Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-05-25

the labors and influence Of Laurs
Haviland.
She was one Of the organizers Of th'
first anti-slavery society Of Michigan
and her home was the first under
ground railroad station" in that state
She cooperated with Rachael ant
Levi Coffin in assisting slaves to escape
from the plantations Of the south and
helping them on to Canada. She made
frequent visits to points on the Ohio
river to establish lines Of communica.
ton and underground stations" and
become so effective in this work thai
reward Of $4,000 was offered any
one who would deliver her in Ken.
lucky, dead or alive. Shortly after
this offer was announced she visited
Louisville without the slightest at.
tempt at concealment, and did moi
permit It to make any difference with
her work. She continued her jealous
efforts to release men and women
from slavery until the outbreak of the
Civil war, when she went to the Union
army as a nurse, and with mastery
energy and ability organized camp
and headquarters hospitals, corps OF
nurses and dispensaries for medical
supplies.
She worked under the Christian
commission until 1864, when she was
appointed agent of the Freedmen's
Relief association at New Orleans to
distribute supplies and relief to the
newly emancipated negroes. While in
performance Of this duty she visited
the prison camps on Ship Island and
Dry Tortugas in the Gulf Of Mexico,
and there learned Of the treachery OF
Captain Attocha, formerly Of the Con-
federate army, who, having surren-
dered and taken the oath Of allegi-
ance, was employed by General Banks
as a spy. This gave Attocha an op-
portunity to practice almost unlimit-
ed blackmail, and upon his testimony
many innocent persons were sent to
Federal prisons. Having learned OF
these facts, Laura Haviland quietly
set about a work of investigation and
succeeded in having Attocha convict
ed and punished.
Size was frequently In Washington
and was personally known to Presi-
dent Lincoln, the members Of his cab
met, to all of the commanders Of the
Union army and to the leading pub
lie men throughout the country.
After the close of the war she de-
voted her energies to relieving the
distress among the pioneers In Kan
sas and in doing other works Of be-
nevolence throughout the nation. AZ
ter she had passed her S0th year she
made a visit to Europe and was lion
lied everywhere she went.
In the court house groundS at
Galesburg, ILL.,, upon a massive square
block Of granite Is a bronze group of
heroic size representing a bareheaded
woman supporting a dying. soldier
with one arm and giving him water
from a tin cup with her right hand.
It represents Mother" Bickerdyke, a
famous army nurse, who went from
Galesburg to the battle front at the
outbreak Of the Civil war and served
until the close of that struggle. She
was one OF the best known Of the
army nurses. General Sherman once
said, "She outranks me-" and that re-
mark Is inscribed upon the pedestal.
She was a large, powerful woman,
with extraordinary executive ability
and personal courage and the battle
field had no terrors for her. She
went among the wounded fearlessly
under fire, assisting the surgeons and
comforting the dying. After the war
she devoted her time to charitable
works up to almost the very date of
her death, at Bunker Hill, Kan, No
yember 8, 1901. This monument was
erected by popular subscriptions of
from 10 cents to 500 collected by the
Women's Relief Corps and an appro-
priation Of $4,000 made by the Illinois
legislature toward the fund. The
monument was designed by Theo.
Alice Ruggles Kitson.
Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke was a
descendant of the brother Of Mary
Ball, the mother of George Washing
ton, and was born near Mount Ver-
non, Knox county, Ohio, July 10,
1917. She married Robert Bicker-
dyke April 81, 1s47, and removed to
Galesburg, ILL.,, in 1856, where she
lived until shortly before her death.
In the quadrangle Of Leland STAN
ford University at Palo Alto, CAL, Is
a singular group, consisting Of the
late Senator Sanford, his wife and his
son. The posing of the figures and
the lack Of artistic merit have pro-
yoked a great deal of ridicule and sa-
tire, and the irreverent students COM
monty allude to the group as 1.-The
Father, Son and Holy Ghost" The
monument was placed there by the
late Mrs. Sanford to remind the stu
dents and the public Of the founders
and benefactors Of the university. The
Stanford family is extinct, and the
trustees have permitted 1t to remain
until now, although its removal has
been suggested.
The battle Of Guilford Court House
was fought in North Carolina, March
Is, 1871, between Lord Cornwallis,
in command Of the flower Of the Brit
ish army in America, and General
Nathaniel Greene in command OF about
5000 badly armed and equipped pa
triots. The result was the immediate
and utter abandonment by the British
general of his campaign to subjugate
North and South Carolina and the re-
storation to the Union by General
Greene of those two states and Geor-
gia, which had been overrun and gar
risoned by British troops. Cornwallis
sought safety under the guns OF the
British fleet at Wilmington and delib-
erately allowed Greene to pass him
unopposed, marching southwark. In
April Cornwallis marched northward
to yorktown, where he finished his
American career