Arizona republican., 1904-11-26
PHoEN1x, ARIZONA, NOV. 26, 1sO-
In Honor of q Woman.

In Honor of Woman.
 While the lard is dotted with p2onu- ments in memory of the heroes of the civil war, none have ever yet been erected to a woman, though many of the sex rendered great service to their country at that time. This precedent is about to be broken by the veterans of Illinois. who are preparing to erect a monument at Galesburg to Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke better known as Mother Bickerdyke,
 Mother Bickerdyke endeared her self to the soldiers of both armies dur ina the civil war by her work as nurse on the battefelds and in the hospitals. and when the grand review of the victorious armies of the north took place in Washington in 1865 she was one of the most conspicuous fig ures in the ranks. She rode on horse back with the soldiers from Illinois, and was cheered equally with the great generals and the tattered battle flags, while the plain calico dress and sun bonnet which she. wore were purchas- ed the next day as a souvenir for $1O0. The monument to this heroic wo- man is being exeCuted-very appropri- ately by a woman-NIrs. Theo. A. Rug gles Kitson, of Boston. The design shows a wounded soldier on the bat- tleheld, who has been tenderly lifted to a half sitting posture by an army nurse, who holds a cooling drink to his parched lips. The group will be cast in bronze, and will rest upon a granite pedestal, without ornament and having only the words Mary A. ckerdyke-Mother!"
 Mother" Bickerdylxe's biography, strangely enough, is missing from the encyclopedias, while those of many wo- men less famous are given. She was born near Mount Vernon, Knox coun- ty, Ohio, on July 19, 1877, and one of her grandfathers fought in the revolu- tionary war. She married young, and was left widow with several children after a few years. When the war broke out she was living at Galesburg. H., where she took an active part in the work for the soldiers at the front. When a trainload of supplies was sent from Galesburg to Cairo she accompa- nied it, and after the battle of Bel mont she was appointed a nurse in one of the field hospitals, where she was indefatigable in her efforts to relieve the wounded soldiers.
 Her first sight of real battle, how ever, was at Fort Donelson, where the inadequacy of the hospital facilities and hospital supplies caused her to make several trips north for the pur- pose of arousing more interest in these matters. She instituted the celebrated ''cow and hen" mission through which she was enabled to send 1O6 cows and 1000 hens to the hospitals of the west.
 In the winter of 1S63-'64 Mother" Bickerdyke took part in the establish ment of the Adams Block hospital at Memphis, Tenn, and afterward she be- came matron of the Gayoso hospital, where more than seven hundred men had been brought in after Shermans battle of Arkansas Post. She next took charge in Memphis of the small pcx hospital, which she cleaned and renovated with her own hands, while nine men lay dead of the disease in the building.
 She followed the western armies through Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga, and tended friend and foe alike. She accompanied Sherman with his men in their march to the sea. She helped care for the 1S,OO9 men who were wounded at Resaca, Kingston, New Hope. Carsville, Allatoona, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain. When Sherman cut his base she went north. and rais- ed great stores of sanitary supplies for the soldiers.
 Then, when the last battle was fought and all the soldiers marched in review at Washington, she was one of the most noted figures in the great parade.
 After the war Mother Bickerdyke went back to her home and lived with her son, Professor Bickerdyke, at Rus sell, Kansas. But she never lost hel interest in the old soldiers, and devot- ed much of her time in her latter years to attending to their wants in various "homes" and in aiding them to secure pensions.
 
 Crime and the norbidIy Curious.
 The announcement that so far .be