Womans Work in the Civil War | Page 3

Rev. N. M. Mann, now of Kenosha, Wisconsin, but formerly Chaplain
and Agent of the Western Sanitary Commission, at Vicksburg; to
Professor J. S. Newberry, now of Columbia College, but through the
war the able Secretary of the Western Department of the United States
Sanitary Commission; to Mrs. M. A. Livermore, of Chicago, one of the
managers of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission; to Rev. G. S. F.
Savage, Secretary of the Western Department of the American Tract
Society, Boston; Rev. William De Loss Love, of Milwaukee, author of
a work on "Wisconsin in the War," Samuel B. Fales, Esq., of
Philadelphia, so long and nobly identified with the Volunteer
Refreshment Saloon, Dr. A. N. Read, of Norwalk, Ohio, late one of the
Medical Inspectors of the Sanitary Commission, Dr. Joseph Parrish, of
Philadelphia, also a Medical Inspector of the Commission, Mrs. M. M.
Husband, of Philadelphia, one of the most faithful workers in field
hospitals during the war, Miss Katherine P. Wormeley, of Newport,
Rhode Island, the accomplished historian of the Sanitary Commission,
Mrs. W. H. Holstein, of Bridgeport, Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, Miss Maria M. C. Hall, of Washington, District of
Columbia, and Miss Louise Titcomb, of Portland, Maine. From many
of these we have received information indispensable to the
completeness and success of our work; information too, often afforded
at great inconvenience and labor. We commit our book, then, to the
loyal women of our country, as an earnest and conscientious effort to
portray some phases of a heroism which will make American women
famous in all the future ages of history; and with the full conviction
that thousands more only lacked the opportunity, not the will or
endurance, to do, in the same spirit of self-sacrifice, what these have
done.
L. P. B.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., February, 1867.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
DEDICATION. 19
PREFACE. 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 25-51
INTRODUCTION BY HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D. 55
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Patriotism in some form, an attribute of woman in all nations and
climes--Its modes of manifestation--Pæans for victory--Lamentations
for the death of a heroic leader--Personal leadership by women--The
assassination of tyrants--The care of the sick and wounded of national
armies--The hospitals established by the Empress Helena--The
Beguines and their successors--The cantiniéres, vivandiéres, etc.--Other
modes in which women manifested their patriotism--Florence
Nightingale and her labors--The results--The awakening of patriotic
zeal among American women at the opening of the war--The
organization of philanthropic effort--Hospital nurses--Miss Dix's
rejection of great numbers of applicants on account of youth--Hired
nurses--Their services generally prompted by patriotism rather than
pay--The State relief agents (ladies) at Washington--The hospital
transport system of the Sanitary Commission--Mrs. Harris's, Miss
Barton's, Mrs. Fales', Miss Gilson's, and other ladles' services at the
front during the battles of 1862-- Services of other ladies at
Chancellorsville, at Gettysburg--The Field Relief of the Sanitary
Commission, and services of ladies in the later battles--Voluntary
services of women in the armies in the field at the West--Services in the
hospitals of garrisons and fortified towns-- Soldiers' homes and lodges,
and their matrons--Homes for Refugees-- Instruction of the
Freedmen--Refreshment Saloons at Philadelphia-- Regular visiting of
hospitals in the large cities--The Soldiers' Aid Societies, and their mode
of operation--The extraordinary labors of the managers of the Branch

Societies--Government clothing contracts--Mrs. Springer, Miss
Wormeley and Miss Gilson--The managers of the local Soldiers' Aid
Societies--The sacrifices made by the poor to contribute
supplies--Examples--The labors of the young and the old--Inscriptions
on articles--The poor seamstress--Five hundred bushels of wheat--The
five dollar gold piece--The army of martyrs--The effect of this female
patriotism in stimulating the courage of the soldiers--Lack of
persistence in this work among the Women of the South--Present and
future--Effect of patriotism and self-sacrifice in elevating and
ennobling the female character. 65-94

PART I. SUPERINTENDENT OF NURSES.
MISS DOROTHEA L. DIX.
Early history--Becomes interested in the condition of prison convicts--
Visit to Europe--Returns in 1837, and devotes herself to improving the
condition of paupers, lunatics and prisoners--Her efforts for the
establishment of Insane Asylums--Second visit to Europe--Her first
work in the war the nursing of Massachusetts soldiers in Baltimore--
Appointment as superintendent of nurses--Her selections--Difficulties
in her position--Her other duties--Mrs. Livermore's account of her
labors-- The adjutant-general's order--Dr. Bellows' estimate of her
work--Her kindness to her nurses--Her publications--Her manners and
address-- Labors for the insane poor since the war. 97-108

PART II. LADIES WHO MINISTERED TO
THE SICK AND WOUNDED IN CAMP,
FIELD
AND GENERAL HOSPITALS.

CLARA HARLOWE BARTON.
Early life--Teaching--The Bordentown school--Obtains a situation in
the Patent Office--Her readiness to help others--Her native genius for
nursing--Removed from office in 1857--Return to Washington in
1861-- Nursing and providing for Massachusetts soldiers at the Capitol
in April, 1861--Hospital and sanitary work in 1861--Death of her
father-- Washington hospitals again--Going to the front--Cedar
Mountain--The second Bull Run battle--Chantilly--Heroic labors at
Antietam--Soft bread--Three barrels of flour