New-York tribune., 1912-01-07

ITO the memory OF the nODe WOIHen ol
| the Civil War;
Fifty years afterward 1t has occurred
| TO the nation that the services of women
! I'm the war were worthy Of some visible
| memorial. and a movement to raise S5DOVo
| for a national monument in Washington
! has been started by the Military Order OF
| the Loyal Legion. Fifty years afterward
| scarcely a town in the land but has raised
! a memorial TO the men who gave their lives
| for the Union, but public recognition OF
women's share in the war has been trusted
chiefly to the tongues Of orators, ana the
! generation is passing which remembers
these things Yet there were the women
| Of whom Lincoln himself said:
| "T am not accustomed to use the Ian
guage of eulogy. l have never studied the
art of having compliments to women, but
| 7 must say that If all that has been said
by orators and poets since the creation OF
| the world in praise of women was applied
TO the women of America it would not do
them Justice for their conduct during this
year"
These were the women who gave their
| husbands and sons and sweethearts TO ne
shot down in battle, bade them cheerful
goodbye as the regiment marched away
and went home alone to weep and to scrape
lint or make bandages for somebody else S
hoy IL their own had gone where he need
| cd no more banda ges women by the thou
| sands like the Vermont mother. who had
seven sons in the war, four of whom died
! in Libby Prison and three In Anderson
WILLIE and her only comfort was that she
was glad she could know they were dead
instead of living in torture; and that other
woman, her neghbor In the tiny town, VINO
| came home from church one Sunday noon
to find three collins at her front door Yet
no woman stopped working for somebody
else's boys Women still living who re-
| member-rather, who cannot forget-those
! days say that all women worked for the
soldiers, regardless of whether they were
/ i'm favor Of the war or not, and all worked
! together regardless Of social position or
wealth or creed or previous condition OF
! family feuds To Boston one Thursday
! Dorothea Dix sent an order for five hum
| dred shirts for her hospital In Washing
| ton. On Friday women Of Beacon street
| and Of the slums of the South End cut
made and packed those five hundred shirts
and sent them on their way that very
night
Supplies that were sent to the front near
| Iv always bore messages to the soldiers
| like these:
"These socks are the 191st pair knit for
! our brave boys by Mrs. Abner Bartlett
of MedfCrd, Mass, now aged eighty-tVe
| years"
| Dear Soldiers: The little girls OF -
| send this box to you. They near mat
| thirteen hundred of you are sick and
have been wounded in battle. They are
very sorry aud want TO do something tor
| YOU. They cannot do much, for they are all
small: but they have bought with their own
money and made what Is In here
And this exhumed from box contain
| ing a bushel Of cookies tied in pillow
case:
| "These cookies are expressly for the sick
! soldiers. and If anybody else eats them
! / hope they will choke him.
! One woman in her zeal tore up for ban
dages some linen tablecloths nearly two
hundred years old, which she said no
money could have purchased. Another, so
poor she had nothing TO give, tramped on
/ foot and through the snow until she had
begged five hundred bushels Of wheat,
which she sold, sending the money TO the
! aid society Of her town.
The organization Of women's work in
/ tbe war was as remarkable as its devotion.
Eleven DAYS after the fall of Fort Sumter
/ :, Now York city the "Womans Central
/ pot,ef Association" was formed, with Miss
| I ouisa Lee Schuyler as president In chi
oooo WAS the Northwestern Sanitary
/ ,or,noission." headed by Mrs. Jane {.
rtooo and Mrs Mary 4. Livermore, whose
ror,,niscences. MY Story Of the War" Is
/ ono of the important books that have been
,,,,i,tor on the women Of the war. The
! o,hors beIng "Woman's Work in the Civli
vyar" by l., +. Brockctt and Mary {.
Vaughan and women OF the war pS
! rink Moore. written soon after the close
/ Of the rebellion. So great has been Pup"'
interest I'm this side OF the war!
! These women's relief societies all over the
! ,o,,n,r, wore soon merged in the famous
sanitary commission when was under CIV
crnmcnt control and had fun charge OF the
we,fare work for the soldiers, being rech-
oned nv Mr.. Moore 90 have saved more
| than $4,000 lives -,
| A eories Of great sanitary fairs was held
oil over the country. To the Chicago one
| prosident Lincoln donated the original
manuscript Of the Emancipation Procla-
! ten though lac wanted Il himself. The
yoman's Relief Association OF Brooklyn
and Long Island raised $4,000 at their fair.
! 1,,a to the enormous executive ability OF
their president Mrs. Marianne F. s'rana-
! han. ..,..i Z
,rhe bravery Of the women who stayed at
| - and sent their loved ones into battle
and feyer-Iaden camps was equalled py
sno,her class Of women whom the nation
! g. ,o bonor-after sifty years-those who
| .er,, into the battles and the camps them
| selves to nurse the soldiers Delicate, high
| born Young girls many Of them were-a
! .....,and .rere sent home Dorolhea DIX