The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1905-08-01
The Memorial to Mother s~iokerdyke.

. a A. NJ AlDit AINHHlIG
The hopes that are In vain.
-Gouverneur Morris. Aladdin O'Brien. f"
The Memorial to Mother Bickerdyke.
The land is dotted with monuments,
In memory of heroes Of the Civil war,
but the memorial to Mother Bicker-
dyke is the first for a woman of the
war.
The design, like the woman 1t is in
tended to commemorate, is strong and
simple. A wounded soldier on the
Dattleheld has been tenderly lifted into
a half-sitting posture by the army
nurse, while she holds a cooling drink
to his parched lips. The figure of the
soldier is admirably done, and there
is fine feeling in the figure of Mother
Bickerdyke-the plain, tender woman
whose mission il was to relieve suf-
fering soldiers wherever she found
them. Her hair is done up simply.
Her dress is that of the army nurse,
but the feeling of genuine tenderness
In the face and figure of the woman
positively ennobles her. 1t is truly
that of a mother bending over her
wounded boy and ministering to his
Immediate wants
The hfe-size group rests on a gran
lite pedestal without ornament. and
only the words. Mary A. B~ickerdyke-
Mother, inscribed on the sides. The
simple lines of this pedestal and it's
shape LEND much emphasis to the
group on top.
Mother Bickerdyke's biography,
strange enough, is missing from the
encyclopedias, while those of many
women less famous are given. Mary
A. Bickerdyke was born neal Mt. Ver-
non, Knox county, Ohio, July 10, 1917.
Her mother died when she was only II
months old. One of her %grandfathers
fought in the Revolutionary war. She
married young.
After some years of married life her
husband died and left her with several
little children. When the wal broke
out she was one of the most active of
the women In Galesburg, Ill, to work
FOR the soldiers at the front, and when
at one time a trainload of supplies for
the army were sen from Galesburg to
Cairo, she accompanied them as a del
egate. After the battle of Belmont
she was assigned as a nurse to the
field hospital, where she was indefati-
gable in her exertions to relieve the
wounded soldiers. Her first sight of
real battle, however, was at Fort DON
elson.
The inadequacy of the hospital ia
nflIfInC nnd fhN LA-A 1880
shocked her and she made several
trips north to rouse more interest in
these matters. She inaugurated the
celebrated Cow and hen" mission,
through which she was enabled to
send 100 COWS and 1000 hens to the
hospitals of the West.
In the winter of 1863-64 she went
home, but returned and took part in
the establishment of the Adams Block
Hospital at Memphis, Tenn. This ac-
c~ommodated about 5000 wounded men.
From this she became matron of he
Gayoso hospital, where more than 700
men had been brought in after Sher-
mans battle of Arkansas Post.
She next took charge in Memphis
of the smallpox 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 Vicks.
burg. Lookout Mountain. Missionary
Ridge and Chattanooga, and tended
friend and foe alike.
She next accompanied Sherman with
his 10O,O 900 men in their march to the |
sea. She helped care for the 1 8 0
men who were wounded at Resaca.
Kingston, New Hope, Carsville. AL.
toona, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain. |
When Sherman cut his base she went
north, and raised great stores of SAM.
tary supplies for the soldiers.
When Sherman entered Savannah
b sailed south to take care of the
liberated Union prisoners of Whining
ton. She pursued her mission at Bean
fort, Averysboro and Bentonville, and
at the request of Gen. Logan and the
Fifteenth Army Corps she marched
into Alexander with the army.
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 Rebellion she went back
TO her home and lived with her son,
Prof. Bickerdyke, at Russell. Kan.
But she never lost her interest In the
old soldiers, and she devoted much of
the time in her late years to attend.
ing to their wants in various homes"
and In aiding them to secure pensions.
The Soldier Spirit.