The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-01-02
[Arthur's Home Magszine.l
Mother Bickerdyke.
What She Did in the War.
BY RosELLA RICE.

horrors opened upon US, it found our great
est general selling leather and boots ana
shoes in the quiet little city of Galena, IL
linois. And at the same time. the greatest
nurse that our Army of the Cumberland was
to have-Mother Bickerdyke- in OBJ
security, poor widow, in Galesburg, Illinois,
earning living Cor herself and her children
at the washtub.
The nation held aloft the chaplet of fame,
waiting. ready for the brow of the coming
hero, Ulysses S. Grant-and the angels held
Que that would lever fade nor fall nor with
er for the brnnzed and wrinkled brow of dear
old Mother Bckerdyke.
DuIing the war General Grant gave her a
pass anywhere within the lines of his de-
partment, iuto all camps and hospitals, and
past all pickets, with authority to draw on
any quartermaster in his department for
transportation, for sanitary or hospital stores
not to exceed thirty wagons at any one
time. This pass she held to the end of the
war, and it was enlarged as his department
enlarged.
Gen. Sherman and Mother Bickerdyke
were good friends. She would die for him,
if need be, and he would fight for her. There
was something in her character akin to his
own. Both we're indomitable, fiery, Jealous,
and neither was afraid of hard work. After
the fall of Vcksburg he asked that she
might become an especial attache to his
corps, the Fifteenth. Ever after thatduripg
the war she considered herselfin an especial
sense under Sherman's direction; and the
soldiers of the Fifteenth Corss always and to
this day have claimed exclusive ownership
of her.
From the time nurses were called for,
after, the first battle 10 the Mississippi
Valley she had walked to broader and new
er life 1t was with brave heart and with
willing hands that she took up her work,
leaving her children in tina care of the wild
owls God. "The boys" were her children
then, and it was easy work for them to call
her 'smother."
She had all woman's tact and tenderness
in managing the sick ones. In matters of
business, when thrown upon er own re-
sources she was grand woman-"nobly
planned-born to comfort and command"
as some of the officers learned to their own
cbagrin and afterwards amusement. Elmer
gencies were constantly rising that she
could not foresee, and for which another In
her place could not have provided. Not SO
Mother Bickerdyke.
Sometimes she would buy largely of
hospital stores, with never cent of money,
and send the bills up to the Commission with
her endorsement. Again she would borrow
money, expend it for the needs of the "boys"
under her charge, and then send up notes
settled. While some of the members of the
Commission objected to the unbusness- like
transactions, they had no doubt that the
money had been well expended and every
cent put to a legitimate use.
Sous and husbands and brothers wrote
home to their families and friends of the
kindness of their beloved champion, whom
they all called "Mother Bickerdyke," and
the mothers and sisters and daughters, with
H.. .e..lk e =
an, sent her letters of love and encourage
ment and appreciation. And FOR the reason
that the dear mother of the boys had not
time to make or mend or care much for her
own apparel, her thoughts all on her intense
wOrk-the good women sent her abundant
supplies of clothing for her own needs
whole boxes of it, sometimes. With pre-
occupied air she would look over the gar
ments, Gull out three or four articles for
present necessity, and then she would take
the remainder in her ambulance-the con-
veyance in which she always traveled-and
go off into the country peddling. The
Southern women in the neighboring vicini-
ties would buy them, and pay her we'll in
butter, eggs, milk, honey and chickens. Her
family was large, and consumed great
deal, and her sick boys needed the delicacies
which she thus obtained so readily She
would concoct great kettles of delicious
chicken-broth for them hen the where
withal was at hand, as on these frequent
occasions II was great treat to them to
get real broth, such as their mothers made
at home.
How she did endear herself to the poor
sick soldiersl But the medical directors
sometimes found her indoaitable will an
obstacle in their punctilious ways One
OF them, young man at Memphis, belong
ing to the regular army, wished Mrs. Bick-
erdyke TO reyolve in an orbit of his own
marking out, He did not approve of her
possessing so much power, she who defied
the Queens English as she did red tape-a
woman who worked with her own red, stubb-
ed hands-who held no social position-who
did what she wished and as she pleased with
out consulting him. He concluded it was
about time that they understood each other,
and soon an opportunity offered
In passing through ward one day he
could find no fault or defect with its per-
feet management; but what was this I'm
der sick mans pillow he espied half
dozen of eggs. This was intolerable.
The poor, sick boy was recovering from a
fever and crayed the very food that in his
weak condition was not allowed. He planned
out piteously, "Would Mother Bickerdyke
let him have good fill of hard-boiled eggs
as soon as he got Well?'
She assured him that she would do so.
He said he wished he could have them
now, SO they would be ready and waiting.
To humor the poor fellow, whom she had
petted in her good, motherly way, she smil-
ingly assented and brought him six hard
boiled eggs for his very own to keen on
condition he would not eat them until she
gave him leave. 1t did no harm to please
qim, and it certainly did him vast amount
of pleasure to fondle the eggs with his thin,
white, bony hands,
The medical man spied the eggs, and
forthwith gave orders to have them carried
off to the kitchen, saying he would "have
no hens nest under the pillows while he
was about"
They were carried away. Presently
Mother Bickerdyke came in with an arm
full of clean, fresh towels, and found her
sick boy crying. The poor fellow was at
that stage OF half-convalescence when cry
ing came easier than laughter
"Whats the matter, honey?" she asked,
stopping suddenly. The boy told her with
broken sobs how be had " been 'bused by
that old, drafted director of a doctor.'
When any insult came to her boys she
would fash into anger. She wonld show
fight like mother tlgress over her young
$50, so p she said, her blue eyes dilating
and her breath coming rapidly ;"we'H see p
and she Immediately seized upon large pail
ful OF eggs and strobe into the ward where
lay her whining boy with the tears stealing
down his wasted cheeks with-'w on'tlet you
have half-dozen of eggs, sonny ! Well,
here's whole pailful. / will stand them
right here, dear, where you can see them all
the time. They are all yours, and you NAV
keep them till they hatch if you want to
You are my boy and 1 will take care of you.''
The Doctor paid no attention, and pretended
not to hear the countermanded order from
the brave little cOmmander-incbiaf tho
woman who had no social position.'' But
a few days after, written order from this
same Doctor came into her hands stating
that all the contrabands detailed to her SER
vice must be sent to the contraband camp,
It was to be attended to Immediately. She
lad just returned from the smallpox hospit-
u, hungry and tired, and the rain was falling
n torrents that night. The little woman
'ose up until she looked like an Amaz on,
md going to the door, she called back the
which was just going away.