The herald., 1897-07-25

Mother Mary Ann Bickerdyke, the
most famous nurse of Grant and Sher-
| mans armies. will be so years old on
the 10Th day of July, and in honor of
the anniversary of her birth Command
er Theodore Botkin of the Kansas G.
A. r. has issued an order directing all
the Posts in his jurisdiction to observe
that date as Mother Bickerdyke Day,
and to arrange for suitable campfire
| exercises in tribute to her services and
sacrifices, and to the work of the army
nurses in general. In compliance with
| this order patriotic celebrations will be
held tomorrow in nearly every city and
| hamlet in Kansas, and as an addition
| al evidence of remembrance and affec-
| ton each of the Posts has adopted an
| appropriate sentiment or memorial to
| this distinguished woman, the several
| tributes to be bound together and pre-
sentcd to her on her eightieth anniver-
sary.
| Although Mother Bickerdyke's labors
were chiefly performed with the west
ern armies, she is known to veterans
all over the country. Next to the Gen
eral in command, she had more au-
thority than any commissioned officer
on the field. Through Mrs. Bicker-
| dykes veins flows the blood of the
| Knckerbockers and PuritanS. Her
reat-great grandfather. Thomas Rodg-
ers, was a passengers on the Mayfow-
er. Her grandfather, John Rodgers,
was a distinguished soldier in the rev.
dictionary war, and representatives of
the same family were enrolled in the
war of 1912. Her paternal ancestry was
no less illustrious, being closely con-
nected with the lovely Mary Ball, who
married Augustine Washington and be-
came the mother of the fiyst president.
| Mrs. Bicllerdyke MARY Ann BALD
was born July 49, 1917, in Knox county,
O., near the present city of Mount Ver-
| non At the age of sixteen she went
| to Oberlin to complete her education,
attending Oberlin college and working
| for her board. Later she moved to
| Cincinnati, and volunteered as a nurse
| in one of the city hospitals during the
siege of cholera in 1887. Here she ac-
quired that knowledge of medicine and
| skill in nursing which made her serv-
| ices of such great value in after years.
She was married at Cincinnati in 1S47
to Robert Bickerdyke, musician who
was a member of the orchestra that
played with Jenny Lind on her trip
| through this country. Two sons were
born to them-James r. and Hiram,
the former now being prominent edu-
Gator in Kansas, and the latter a mail
contractor in Montana. In 1856 Mr.. and
Mrs. Bickerdyke moved to Galesburg,
ILL.,, where the husband died two years
| later.
Mrs. Bickerdyke was a practising
physician at Galesburg when the war
broke out. A letter from DR.. Wood
ward surgeon of the 22d Illinois In
fantry, which she heard read in church,
| induced her to go to the front as a
nurse. She gathered a store of sup
plies and proceeded to the regimental
| hospitals at Cairo, where everything
was in confusion,-a situation which
she soon relieved after several heated
| controversies with the officers in COM
mand. On November 7, 1861, following
| the battle of Belmont, she was appoint
ed matron of the large post hospital at
Cairo, and all the hospital stores sent
| by the people of Illinois were given to
her trustworthy care. After the battle
of Fort Donelson, she went from Cairo
on the first boat, to assist in the re-
moval of the wounded to the hospitals
at Cairo, Peducah, and Mound City.
She followed the army to Pittsburg
Landing, where 5000 wounded men
were to be cared for; and from thence
to Iuka and CCrinth, Miss, where she