Year: 1867

heard sounds of artillery in the distance,
and driving on, they suddenly felt their
wheels crushing the bodies Of slain men,
and found that they were ON the battle
field of eouth Mountain, where dead
bodies lay thick around. Before day
light her wagon moved on past the train
lof supplies and by night she was among
the great army of the Potomac, eighty
thousand strong with Burnside in COM
mand. No other woman was on the
ground and she felt alone and hopeless
in the face of the terrible duties Of the
coming day, which would be the last
day to so many brave men. As the sun
next morning broke over Maryland
Heights, it shone on the faces Of one
hundred and sixty thousand men stand
ing face to face. When the battle began,
she and her party drove around to that
part of the field where Fighting Jos's'
men were engaged, and dismounting
and taking her arms full of stimulants,
she soon came to house which was
converted into hospital. They had no
lint or dressings, using green corn to
staunch the blood from the veins Of those
whose limbs were amputated. Her sup
ply was received with thankfulness and
she was soon busy at hel work of mercy.
While supporting wounded man ball
passed close to her arm, cutting her
sleeve and killing the poor man who was
resting upon her. All night they toiled
in caring for the thousands of wounded,
but it was not till the sun rose that they
knew how great had been the cost ofthe
battle of Antietam.


She remembered eight months of
weary siege, when the brave regiments
stood laundering at the gates Of proud,
rebellious Charleston. The lecturer then
gave fine description of the fights of
Morris Island and Fort Wagner, where
side by side with the white hand lay the
dusky hand of the race who then, for
the first time, had the privilege Of show
ing their devotion TO the Union. And
when the battle was won, foremost
among the victors were men from our
own State, and one brave officer from
our own city, Gen: o. L. Mann Of the
Thirty-ninth Illinois. (Applause.)


For long months the battle had con-
tinued about Port Royal; Moultrie wa.
crumbled to ashes; Wagner had surren-
dered; but Charleston still held out de-
fiant. Suddenly whole army that had
fought among the clouds, disappears
from the public view, till all at once
Sherlnan's men stand proudly before
her walls.


The speaker said that she had been
criticised as being greatly embarrassed
when she appeared before her audiences,
and she asked if she had not reason to
be when she remembered that she stood
perhaps before some ofthe very men who
had done these things, and before the
people of State that had sent Colonela,
Major Generals, Lieutenant Generals,
Generals, and the great Captain of our
Nstion-Lincoln.


The lecturer then invoked a kindly
remembrance of those among us who.
had done and suffered so much, and
called upon her audience not to allow
them to want for anything while they
lived. The debt which was owed them
had not outlawed; it could never be
paid. In the Legislative halls of this
State hang the tsttered and bullet
pierced banners which tell such tale
of battle and blood. There let fathers
take their sons, and pointing to them,
teach them the lesson Of perpetual
Union. She appealed to the men of the
Republic, to remember the lessons of
the past and see to it that the dead have
not died in vain, III