The National tribune., 1885-07-09
MOTHER BICKERDYKE.
Incidents of Her Great Work During tn. War


Incidents Of Her Great Work During the War.
To THE EDITOR: viii you please allow
small space in your valuable journal to give
to your readers some incidents connected with
the history of this remarkable woman and her
valuable services to the country during the
dark days of the rebellion. The writer will
confine herself to few incidents that have
been overlooked and omitted from previous
articles in regard to her, which shows that she
accomplished no ordinary work during those
stirring and stormy times. Her work was
peculiar and varied and could only be accom-
plished by one with her great force OF charac-
ter energy and wonderful executive ability.
In this woman were blended to a remarkable
degree the love and tenderness of sympathetic
friend and mother with the daring and defiant
force of hero. Did the suffering soldiers need
onions and potatoes to bring them out OF that
terrible scurvy to which SO many of the poor
fellows were doomed? Mother Bickerdyke
procured them. She even travelled to Chicago
and to other towns in Illinois, entered the
churches and with her earnest and stirring ap-
peas, induced the citizens to come forth and
assist her in her humane and heroic work. Not
only their vegetables did she want for the poor
boys, but to her earnest call the farmers gave
literally of their cows and poultry for her
sick and suffering ones must have fresh milk
and custards Good Mother Bickerdyke! At
one time we behold her following in the wake of
battle with her famous laundry, saving the Gov
ernment large sums of money; at another time
shut up for days in a smallpox hospital, which
had become terror to Surgeons and officers, and
staying there until it had become thoroughly
renovated and cleansed; here tender and
sympathetic nurse among the suffering SOL
diers there bold defender of their rights; !;
here kind and loving mother, cooking and
burning her fingers at rudely constructed
ovens; there speeding with warm drinks and
Il vin3,ac cnfh har md nf
Here we insert few extracts from work
published in 1868, entitled "Our Branch and
its Tributaries" In speaking of Pittsburg Land
ing, we note the following: :" Here Me. Fol-
som found Mrs. Bickerdyke, who was estab-
lished with a cookingstove in her own hired
room. She thus improvised a sort of diet
kitchen, from which she visited all the hospi-
tails and carried to the sick articles of her own
preparation. Mr.. Folsom inquired DIR. Stearns,
one of the medical authorities, with whom he
should deposit his store of delicacies. With
Mrs. Bickerdyke,' he promptly replied; no one
will distribute them SO faithfully"
Again, on page 20I, We find: Mrs. Bicker-
dyke, meanwhile, went to Chattanooga. A
sweeping Storm overturning many of the hos
pital tents and causing general discomfort and
anxiety, had ushered in the new year. Mrs.
Bickerdyke went from tent to tent in the driv-
ing gale, carrying hot bricks and drinks, and,
more than all, her own inspiring presence, to
cheer the sufferers. She does power OF good,
exclaimed one of her proteges. We Jared
mighty poor till she came here, said another.
God bless the Sanitary Commission for send
ing women among u.s. was the ejaculation Of a
third. After seeing her they didn't mind the
storm at all"
On page 237 of the same work occurs this
passage: AT Nashville DIR. Patton found Mrs.
Bickerdyke and Mrs. Porter. Their headquar-
ters were then at Huntsville, Ala, and they
had come to procure vegetables for the troops.
DIR. Patton was the bearer of gift from Mill
waukee to Mrs Bickerdyke of hundred dol
lars, to be applied to hospital purposes accord
ing to her own judgment. 1t was presented to
her, because, as Mrs. Colt wrote the North
western Commission, the people OF Milwaukee
were so impressed with Mrs. BickeIdyke's en-
ergy and honesty, her goodness and truthful
ness Mrs. B. received the gift with much
qualification, declaring that it came just IN
time, for she wanted so many things for the
boys"
On page 265: cit was in March, when the
last of the sick and wounded of the Chatta-
| nooga campaign had been furloughed home,
that Mrs. Bickerdyke and Mrs. Porter moved
| to Huntsville. Here, as has been stated, per-
| ceiving that scurvy was still dogging the
troops, they soon substituted camp distribu-
tions for service in the hospitals"
"Where are Mrs. Bickerdyke and Mrs.
Porter?" the men would say; "we want
vegetables" Impatient to obtain all that was
possible, Mrs. Bickerdyke herself came North,
and once there, her soul became so stirred
within her at what she considered the supine.
| ness of the people, that she spoke i'll some OF
| the churches, conjuring her auditors to go
| to work 1t is shame for you to live here
| in idleness and comfort while the boys are
dying for vegetables! Get together your po-
| tatoes and onions, and send them to the Sani-
tary Commission The sensation that she
made was great, and the usual abundant sue.
cess followed her appeals.
"Did you do that?" inquired Mrs. Porter
with mild surprise, on Mrs. Bickerdy yke's
return. "Yes, 1 did," she said; Il made a
fool of myself; but" she added, softening, 81
| would do it again for the boys"
| And thus, Gdintfnitun, we might recount these
striking passages, showing that our heroine
was no ordinary character. The war bOasted
of its Grant, its Sherman, and other prominent
military leaders. 1t may also boast with
equal pride of its many self-sacrifcing and
heroic women, in the center of which looms uE
like sun of the solar system the matronly
form Of the good, faithful, loving, energetic
Mother Bickerdyke.-A. P, San Francisco
| Cal.