Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-03-12
MOTHER BICRERDYRE.
what One Woman DId for the BOys In


what One Woman DId for the BOys in
Blue.
The following extracts from a soldiers
book, The Boys in Blue, give an imperfect
account Of the work Of one OF the most be.
roic, efficient and self-denying characters
which the war Of the Union brought forth
"When hospitals were rank with disease
aud death, foul with fostering and unwashed
wounds aud unclean garments inexperienced
surgeons stood aghast, and felt almost pow
erless TO cleanse aud purify while arrogant,
negligent and merciless men fell back, on army
routine and technicalities, and said That sol
diers when they entered the army, must ex.
pect to die, and recovery from amputations
must be the rare exception. The prairie-p plow
and the thunder-storm we're needed, and they
came in the person of Mrs. Biokerdyke. A
pythoness IL her precious boys, ~ she called
them, were assaulted, she was gentle and ten
der as a loving mother to every sick and
wounded soldier. Woe be to the man, no
matter what his rank, who trampled on the
rights of the boys in blue.
Her huge organized laundfies saved hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars to the govern.
ment and to the sanitary com mission by wash.
ing what would otherwise have been destroyed,
to say nothing Of the health and comfort they
bestowed upon the sick. The surgeons ad-
mitted that she had no rival in extemporizing,
organizing aud running hospitals. The chief
military men were her firm friends, and sup
piled her with facilities to carry on her work
teams, detailed soldiers, and railroad trans.
portation.
"At the commencement OF the war Mrs.
Bckerdyke was a widow, with two young
sons, residing in Galesburg, Ill. DIR. Wood
ruH, surgeon Of the 22d Regiment Illinois
NOuutepFa vi ha ,,ia
wrote from below to his friends of the suffer
ings of the army. The letter was read in
church, and Mrs. Bickerdyke heard it, Be.
ing famous nurse and housekeeper, with a
tender, patriotic heart, she felt called upon
to go. Her friends and neighbors agreed with
her, and placed at her disposal $500 worth Of
sanitary stores to take to the hospitals.
She took charge Of the nursing in the am
putation ward in the brick hospital at Cairo,
aud sstonished all by her skill and endurance.
The men, strange to say, were made com
Portable. After the battle of Donelson where
many Of the wounded men lay iu the cold
and storm more than ~ hours without relief,
she went up to the fort on the hospital boat
to take charge Of them IN trdHsitu. She ac-
companied aud attended five boat loads of
these freshly wounded men TO Paducah, Cairo.
Mound City, Evansville and Louisville. What
superhuman strength aud endurance, execu.
tive abi ity and fertile genius such a work at
such time required, cannot be comprehend
ed by any who have not witnessed such scenes
and worked upon hospital transports
After depositing her precious but heart.
rending freights, she accompanied the 2Ist
Regiment OF Indiana Volunteers to Pittsburg
Lending to take charge OF their hospital
With wonderful forethought and resolution,
appreciated only by those who have seen the
iilthP and offensive cast-ofT # clothing Of wound
ed men, she had all OF this material in use,
after the battle Of Donelson, boxed up and
placed on the boat. After the 2lst Indiana
disembarked, she succeeded in having an or.
der issued for the boat to back down to Saw.
annah with these hdeous boxes She there
assorted them herself, and had many thousands
OF pieces washed by contrabands hired for
the purpose. This clothing was thoroughly
dried and repacked in readiness for the bloody
battle OF Shiloh, where it proved to be of un.
told value"
At Memphis, the following year, 1.-The small
po1 hospital had become a charnel house and
there seemed none to regenerate it, Nine
men lay in the dead house, and numbers we're
on the road to join them. The medical direc.
tor consulted with Mrs. Bckerdyke. She at
once proposed to enter and purity it, He OBJ.
J-cted, on the score of her overw helming du-
ties; for, ia addition to her hospital abors,
she WAS running laundry that washed all the
clothes OF the hospitals at Memphis. She
said in reply that the hospitals we're running
30 finely that she could be spared few weeks;
and NJ TO the infection, she pledged herself
that it should not spread. The doctor had
learned to trust her, and gladly consented.
She at once took charge OF the revolving
place, ran the prairie-plow through the filthy
grounds aud out-houses, overturning cots and
disemboweling foul beds, let in the air and
light Of heaven, whitewashed the walls, cleans.
ed the men, supplied them with fresh cloth
ing and wholesome sick-food, scattered disin-
fectants broadcast, and in q few weeks had
pure, clean hospital, where few men died, and
all we're made as comfortable as the loathsome
disease would permit.
She remained with Sherman's army during
the entire series OF its brilliant victories and
bloody fights, receiving aud caring for its
wounded running and consolidating hospitals,
and experimenting laundries She su.
periutended the cooking of hundreds Of tons
OF sanitary stores aud vegetables Some.
times, when transportation was impossible
and forages unsuccessful, she sold the clothes
that had been sent by the sanitary commis-
sion to make her comfortable for butter, eggs
and milk for the hospitals. II, in her Jour
neys, she found men suffering from wounds
fostering for lack Of clean bsndages her own
clothing was torn into strips, aud her own
night dresses taken for clean covering for the
poor emaciated soldiers. No eIigencies bhffied
her skill and self-denial."
Such work, read of to day as having been
done by woman, seems almost incredible.
Mrs. Bickerdyke is still living, and since the
war has supported herself by the work OF her
own hands. As she is now over 10 years Of
6go, it is thought by her friends that she
should be pensioned by the government and
thus relieved from further labor. Amoug the
Western soldiers she is tenderly known and
revered rs Mother" Bickerdyke To unit,
the Grand Army posts of that section desire
that she should be pensioned Gems Grant
and Sherman hsye both testified to her inval-
liable services. - Christian Register Cor.