Williams, Miss, 245.

Wiswall, Miss Hattie, 725-727.

Witherell, Mrs. E. C., 499-501.

Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Annie, 374-379, 509.

Wolcott, Miss Ella, 459, 788.

Wolfley, Mrs., 780.

Wolfley, Miss Carrie, 780.

Wood, Mrs. Lucretia P., 791.

Woods, Mrs. William, 792.

Woolsey, Miss Georgiana M., 301, 303, 322, 323, 324, 327-342, 472.

Woolsey, Miss Jane Stuart, 322, 324, 342, 472, 713.

Woolsey, Miss Sarah C., 322, 342.

Woolsey, Mrs., 328.

Wormeley, Miss Katharine P., 80, 301, 303, 318-323, 327, 480.

Wright, Mrs. Crafts J., 791.

Young, Miss M. A. B., 459.

Zimmerman, Mrs., 791.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Illustrations originally printed in the middle of sentences have been moved to the nearest paragraph break.

Because sections of this book were written by different people, accent, spelling and hyphen usage is inconsistent. These inconsistencies have been preserved except where noted.

Page 25: added page numbers for Table of Contents and Introduction

Page 27: added period to "Visits Huntsville, Pulaski, etc."

Page 30: added period to "preparation of diet, etc."

Page 40: changed "e" to "e" in "Mrs. D'Oremieulx's departure for Europe"

Page 41: changed "e" to "e" in "made by the employes of the Association,"

Page 42: "Did you drop from heaven" had opening " printed as '

Page 45: "Mr. Stranahan chosen President" corrected to "Mrs. Stranahan"

Page 51: Removed period after Felton: Miss Felton--Louisville,

Page 51: "Mrs. Corven, of Hartford, Conn." corrected to "Cowen"

Page 51: Added period after Hartford, Conn. and Peoria, Ill.

Page 53: "MRS. MARIANNE F. STRANAHAN" not corrected to MARIAMNE

Page 66: "We need only recal" corrected to "recall"

Page 82: Deleted quotation mark before: In that little hamlet

Page 82: Deleted quotation mark before: "In one of the mountainous

Page 129: "franks of some of her frinds" corrected to "friends"

Page 137: "In all her journies Miss Gilson" corrected to "journeys"

Page 169: Changed "most econonomical" corrected to "most economical"

Page 191: Added close quote to: uncertainties of self-support."

Page 210: "Companies A. B, C.," corrected to Companies "A, B, C,"

Page 237: Added second close quote to: "Lincoln's hirelings.""

Page 292: Added close quote to: departure in copious tears."

Page 305: "earnest hope that yon alleviate suffering" corrected to "you"

Page 353: Added period to "themselves in the service of their country."

Page 339: "'It is the man, you know," had opening ' printed as "

Page 375: "$115,876,93" corrected to "$115,876.93"

Page 386: ""develope that purity" corrected to "develop"

Page 456: "year in the hospitel." corrected to "hospital"

Page 462: Added close quote to: of the deceased to their friends."

Page 529: "physicial fatigue" corrected to "physical fatigue"

Page 537: "MRS. MARIANNE F. STRANAHAN" not corrected to MARIAMNE

Page 574: "wih the Branch Commissions" corrected to "with"

Page 577: "Charlestown (Mass)., Female Seminary" corrected to "(Mass.),"

Page 592: Opening " changed to ': 'for two miles it was all people

Page 609: "beleagured city" corrected to "beleaguered city"

Page 612: Added opening quote mark: "After a little, as the thought

Page 612: Added close single-quote: proud to have helped on the cause.'

Page 617: "This lady and Mrs. George Hoadly" corrected to "Hoadley"

Page 686: "Thoul't find warm sympathizing hearts" corrected to "Thou'lt"

Page 691: "destined to develope" corrected to "develop"

Page 732: "Miss Amy M. Bradley, Mrs. Balestier," corrected to "Balustier"

Page 739: "freely sacrified" corrected to "sacrificed"

Page 790: "Miss Isabella M. Hartshorn" corrected to "Hatshorne"

Page 791: "Miss Bettie Brodhead" corrected to "Broadhead"

Page 795: "Blackman, Miss M. A., 429, 430." corrected to "Blackmar"

Page 796: "Cassidy, Mrs. Mary A., 737." corrected to "Cassedy"

Page 796: "Englemann, Mrs. Mary, 791." corrected to Engleman

Page 797: Added final period to "Howe, Miss Abbie J., 458, 465, 466."

Page 798: "Molineaux, Miss, 791." corrected to "Molineux"

Page 798: "Royer, Miss Alice F., 713." corrected to "Royce"

Page 798: "Shephard, Miss N. A., 790." corrected to "Shepard"

Page 798: "Stevens, Miss Gertude, 537." corrected to "Gertrude"

Page 799: "Zimmermann, Mrs., 791" corrected to "Zimmerman"

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Illustrations originally printed in the middle of sentences have been moved to the nearest paragraph break.

Footnotes have been moved to the paragraph break following the footnote marker.

Because sections of this book were written by different people, accent, spelling and hyphen usage is inconsistent. These inconsistencies have been preserved except where noted below. Since page numbers have not been preserved in this version, enough text has been retained for a search to be effective:

Page 25: changed page number 3 to page number 19 for DEDICATION Page 25: changed page number 5 to page number 21 for PREFACE Page 25: added page numbers for TABLE OF CONTENTS and INTRODUCTION Page 27: added period to "Visits Huntsville, Pulaski, etc." Page 30: added period to "preparation of diet, etc." Page 40: changed "e" to "e" in "Mrs. D'Oremieulx's departure for Europe" Page 41: changed "e" to "e" in "made by the employes of the Association," Page 42: "Did you drop from heaven" had opening " printed as ' Page 45: "Mr. Stranahan chosen President" corrected to "Mrs. Stranahan" Page 51: Removed period after Felton: Miss Felton--Louisville, Page 51: "Mrs. Corven, of Hartford, Conn." corrected to "Cowen" Page 51: Added period after Hartford, Conn. and Peoria, Ill. Page 53: "MRS. MARIANNE F. STRANAHAN" not corrected to MARIAMNE Page 66: "We need only recal" corrected to "recall" Page 82: Deleted quotation mark before: In that little hamlet Page 82: Deleted quotation mark before: "In one of the mountainous Page 129: "franks of some of her frinds" corrected to "friends" Page 137: "In all her journies Miss Gilson" corrected to "journeys" Page 169: Changed "most econonomical" corrected to "most economical" Page 191: Added close quote to: uncertainties of self-support." Page 210: "Companies A. B, C.," corrected to Companies "A, B, C," Page 237: Added second close quote to: "Lincoln's hirelings."" Page 292: Added close quote to: departure in copious tears." Page 305: "earnest hope that yon alleviate suffering" corrected to "you" Page 317: Changed double quotes to single quotes and added close quote turning: heard her name "would rise up and call her blessed." to: heard her name 'would rise up and call her blessed.'" Page 353: Added period to "themselves in the service of their country." Page 339: "'It is the man, you know," had opening ' printed as " Page 375: "$115,876,93" corrected to "$115,876.93" Page 386: ""develope that purity" corrected to "develop" Page 456: "year in the hospitel." corrected to "hospital" Page 457: Added opening quote to: Patient prayer and work Page 462: Added close quote to: of the deceased to their friends." Page 529: "physicial fatigue" corrected to "physical fatigue" Page 537: "MRS. MARIANNE F. STRANAHAN" not corrected to MARIAMNE Page 574: "wih the Branch Commissions" corrected to "with" Page 577: "Charlestown (Mass)., Female Seminary" corrected to "(Mass.)," Page 592: Opening " changed to ': 'for two miles it was all people Page 609: "beleagured city" corrected to "beleaguered city" Page 612: Added opening quote mark: "After a little, as the thought Page 612: Added close single-quote: proud to have helped on the cause.' Page 617: "This lady and Mrs. George Hoadly" corrected to "Hoadley" Page 686: "Thoul't find warm sympathizing hearts" corrected to "Thou'lt" Page 691: "destined to develope" corrected to "develop" Page 732: "Miss Amy M. Bradley, Mrs. Balestier," corrected to "Balustier" Page 739: "freely sacrified" corrected to "sacrificed" Page 790: "Miss Isabella M. Hartshorn" corrected to "Hatshorne" Page 791: "Miss Bettie Brodhead" corrected to "Broadhead" Page 795: "Blackman, Miss M. A., 429, 430." corrected to "Blackmar" Page 796: "Cassidy, Mrs. Mary A., 737." corrected to "Cassedy" Page 796: "Englemann, Mrs. Mary, 791." corrected to Engleman Page 797: Added final period to "Howe, Miss Abbie J., 458, 465, 466." Page 798: "Molineaux, Miss, 791." corrected to "Molineux" Page 798: "Royer, Miss Alice F., 713." corrected to "Royce" Page 798: "Shephard, Miss N. A., 790." corrected to "Shepard" Page 798: "Stevens, Miss Gertude, 537." corrected to "Gertrude" Page 799: "Zimmermann, Mrs., 791" corrected to "Zimmerman"

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