Womans Work in the Civil War | Page 3

to Mrs. M. A. Livermore, of Chicago, one of the managers of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission; to Rev. G. S. F. Savage, Secretary of the Western Department of the American Tract Society, Boston; Rev. William De Loss Love, of Milwaukee, author of a work on "Wisconsin in the War," Samuel B. Fales, Esq., of Philadelphia, so long and nobly identified with the Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, Dr. A. N. Read, of Norwalk, Ohio, late one of the Medical Inspectors of the Sanitary Commission, Dr. Joseph Parrish, of Philadelphia, also a Medical Inspector of the Commission, Mrs. M. M. Husband, of Philadelphia, one of the most faithful workers in field hospitals during the war, Miss Katherine P. Wormeley, of Newport, Rhode Island, the accomplished historian of the Sanitary Commission, Mrs. W. H. Holstein, of Bridgeport, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Miss Maria M. C. Hall, of Washington, District of Columbia, and Miss Louise Titcomb, of Portland, Maine. From many of these we have received information indispensable to the completeness and success of our work; information too, often afforded at great inconvenience and labor. We commit our book, then, to the loyal women of our country, as an earnest and conscientious effort to portray some phases of a heroism which will make American women famous in all the future ages of history; and with the full conviction that thousands more only lacked the opportunity, not the will or endurance, to do, in the same spirit of self-sacrifice, what these have done.
L. P. B.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., February, 1867.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
DEDICATION. 19
PREFACE. 21
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 25-51
INTRODUCTION BY HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D. 55
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Patriotism in some form, an attribute of woman in all nations and climes--Its modes of manifestation--P?ans for victory--Lamentations for the death of a heroic leader--Personal leadership by women--The assassination of tyrants--The care of the sick and wounded of national armies--The hospitals established by the Empress Helena--The Beguines and their successors--The cantiniéres, vivandiéres, etc.--Other modes in which women manifested their patriotism--Florence Nightingale and her labors--The results--The awakening of patriotic zeal among American women at the opening of the war--The organization of philanthropic effort--Hospital nurses--Miss Dix's rejection of great numbers of applicants on account of youth--Hired nurses--Their services generally prompted by patriotism rather than pay--The State relief agents (ladies) at Washington--The hospital transport system of the Sanitary Commission--Mrs. Harris's, Miss Barton's, Mrs. Fales', Miss Gilson's, and other ladles' services at the front during the battles of 1862-- Services of other ladies at Chancellorsville, at Gettysburg--The Field Relief of the Sanitary Commission, and services of ladies in the later battles--Voluntary services of women in the armies in the field at the West--Services in the hospitals of garrisons and fortified towns-- Soldiers' homes and lodges, and their matrons--Homes for Refugees-- Instruction of the Freedmen--Refreshment Saloons at Philadelphia-- Regular visiting of hospitals in the large cities--The Soldiers' Aid Societies, and their mode of operation--The extraordinary labors of the managers of the Branch Societies--Government clothing contracts--Mrs. Springer, Miss Wormeley and Miss Gilson--The managers of the local Soldiers' Aid Societies--The sacrifices made by the poor to contribute supplies--Examples--The labors of the young and the old--Inscriptions on articles--The poor seamstress--Five hundred bushels of wheat--The five dollar gold piece--The army of martyrs--The effect of this female patriotism in stimulating the courage of the soldiers--Lack of persistence in this work among the Women of the South--Present and future--Effect of patriotism and self-sacrifice in elevating and ennobling the female character. 65-94

PART I. SUPERINTENDENT OF NURSES.
MISS DOROTHEA L. DIX.
Early history--Becomes interested in the condition of prison convicts-- Visit to Europe--Returns in 1837, and devotes herself to improving the condition of paupers, lunatics and prisoners--Her efforts for the establishment of Insane Asylums--Second visit to Europe--Her first work in the war the nursing of Massachusetts soldiers in Baltimore-- Appointment as superintendent of nurses--Her selections--Difficulties in her position--Her other duties--Mrs. Livermore's account of her labors-- The adjutant-general's order--Dr. Bellows' estimate of her work--Her kindness to her nurses--Her publications--Her manners and address-- Labors for the insane poor since the war. 97-108

PART II. LADIES WHO MINISTERED TO THE SICK AND WOUNDED IN CAMP, FIELD
AND GENERAL HOSPITALS.
CLARA HARLOWE BARTON.
Early life--Teaching--The Bordentown school--Obtains a situation in the Patent Office--Her readiness to help others--Her native genius for nursing--Removed from office in 1857--Return to Washington in 1861-- Nursing and providing for Massachusetts soldiers at the Capitol in April, 1861--Hospital and sanitary work in 1861--Death of her father-- Washington hospitals again--Going to the front--Cedar Mountain--The second Bull Run battle--Chantilly--Heroic labors at Antietam--Soft bread--Three barrels of flour and a bag of salt--Thirty lanterns for that night of gloom--The race for Fredericksburg--Miss Barton as a general purveyor for the sick and wounded--The battle of Fredericksburg-- Under fire--The rebel officer's appeal--The "confiscated" carpet--After the battle--In the department of the South--The sands of Morris Island-- The horrors of the siege of Forts Wagner and Sumter--The reason why she went thither--Return to the