Dr. Marsh was for a long time detained at Folly and Morris Islands. The force at Beaufort was quite inadequate, and exceedingly onerous and absorbing duties fell to the share of Mrs. Marsh. Communication was difficult. Dr. Marsh at times could not reach his home. Vessels which had been running between New York and Port Royal and Hilton Head were detained at the North. The receipt and transmission of sanitary stores, and the immense correspondence growing out of it; the general oversight of the needs of the hospitals, and the monthly reports of the same all fell heavily upon one brain and one pair of hands.

It was at just such an emergency that the army of Sherman, the "Great March" to the sea nearly completed, arrived upon the scene. The sick and disabled arrived by hundreds, the hospitals were filled up directly, and even thronged; while so numerous were the cases of small-pox, which had appeared in the army, that a large separate hospital had to be provided for them.

We may perhaps imagine how busy was the brave woman, left with such an immense responsibility on her hands.

Early in 1865, Dr. Marsh received notice that it had been determined to send him to Newbern, North Carolina, but he never went, being attacked soon after by a long and dangerous illness which for a time rendered it improbable that he would ever see his Northern home again.

It was at this time that a cargo of sanitary supplies arrived from New York. A part of these were a contribution from Montreal. Montreal had before sent goods to the Commission, but these were forwarded to Mrs. Marsh herself. A letter of hers written not long previous to a friend in New York, had been forwarded to Montreal, and had aroused a strong desire there to help her in her peculiar work. A large portion of this gift was from an M. P., who, though he might, like others, lift his voice against the American war, had yet enough of the milk of human kindness in his heart to lead him to desire to do something for her suffering soldiers and prisoners.

This gift Mrs. Marsh never saw, it being sent with the rest of the unbroken cargo back to Newbern in view of the expected arrival of her family there.

The surrender of Lee virtually closed the war, and the necessity of Dr. Marsh's stay in the South was no longer an important one. Besides this, his health would not permit it, and he returned to New York where he had long been wanted to take charge of the "Lincoln Home" in Grove Street, a hospital opened by the Sanitary Commission for lingering cases of wounds and sickness among homeless and destitute soldiers.

Of this hospital and home Dr. Marsh was surgeon, and Mrs. Marsh matron. Dr. Hoadly who had been with Dr. Marsh at the South, still retained the position of assistant. The health of Dr. Marsh improved, but he has never entirely recovered.

They entered the Lincoln Home on the 1st of May, 1865, and the house was immediately filled with patients. They remained there until June of the following year, 1866. During their stay between three and four hundred patients were admitted, and of those who were regular patients none died. One soldier, a Swede, was found in the street in the last stages of exhaustion and suffering, and died before the morning following his admission. He bore about him evidences of education and gentle birth, but he could not speak English, and carried with him into another world the secret of his name and identity. He had no disease, but the foundations of his life had been sapped by the irritation caused by filth and vermin.

As at the South, in the services of Mrs. Marsh here, there was a great disproportion between their showiness and their usefulness. She pursued her quiet round of labors, the results of which will be seen and felt for years, as much as in the present. Her kind voice, and pleasant smile will be an ever living and delightful memory in the hearts of all to whom she ministered during those long hours of the nation's peril, in which the best blood of her sons was poured out a red libation to Liberty.

After the close of the Lincoln Home, Mrs. Marsh continued to devote herself to suffering soldiers and their families, making herself notably useful in this important department of the nation's work.



SAINT LOUIS LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY.

This Society, the principal Auxiliary of the Western Sanitary Commission, and holding the same relation to it that the Women's Central Association of Relief in New York, did to the United States Sanitary Commission had its origin in the summer of 1861. On the 26th of July, of that year, a few ladies met at the house of Mrs. F. Holy, in St. Louis, to consider the propriety of combining the efforts of the loyal ladies of that city into a single organization in anticipation of the conflict then impending within the State. At an adjourned meeting held a week later, twenty-five ladies registered themselves, as members of the "Ladies' Union Aid Society," and elected a full board of officers. Most of these resigned in the following autumn, and in November, 1861, the following list was chosen, most of whom served through the war.

President: Mrs. Alfred Clapp; Vice Presidents, Mrs. Samuel C. Davis, Mrs. T. M. Post, Mrs. Robert Anderson; Recording Secretary, Miss H. A. Adams; Treasurer, Mrs. S. B. Kellogg; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Belle Holmes; afterwards, Miss Anna M. Debenham. An Executive Committee was also appointed, several of the members of which, and among the number, Mrs. C. R. Springer, Mrs. S. Palmer, Mrs. Joseph Crawshaw, Mrs. Washington King, Mrs. Charles L. Ely, Mrs. F. F. Maltby, Mrs. C. N. Barker, Miss Susan J. Bell, Miss Eliza S. Glover, and Miss Eliza Page, were indefatigable in their labors for the soldiers.

This Society was from the beginning, active and efficient. It conducted its business with great ability and system, and in every direction made itself felt as a power for good throughout the Mississippi Valley. Its officers visited for a considerable period, fourteen hospitals in the city and vicinity, and were known in the streets by the baskets they carried. Of one of these baskets the recording Secretary, Miss Adams, gives us an interesting inventory in one of her reports: "Within was a bottle of cream, a home-made loaf, fresh eggs, fruit and oysters; stowed away in a corner was a flannel shirt, a sling, a pair of spectacles, a flask of cologne; a convalescent had asked for a lively book, and the lively book was in the basket; there was a dressing-gown for one, and a white muslin handkerchief for another; and paper, envelopes and stamps for all."

The Christian Commission made the ladies of the Society their agents for the distribution of religious reading, and they scattered among the men one hundred and twenty-five thousand pages of tracts, and twenty thousand books and papers.

The Ladies' Union Aid Society, sent delegates to all the earlier battle-fields, as well as to the camps and trenches about Vicksburg, and these ladies returned upon the hospital steamers, pursuing their heroic work, toiling early and late, imperilling in many cases their health, and even their lives, in the midst of the trying and terrible scenes which surrounded them. During the fall and winter of 1862-3, the Society's rooms were open day and evening, for the purpose of bandage-rolling, so great was the demand for supplies of this kind.

Amid their other labors, they were not unmindful of the distress which the families of the soldiers were suffering. So great was the demand for hospital clothing, that they could not supply it alone, and they expended five thousand five hundred dollars received for the purpose from the Western Sanitary Commission, in paying for the labor on seventy-five thousand garments for the hospitals. The Medical Purveyor, learning of their success, offered the Aid Society a large contract for army work. They accepted it, and prepared the work at their rooms, and gave out one hundred and twenty-eight thousand articles to be made, paying out over six thousand dollars for labor. Several other contracts followed, particularly one for two hundred and sixty-one thousand yards of bandages, for the rolling of which six hundred and fifty-two dollars were paid. By these means and a judicious liberality, the Society prevented a great amount of suffering in the families of soldiers. The Benton Barracks Hospital, one of the largest in the West, to which reference has been frequently made in this volume, had for its surgeon-in-charge, that able surgeon and earnest philanthropist, Dr. Ira Russell. Ever anxious to do all in his power for his patients, and satisfied that more skilfully prepared special diet, and in greater variety than the government supplies permitted would be beneficial to them, he requested the ladies of the Union Aid Society, to occupy a reception-room, storeroom, and kitchen at the hospital, in supplying this necessity. Donations intended for the soldiers could be left at these rooms for distribution; fruit, vegetables, and other offerings could here be prepared and issued as required. Thus all outside bounty could be systematized, and the surgeon could regulate the diet of the entire hospital. Miss Bettie Broadhead, was the first superintendent of these rooms which were subsequently enlarged and multiplied. Bills of fare were distributed in each ward every morning; the soldiers wrote their names and numbers opposite the special dishes they desired; the surgeon examined the bills of fare, and if he approved, endorsed them. At the appointed time the dishes distinctly labelled, arrived at their destination in charge of an orderly. Nearly forty-eight thousand dishes were issued in one year.

In the fall of 1863, the Society established a branch at Nashville, Tennessee, Mrs. Barker and Miss H. A. Adams, going thither with five hundred dollars and seventy-two boxes of stores. Miss Adams, though surrounded with difficulties, and finding the surgeons indifferent if not hostile, succeeded in establishing a special diet kitchen, like that at Benton Barracks' Hospital. This subsequently became a very important institution, sixty-two thousand dishes being issued in the single month of August, 1864. The supplies for this kitchen, were mostly furnished by the Pittsburg Subsistence Committee, and Miss Ellen Murdoch, the daughter of the elocutionist to whom we have already referred, in the account of the Pittsburg Branch, prepared the supplies with her own hands, for three months. During this period, no reasonable wish of an invalid ever went ungratified.

This Society also did a considerable work for the freedmen—and the white refugees, in connection with the Western Sanitary Commission. On the formation of the Freedmen's Relief Society, this part of their work was transferred to them.

We have no means of giving definitely the aggregate receipts and disbursements of this efficient Association. They were so involved with those of the Western Sanitary Commission, that it would be a difficult task to separate them. The receipts of the Commission were seven hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars in money, and about three millions five hundred thousand dollars in supplies. Of this sum we believe we are not in the wrong in attributing nearly two hundred thousand dollars in cash, and one million dollars in supplies to the Ladies' Union Aid Society, either directly or indirectly.

Believing that the exertions of the efficient officers of the Society deserve commemoration, we have obtained the following brief sketches of Mrs. Clapp, Miss Adams, (now Mrs. Collins), Mrs. Springer, and Mrs. Palmer.

Among the earnest and noble women of St. Louis, who devoted themselves to the cause of their country and its heroic defenders at the beginning of the great Rebellion, and whose labors and sacrifices were maintained throughout the struggle for national unity and liberty, none are more worthy of honorable mention, in a work of this character, than MRS. ANNA L. CLAPP.

She was distinguished among those ladies whose labors for the Charities of the war, and whose presence in the Hospitals, cheered and comforted the soldiers of the Union, and either prepared them for a tranquil and happy deliverance from their sufferings, or sent them back to the field of battle to continue the heroic contest until success should crown the victorious arms of the nation, and give peace and liberty to their beloved country.

The maiden name of Mrs. Clapp was Wendell, and her paternal ancestors originally emigrated from Holland. She was born in Cambridge, Washington county, New York, and was educated at Albany.

For three years she was a teacher in the celebrated school of Rev. Nathaniel Prime, at Newburgh, New York. In the year 1838, she was married to Alfred Clapp, Esq., an enterprising merchant, and lived for several years in New York City, and Brooklyn, where she became an active member of various benevolent associations, and performed the duties of Treasurer of the Industrial School Association.

Just previous to the Rebellion, she emigrated with her husband and family to St. Louis, and after the war had commenced, and the early battles in the West had begun to fill every vacant public building in that city with sick and wounded men, she, with many other noble women of like heroic temperament, found a new sphere for their activity and usefulness. In the month of August, 1861, the Ladies' Union Aid Society, of St. Louis, was organized for the purpose of ministering to the wants of the sick and wounded soldiers, providing Hospital garments and Sanitary stores, in connection with similar labors by the Western Sanitary Commission, assisting soldiers' families, and visiting the Hospitals, to give religious counsel, and minister consolation to the sick and dying, in a city where only a few of the clergy of the various denominations who were distinguished for their patriotism and loyalty, attended to this duty; the majority, both Protestant and Catholic, being either indifferent to the consequences of the rebellion, or in sympathy with the treason which was at that time threatening the Union and liberties of the country with disruption and overthrow.

Of this Association of noble and philanthropic women, which continued its useful labors during the war, Mrs. Clapp was made President in the fall of 1861, holding that office during the existence of the organization, giving nearly all her time and energies to this great work of helping and comforting her country's defenders.

After the great battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, and Arkansas Post, she, with other ladies of the Association, repaired on Hospital Steamers to the scene of conflict, taking boxes of Sanitary stores, Hospital garments and lint for the wounded, and ministered to them with her own hands on the return trips to the Hospitals of St. Louis.

As President of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, her labors were arduous and unremitting. The work of this association was always very great, consisting in part of the manufacture of hospital garments, by contract with the medical purveyor, which work was given out to the wives of soldiers, to enable them the better to support themselves and children, during the absence of their husbands in the army. The work of cutting out these garments, giving them out, keeping an account with each soldier's wife, paying the price of the labor, etc., was no small undertaking, requiring much labor from the members of the society. It was an interesting sight, on Thursday of each week, to see hundreds of poor women filling the large rooms of the association on Chestnut Street, from morning to night, receiving work and pay, and to witness the untiring industry of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Committees, waiting upon them.

The visitation of these families by committees, and their reports, to say nothing of the general sanitary and hospital work performed by the society, required a large amount of labor; and in addition to this the aid rendered to destitute families of Union refugees, and the part taken by Mrs. Clapp in organizing a Refugee Home, and House of Industry, would each of itself make quite a chapter of the history of the association.

In all these labors Mrs. Clapp showed great executive and administrative ability, and must be reckoned by all who know her, among the truly patriotic women of the land. And in all the relations of life her character stands equally high, adorning, as she does, her Christian profession by works of piety, and patriotism, and love, and commanding the highest confidence and admiration of the community in which she lives.

The devoted labors of MISS H. A. ADAMS, in the service of the soldiers of the Union and their families, from the beginning of the war, till near its close, entitle her to a place in the records of this volume. She was born in Fitz William, New Hampshire, at the foot of Mount Monadnock, and grew to maturity amid the beautiful scenery, and the pure influences of her New England home. Her father, Mr. J. S. Adams, was a surveyor, a man of character and influence, and gave to his daughter an excellent education. At fifteen years of age she became a teacher, and in 1856 came West for the benefit of her health, having a predisposition to pulmonary consumption, and fearing the effect of the east winds and the trying climate of the Eastern States.

Having connections in St. Louis she came to that city, and, for a year and a half, was employed as a teacher in the public schools. In this, her chosen profession, she soon acquired an honorable position, which she retained till the commencement of the war. At this time, however, the management of the schools was directed by a Board of Education, the members of which were mostly secessionists, the school fund was diverted from its proper uses by the disloyal State government, under Claib. Jackson, and all the teachers, who were from New England, were dismissed from their situations, at the close of the term in 1861. Miss Adams, of course, was included in this number, and the unjust proscription only excited more intensely the love of her country and its noble defenders, who were already rallying to the standard of the Union, and laying down their lives on the altars of justice and liberty.

In August, 1861, the Ladies' Union Aid Society, of St. Louis, was organized. Miss Adams was present at its first meeting and assisted in its formation. She was chosen as its first secretary, which office she filled with untiring industry, and to the satisfaction of all its members, for more than three years.

In the autumn of 1863, her only brother died in the military service of the United States. With true womanly heroism, she went to the hospital at Mound City, Illinois, where he had been under surgical treatment, hoping to nurse and care for him, and see him restored to health, but before she reached the place he had died and was buried. From this time her interest in the welfare of our brave troops was increased and intensified, and there was no sacrifice she was not willing to undertake for their benefit. Moved by the grief of her own personal bereavement, her sympathy for the sick and wounded of the army of the Union, was manifested by renewed diligence in the work of sending them all possible aid and comfort from the ample stores of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Western Sanitary Commission, and by labors for the hospitals far and near.

The duties of Miss Adams, as Secretary of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, were very arduous.

The Society comprised several hundred of the most noble, efficient and patriotic women of St. Louis. The rooms were open every day, from morning to night. Sanitary stores and Hospital garments were prepared and manufactured by the members, and received by donation from citizens and from abroad, and had to be stored and arranged, and given out again to the Hospitals, and to the sick in regimental camps, in and around St. Louis, and also other points in Missouri, as they were needed. Letters of acknowledgement had to be written, applications answered, accounts kept, proceedings recorded, information and advice given, reports written and published, all of which devolved upon the faithful and devoted Secretary, who was ever at her post, and constant and unremitting in her labors. Soldiers' families had also to be assisted; widows and orphans to be visited and cared for; rents, fuel, clothing, and employment to be provided, and the destitute relieved, of whom there were thousands whose husbands, and sons, and brothers, were absent fighting the battles of the Union.

Missouri was, during the first year of the war, a battle-ground. St. Louis and its environs were crowded with troops; the Hospitals were large and numerous; during the winter of 1861-2, there were twenty thousand sick and wounded soldiers in them; and the concurrent labors of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Western Sanitary Commission, were in constant requisition. The visiting of the sick, ministering to them at their couches of pain, reading to them, cheerful conversation with them, were duties which engaged many of the ladies of the Society; and numerous interesting and affecting incidents were preserved by Miss Adams, and embodied in the Reports of the Association. She also did her share in this work of visiting; and during the winter of 1863-4, she went to Nashville, Tennessee, and established there a special diet kitchen, upon which the surgeons in charge of the hospitals, could make requisitions for the nicer and more delicate preparations of food for the very sick. She remained all winter in Nashville, in charge of a branch of the St. Louis Aid Society, and, by her influence, secured the opening of the hospitals to female nurses, who had hitherto not been employed in Nashville. Knowing, as she did, the superior gentleness of women as nurses, their more abundant kindness and sympathy, and their greater skill in the preparation of food for the sick; knowing also the success that had attended the experiment of introducing women nurses in the Military Hospitals in other cities, she determined to overcome the prejudices of such of the army surgeons as stood in the way, and secure to her sick and wounded brothers in the hospitals at Nashville, the benefit of womanly kindness, and nursing, and care. In this endeavor she was entirely successful, and by her persuasive manners, her womanly grace and refinement, and her good sense, she recommended her views to the medical authorities, and accomplished her wishes.

Returning to St. Louis in the spring of 1864, she continued to perform the duties of Secretary of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, till the end of the year, when, in consequence of a contemplated change in her life, she resigned her position, and retired from it with the friendship and warm appreciation of her co-workers in the useful labors of the society. In the month of June, 1865, she was married to Morris Collins, Esq., a citizen of St. Louis.

MRS. C. R. SPRINGER, who has labored so indefatigably at St. Louis, for the soldiers of the Union and their families during the war, was born in Parsonsfield, Maine. Her maiden name was Lord. Previous to her marriage to Mr. Springer, a respectable merchant of St. Louis, she was a teacher in New Hampshire. On the event of her marriage, she came to reside at St. Louis, about ten years ago, and on the breaking out of the war, espoused with patriotic ardor the cause of her country in its struggle with the great slaveholding rebellion. To do this in St. Louis, at that period, when wealth and fashion, and church influence were so largely on the side of the rebellion, and every social circle was more or less infected with treason, required a high degree of moral courage and heroism.

From the first opening of the hospitals in St. Louis, in the autumn of 1861, Mrs. Springer became a most untiring, devoted and judicious visiter, and by her kind and gracious manners, her words of sympathy and encouragement, and her religious consolation, she imparted hope and comfort to many a poor, sick, and wounded soldier, stretched upon the bed of languishing.

Besides her useful labors in the hospitals, Mrs. Springer was an active member of the Ladies' Union Aid Society in St. Louis, from the date of its organization in August, 1861, to its final disbanding—October, 1865—in the deliberations of which her counsel always had great weight and influence. During the four years of its varied and useful labors for the soldiers and their families, she has been among its most diligent workers. In the winter of 1862, the Society took charge of the labor of making up hospital garments, given out by the Medical Purveyor of the department, and she superintended the whole of this important work during that winter, in which one hundred and twenty-seven thousand five hundred garments were made.

Mrs. Springer is a highly educated woman, of great moral worth, devoted to the welfare of the soldier, inspired by sincere love of country, and a high sense of Christian duty. No one will be more gratefully remembered by thousands of soldiers and their families, to whom she has manifested kindness, and a warm interest in their welfare. These services have been gratuitously rendered, and she has given up customary recreations, and sacrificed ease and social pleasure to attend to these duties of humanity. Her reward will be found in the consciousness of having done good to the defenders of her native land, and in the blessing of those who were ready to perish, to whom her kind services, and words of good cheer came as a healing balm in the hour of despondency, and strengthened them for a renewal of their efforts in the cause of country and liberty.

Among the devoted women who have made themselves martyrs to the work of helping our patriotic soldiers and their families in St. Louis, was the late MRS. MARY E. PALMER. She was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, June 28th, 1827, and her maiden name was Locker. She was married in February, 1847, to Mr. Samuel Palmer. In 1855 she removed to Kansas, and in 1857 returned as far eastward as St. Louis, where she resided until her death.

In the beginning of the war, when battles began to be fought, and the sick and wounded were brought to our hospitals to be treated and cared for, Mrs. Palmer with true patriotic devotion and womanly sympathy offered her services to this good cause, and after a variety of hospital work in the fall of 1863, she entered into the service of the Ladies' Union Aid Society of St. Louis as a regular visiter among the soldiers' families, many of whom needed aid and work, during the absence of their natural protectors in the army. It was a field of great labor and usefulness; for in so large a city there were thousands of poor women, whose husbands often went months without pay, or the means of sending it home to their families, who were obliged to appeal for assistance in taking care of themselves and children. To prevent imposition it was necessary that they should be visited, the requisite aid rendered, and sewing or other work provided by which they could earn a part of their own support, a proper discrimination being made between the worthy and unworthy, the really suffering, and those who would impose on the charity of the society under the plea of necessity.

In this work Mrs. Palmer was most faithful and constant, going from day to day through a period of nearly two years, in summer and winter, in sunshine and storm, to the abodes of these people, to find out their real necessities, to report to the society and to secure for them the needed relief.

Her labors also extended to many destitute families of refugees, who had found their way to St. Louis from the impoverished regions of Southern Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and who would have died of actual want, but for the charity of the Government and the ministering aid of the Western Sanitary Commission and the Ladies' Union Aid Society. In her visits and her dispensations of charity Mrs. Palmer was always wise, judicious, and humane, and enjoyed the fullest confidence of the society in whose service she was engaged. In the performance of her duties she was always thoroughly conscientious, and actuated by a high sense of religious duty. From an early period of her life she had been a consistent member of the Baptist Church, and her Christian character was adorned by a thorough consecration to works of kindness and humanity which were performed in the spirit of Him, who, during his earthly ministry, "went about doing good."

By her arduous labors, which were greater than her physical constitution could permanently endure, Mrs. Palmer's health became undermined, and in the summer of 1865 she passed into a fatal decline, and on the 2d of August ended a life of usefulness on earth to enter upon the enjoyments of a beatified spirit in heaven.



LADIES' AID SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA

One of the first societies formed by ladies to aid and care for the sick and wounded soldiers, was the one whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch. The Aid Society of Cleveland, and we believe one in Boston claim a date five or six days earlier, but no others. The ladies who composed it met on the 26th of April, 1861, and organized themselves as a society to labor for the welfare of the soldiers whether in sickness or health. They continued their labors with unabated zeal until the close of the war rendered them unnecessary. The officers of the society were Mrs. Joel Jones, President; Mrs. John Harris, Secretary; and Mrs. Stephen Colwell, Treasurer. Mrs. Jones is the widow of the late Hon. Joel Jones, a distinguished jurist of Philadelphia, and subsequently for several years President of Girard College. A quiet, self-possessed and dignified lady, she yet possessed an earnestly patriotic spirit, and decided business abilities. Of Mrs. Harris, one of the most faithful and persevering laborers for the soldiers in the field, throughout the war, we have spoken at length elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Colwell, the wife of Hon. Stephen Colwell, a man of rare philosophic mind and comprehensive views, who had acquired a reputation alike by his writings, and his earnest practical benevolence, was a woman every way worthy of her husband.

It was early determined to allow Mrs. Harris to follow the promptings of her benevolent heart and go to the field, while her colleagues should attend to the work of raising supplies and money at home, and furnishing her with the stores she required for her own distribution and that of the zealous workers who were associated with her. The members of the society were connected with twenty different churches of several denominations, and while all had reference to the spiritual as well as physical welfare of the soldier, yet there was nothing sectarian or denominational in its work. From the fact that its meetings were held and its goods packed in the basement and vestry of Dr. Boardman's Church, it was sometimes called the Presbyterian Ladies' Aid Society, but the name, if intended to imply that its character was denominational, was unjust. As early as October, 1861, the pastors of twelve churches in Philadelphia united in an appeal to all into whose hands the circular might fall, to contribute to this society and to form auxiliaries to it, on the ground of its efficiency, its economical management, and its unsectarian character.

The society, with but moderate receipts as compared with those of the great organizations, accomplished a great amount of good. Not a few of the most earnest and noble workers in the field were at one time or another the distributors of its supplies, and thus in some sense, its agents. Among these we may name besides Mrs. Harris, Mrs. M. M. Husband, Mrs. Mary W. Lee, Miss M. M. C. Hall, Miss Cornelia Hancock, Miss Anna M. Ross, Miss Nellie Chase, of Nashville, Miss Hetty K. Painter, Mrs. Z. Denham, Miss Pinkham, Miss Biddle, Mrs. Sampson, Mrs. Waterman, and others. The work intended by the society, and which its agents attempted to perform was a religious as well as a physical one; hospital supplies were to be dispensed, and the sick and dying soldier carefully nursed; but it was also a part of its duty to point the sinner to Christ, to warn and reprove the erring, and to bring religious consolation and support to the sick and dying; the Bible, the Testament, and the tract were as truly a part of its supplies as the clothing it distributed so liberally, or the delicacies it provided to tempt the appetite of the sick. Mrs. Harris established prayer-meetings wherever it was possible in the camps or at the field hospitals, and several of the other ladies followed her example.

In her first report, Mrs. Harris said:—"In addition to the dispensing of hospital supplies, the sick of two hundred and three regiments have been personally visited. Hundreds of letters, bearing last messages of love to dear ones at home, have been written for sick and dying soldiers. We have thrown something of home light and love around the rude couches of at least five hundred of our noble citizen soldiers, who sleep their last sleep along the Potomac.

"We have been permitted to take the place of mothers and sisters, wiping the chill dew of death from the noble brow, and breathing words of Jesus into the ear upon which all other sounds fell unheeded. The gentle pressure of the hand has carried the dying one to the old homestead, and, as it often happened, by a merciful illusion, the dying soldier has thought the face upon which his last look rested, was that of a precious mother, sister, or other cherished one. One, a German, in broken accents, whispered: 'How good you have come, Eliza; Jesus is always near me;' then, wrestling with that mysterious power, death, slept in Jesus. Again, a gentle lad of seventeen summers, wistfully then joyfully exclaimed: 'I knew she would come to her boy,' went down comforted into the dark valley. Others, many others still, have thrown a lifetime of trustful love into the last look, sighing out life with 'Mother, dear mother!'

"It has been our highest aim, whilst ministering to the temporal well-being of our loved and valued soldiers, to turn their thoughts and affections heavenward. We are permitted to hope that not a few have, through the blessed influence of religious tracts, soldiers' pocket books, soldiers' Bibles, and, above all, the Holy Scriptures distributed by us, been led 'to cast anchor upon that which is within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.'"

The society did not attempt, and wisely, to compete with the great commissions in their work. It could not supply an entire army or throw upon the shoulders of its hard-working voluntary agents the care of the sick and wounded of a great battle. Its field of operations was rather here and there a field hospital, the care of the sick and wounded of a single division, or at most of a small army corps, when not engaged in any great battles; the providing for some hundreds of refugees, the care of some of the freedmen, and the assistance of the families of the soldiers. Whatever it undertook to do it did well. Its semi-annual reports consisted largely of letters from its absent secretary, letters full of pathos and simple eloquence, and these widely circulated, produced a deep impression, and stirred the sympathies of those who read, to more abundant contributions.

As an instance of the spirit which actuated the members of this society we state the following incident of which we were personally cognizant; one of the officers of the society soon after the commencement of the war had contributed so largely to its funds that she felt that only by some self-denial could she give more. Considering for a time where the retrenchment should begin, she said to the members of her family; "these soldiers who have gone to fight our battles have been willing to hazard their lives for us, and we certainly cannot do too much for them. Now, I propose, if you all consent, to devote a daily sum to the relief of the army while the war lasts, and that we all go without some accustomed luxury to procure that sum. Suppose we dispense with our dessert during the war?" Her family consented, and the cost of the dessert was duly paid over to the society as an additional donation throughout the war.

The society received and expended during the four years ending April 30, 1865, twenty-four thousand dollars in money, beside five hundred and fifty dollars for soldiers' families, and seven hundred dollars with accumulated interest for aiding disabled soldiers to reach their homes. The supplies distributed were worth not far from one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, aside from those sent directly to Mrs. Harris from individuals and societies, which were estimated at fully two hundred thousand dollars.

* * * * *

In this connection it may be well to say something of two other associations of ladies in Philadelphia for aiding the soldiers, which remained independent of the Sanitary or Christian Commissions through the war, and which accomplished much good.

THE PENN RELIEF ASSOCIATION was organized early in 1862, first by the Hicksite Friends, to demonstrate the falsity of the commonly received report that the "Friends," being opposed to war, would not do anything for the sick and wounded. Many of the "Orthodox Friends" afterwards joined it, as well as considerable numbers from other denominations, and it proved itself a very efficient body. Mrs. Rachel S. Evans was its President, and Miss Anna P. Little and Miss Elizabeth Newport its active and hard-working Secretaries, and Miss Little doubtless expressed the feeling which actuated all its members in a letter in which she said that "while loyal men were suffering, loyal women must work to alleviate their sufferings." The "Penn Relief" collected supplies to an amount exceeding fifty thousand dollars, which were almost wholly sent to the "front," and distributed by such judicious and skilful hands as Mrs. Husband, Mrs. Hetty K. Painter, Mrs. Mary W. Lee, and Mrs. Anna Carver.

"THE SOLDIERS' AID ASSOCIATION," was organized on the 28th of July, 1862, mainly through the efforts of Mrs. Mary A. Brady, a lady of West Philadelphia, herself a native of Ireland, but the wife of an English lawyer, who had made his home in Philadelphia, in 1849. Mrs. Brady was elected President of the Association, and the first labors of herself and her associates were expended on the Satterlee Hospital, one of those vast institutions created by the Medical Department of the Government, which had over three thousand beds, each during those dark and dreary days occupied by some poor sufferer. In this great hospital these ladies found, for a time, full employment for the hearts and hands of the Committees who, on their designated days of the week, ministered to these thousands of sick and wounded men, and from the depot of supplies which the Association had established at the hospital, prepared and distributed fruits, food skilfully prepared, and articles of hospital clothing, of which the men were greatly in need. Those cheering ministrations, reading and singing to the men, writing letters for them, and the dressing and applying of cooling lotions to the hot and inflamed wounds were not forgotten by these tender and kind-hearted women.

But Mrs. Brady looked forward to work in other fields, and the exertion of a wider influence, and though for months, she and her associates felt that the present duty must first be done, she desired to go to the front, and there minister to the wounded before they had endured all the agony of the long journey to the hospital in the city. The patients of the Satterlee Hospital were provided with an ample dinner on the day of the National Thanksgiving, by the Association, and as they were now diminishing in numbers, and the Auxiliary Societies, which had sprung up throughout the State, had poured in abundant supplies, Mrs. Brady felt that the time had come when she could consistently enter upon the work nearest her heart. In the winter of 1863, she visited Washington, and the hospitals and camps which were scattered around the city, at distances of from five to twenty miles. Here she found multitudes of sick and wounded, all suffering from cold, from hunger, or from inattention. "Camp Misery," with its twelve thousand convalescents, in a condition of intense wretchedness moved her sympathies, and led her to do what she could for them. She returned home at the beginning of April, and her preparations for another journey were hardly made, before the battles of Chancellorsville and its vicinity occurred. Here at the great field hospital of Sedgwick's (Sixth) Corps, she commenced in earnest her labors in the care of the wounded directly from the field. For five weeks she worked with an energy and zeal which were the admiration of all who saw her, and then as Lee advanced toward Pennsylvania, she returned home for a few days of rest.

Then came Gettysburg, with its three days of terrible slaughter, and Mrs. Brady was again at her work day and night, furnishing soft food to the severely wounded, cooling drinks to the thirsty and fever-stricken, soothing pain, encouraging the men to heroic endurance of their sufferings, everywhere an angel of comfort, a blessed and healing presence. More than a month was spent in these labors, and at their close Mrs. Brady returned to her work in the Hospitals at Philadelphia, and to preparation for the autumn and winter campaigns. When early in January, General Meade made his Mine Run Campaign, Mrs. Brady had again gone to the front, and was exposed to great vicissitudes of weather, and was for a considerable time in peril from the enemy's fire. Her exertions and exposures at this time brought on disease of the heart, and her physician forbade her going to the front again. She however made all the preparations she could for the coming campaign, and hoped, though vainly, that she might be permitted again to enter upon the work she loved. When the great battles of May, 1864, were fought, the dreadful slaughter which accompanied them, so disquieted her, that it aggravated her disease, and on the 27th of May, she died, greatly mourned by all who knew her worth, and her devotion to the national cause.

The Association continued its work till the close of the war. The amount of its disbursements, we have not been able to ascertain.



WOMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND.

The city of Brooklyn, Long Island, and the Island of which it forms the Western extremity, were from the commencement of the war intensely patriotic. Regiment after regiment was raised in the city, and its quota filled from the young men of the city, and the towns of the island, till it seemed as every man of military age, and most of the youth between fifteen and eighteen had been drawn into the army. An enthusiastic zeal for the national cause had taken as complete possession of the women as of the men. Everywhere were seen the badges of loyalty, and there was no lack of patient labor or of liberal giving for the soldiers on the part of those who had either money or labor to bestow. The news of the first battle was the signal for an outpouring of clothing, hospital stores, cordials, and supplies of all sorts, which were promptly forwarded to the field. After each successive engagement, this was repeated, and at first, the Young Men's Christian Association of the city, a most efficient organization, undertook to be the almoners of a part of the bounty of the citizens. Distant as was the field of Shiloh, a delegation from the Association went thither, bearing a large amount of hospital stores, and rendered valuable assistance to the great numbers of wounded. Other organizations sprang up, having in view the care of the wounded and sick of the army, and many contributors entrusted to the earnest workers at Washington, the stores they were anxious to bestow upon the suffering. After the great battles of the summer and autumn of 1862, large numbers of the sick and wounded were brought to Brooklyn, for care and treatment filling at one time three hospitals. They came often in need of all things, and the benevolent women of the city formed themselves into Committees, to visit these hospitals in turn, and prepare and provide suitable dishes, delicacies, and special diet for the invalid soldiers, to furnish such clothing as was needed, to read to them, write letters for them, and bestow upon them such acts of kindness as should cause them to feel that their services in defense of the nation were fully appreciated and honored.

There was, however, in these varied efforts for the soldiers a lack of concentration and efficiency which rendered them less serviceable than they otherwise might have been. The different organizations and committees working independently of each other, not unfrequently furnished over-abundant supplies to some regiments or hospitals, while others were left to lack, and many who had the disposition to give, hesitated from want of knowledge or confidence in the organizations which would disburse the funds. The churches of the city though giving freely when called upon, were not contributing systematically, or putting forth their full strength in the service. It was this conviction of the need of a more methodical and comprehensive organization to which the churches, committees, and smaller associations should become tributary, which led to the formation of the Women's Relief Association, as a branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. This Association was organized November 23d, 1862, at a meeting held by the Ladies of Brooklyn, in the Lecture Room of the Church of the Pilgrims, and MRS. MARIAMNE FITCH STRANAHAN, was chosen President, and Miss Kate E. Waterbury, Secretary, with an Executive Committee of twelve ladies of high standing and patriotic impulses. The selection of President and Secretary was eminently a judicious one. MRS. STRANAHAN was a native of Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York, and had received for the time, and the region in which her childhood and youth was passed, superior advantages of education. She was married in 1837, to Mr. James S. T. Stranahan, then a merchant of Florence, Oneida County, New York, but who removed with his family in 1840, to Newark, New Jersey, and in 1845, took up his residence in Brooklyn. Here they occupied a high social position, Mr. Stranahan having been elected a Representative to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and subsequently appointed to other positions of responsibility in the city and State. Mrs. Stranahan was active in every good work in the city of her adoption, and those who knew her felt that they could confide in her judgment, her discernment, her tact, and her unflinching integrity and principle. For eight years she was the first Directress of the "Graham Institute, for the relief of Aged and Indigent Females," a position requiring the exercise of rare abilities, and the most skilful management, to harmonize the discords, and quiet the misunderstandings, inevitable in such an institution. Her discretion, equanimity, and tact, were equal to the duties of the place, and under her administration peace and quiet reigned. It was probably from the knowledge of her executive abilities, that she was unanimously chosen to preside over the Women's Relief Association. This position was also one requiring great tact and skill in the presiding officer. About eighty churches of different denominations in Brooklyn, cooeperated in the work of the Association, and it had also numerous auxiliaries scattered over the Island. These diverse elements were held together in perfect harmony, by Mrs. Stranahan's skilful management, till the occasion ceased for their labors. The Association was from first to last a perfect success, surpassing in its results most of the branches of the Commission, and surpassed in the harmony and efficiency of its action by none.

In her final report Mrs. Stranahan said: "The aggregate of our efforts including the results of our Great Fair, represents a money value of not less than half a million of dollars." Three hundred thousand dollars of this sum were paid into the treasury of the United States Sanitary Commission in cash; and hospital supplies were furnished to the amount of over two hundred thousand more. The Great Fair of Brooklyn had its origin in the Women's Relief Association. At first it was proposed that Brooklyn should unite with New York in the Metropolitan Fair; but on further deliberation it was thought that a much larger result would be attained by an independent effort on the part of Brooklyn and Long Island, and the event fully justified the opinion. The conducting of such a fair involved, however, an excessive amount of labor on the part of the managers; and notwithstanding the perfect equanimity and self-possession of Mrs. Stranahan, her health was sensibly affected by the exertions she was compelled to make to maintain the harmony and efficiency of so many and such varied interests. It is much to say, but the proof of the statement is ample, that no one of the Sanitary Fairs held from 1863 to 1865 equalled that of Brooklyn in its freedom from all friction and disturbing influences, in the earnestness of its patriotic feeling, and the complete and perfect harmony which reigned from its commencement to its close. This gratifying condition of affairs was universally attributed to the extraordinary tact and executive talent of Mrs. Stranahan.

Rev. Dr. Spear, her pastor, in a touching and eloquent memorial of her, uses the following language in regard to the success of her administration as President of the Women's Relief Association; "It is due to truth to say that this success depended very largely upon her wisdom and her efforts. She was the right woman in the right place. She gave her time to the work with a zeal and perseverance that never faltered, and with a hopefulness for her country that yielded to no discouragement or despondency. As a presiding officer she discharged her duties with a self-possession, courtesy, skill, and method, that commanded universal admiration. She had a quick and judicious insight into the various ways and means by which the meetings of the Association would be rendered interesting and attractive. The business part of the work was constantly under her eye. No woman ever labored in a sphere more honorable; and but few women could have filled her place. Her general temper of mind, her large and catholic views as a Christian, and then her excellent discretion, eminently fitted her to combine all the churches in one harmonious and patriotic effort. This was her constant study; and well did she succeed. As an evidence of the sentiments with which she had inspired her associates, the following resolution offered at the last meeting of the Association, and unanimously adopted, will speak for itself:—

"'Resolved, That the thanks of the Women's Relief Association are pre-eminently due to our President, Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, for the singular ability, wisdom, and patience with which she has discharged the duties of her office, at all times arduous, and not unfrequently requiring sacrifices to which nothing short of the deepest love of country could have been equal. It is due to justice, and to the feelings of our hearts, to say that the usefulness, the harmony, and the continued existence of the Women's Relief Association, through the long and painful struggle, now happily ended, have been in a large measure owing to the combination of rare gifts, which have been so conspicuous to us all in the guidance of our public meetings, and which have marked not less the more unnoticed, but equally essential, superintendence of the work in private.'"

The Rev. Dr. Bellows, President of the United States Sanitary Commission, thus speaks of Mrs. Stranahan and of the Brooklyn Woman's Relief Association, of which she was the head:

"Knowing Mrs. Stranahan only in her official character, as head of the noble band of women who through the war, by their admirable organization and efficient, patient working, made Brooklyn a shining example for all other cities—I wonder that she should have left so deep a personal impression upon my heart; and that from a dozen interviews confined wholly to one subject, I should have conceived a friendship for her which it commonly takes a life of various intercourse and intimate or familiar relations to establish. And this is the more remarkable, because her directness, clearness of intention, and precision of purpose always kept her confined, in the conversations I held with her, to the special subject on which we met to take counsel. She had so admirably ordered an understanding, was so business-like and clear in her habits of mind, that not a minute was lost with her in beating the bush. With mild determination, and in a gentle distinctness of tone, she laid her views or wishes before me, in a way that never needed any other explanation or enforcement than her simple statement carried with it. In few, precise, and transparent words, she made known her business, or gave her opinion, and wasted not a precious minute in generalities, or on matters aside from our common object. This rendered my official intercourse with her peculiarly satisfactory. She always knew just what she wanted to say, and left no uncertainty as to what she had said; and what she said, had always been so carefully considered, that her wishes were full of reason, and her advice full of persuasion. She seemed to me to unite the greatest discretion with the finest enthusiasm. As earnest, large, and noble in her views of what was due to the National cause, as the most zealous could be, she was yet so practical, judicious, and sober in her judgment, that what she planned, I learned to regard as certain of success. No one could see her presiding with mingled modesty and dignity over one of the meetings of the Women's Relief Association, without admiration for her self-possession, propriety of utterance, and skill in furthering the objects in view. I have always supposed that her wisdom, resolution, and perseverance, had a controlling influence in the glorious success of the Brooklyn Relief Association—the most marked and memorable fellowship of women, united from all sects and orders of Christians, in one practical enterprise, that the world ever saw."

After the disbanding of the Women's Relief Association, Mrs. Stranahan, though retaining her profound interest in the welfare of her country, and her desire for its permanent pacification by such measures as should remove all further causes of discord and strife, returned to the quiet of her home, and except her connection with the Graham Institute, gladly withdrew from any conspicuous or public position. Her health was as we have said impaired somewhat by her assiduous devotion to her duties in connection with the Association, but she made no complaint, and her family did not take the alarm. The spring of 1866 found her so feeble, that it was thought the pure and bracing air of the Green Mountains might prove beneficial in restoring her strength, but her days were numbered. On the 30th of August she died at Manchester, Vermont.

In closing our sketch of this excellent woman, we deem it due to her memory to give the testimony of two clergymen who were well acquainted with her work and character, to her eminent abilities, and her extraordinary worth. Rev. Dr. Farley, says of her:

"When I think of the amount of time, thought, anxious and pains-taking reflection, and active personal attention and effort she gave to this great work; when I recall how for nearly three years, with other weighty cares upon her, and amid failing health, she contrived to give herself so faithfully and devotedly to carrying it on, I am lost in admiration. True, she had for coadjutors a company of noble women, worthy representatives of our great and beautiful city. They represented every phase of our social and religious life; they were distinguished by all the various traits which are the growth of education and habit; they had on many subjects few views or associations in common. In one thing, indeed, they were united—the desire to serve their country in her hour of peril, by ministering to the sufferings of her heroic defenders in the field. Acting on this thought—knowing no personal distinctions where this was the prevailing sentiment—and treating all with the like courtesy—she had yet the nice tact to call into requisition for special emergencies the precise talent which was wanted, and give it its right direction. Now and then—strange if it had not been so—there would be some questioning of her proposed measures, some demur to, or reluctance to accept her suggestions; but among men, the case would be found a rare one, where a presiding officer carried so largely and uniformly, from first to last, the concurrent judgment and approval of his compeers.

"I shall always call her to mind as among the remarkable women whom I have had the good fortune to know. With no especial coveting of notoriety, she was—as one might say—in the course of nature, or rather—as I prefer to say—in the order of the Divine Providence, called to occupy very responsible positions bearing largely on the public weal; and she was not found wanting. Nay, she was found eminently fit. All admitted it. And all find, now that she has been taken to her rest, that they owe her every grateful and honored remembrance."

The Rev. W. J. Budington, D.D., who had known her activity and zeal in the various positions she had been called to fill, pays the following eloquent tribute to her memory:

"I had known Mrs. Stranahan chiefly, in common with the citizens of Brooklyn, as the head of the 'Women's Relief Association,' and thus, as the representative of the patriotism and Christian benevolence of the Ladies of Brooklyn, in that great crisis of our national history which drew forth all that was best in our countrymen and countrywomen, and nowhere more than in our own city. Most naturally—inevitably, I may say—she became the presiding officer of this most useful and efficient Association. Possessed naturally of a strong mind, clear in her perceptions, and logical in her courses of thought, she had, at the outset of the struggle, the most decided convictions of duty, and entered into the work of national conservation with a heartiness and self-devotion, which, in a younger person, would have been called enthusiasm, but which in her case was only the measure of an enlightened Christianity and patriotism. She toiled untiringly, in season and out of season, when others flagged, she supplied the lack by giving more time, and redoubling her exertions; as the war wore wearily on, and disasters came, enfeebling some, and confounding others, she rose to sublimer efforts, and supplied the ranks of the true and faithful who gathered round her, with the proper watchwords and fresh resources. I both admired and wondered at her in this regard; and when success came, crowning the labors and sacrifices of our people, her soul was less filled with mere exultation than with sober thoughtfulness as to what still remained to be done. * * * *

"I regard Mrs. Stranahan as one of the most extraordinary of that galaxy of women, whom the night of our country's sorrow disclosed, and whose light will shine forever in the land they have done their part—I dare not say, how great a part—to save."

We should do gross injustice to this efficient Association, if we neglected to give credit to its other officers, for their faithfulness and persevering energy during the whole period of its existence. Especially should the services of its patient and hard-working Corresponding Secretary, Miss Kate E. Waterbury, be acknowledged. Next to the president, she was its most efficient officer, ever at her post, and performing her duties with a thoroughness and heartiness which called forth the admiration of all who witnessed her zeal and devotion. Miss Perkins, the faithful agent in charge of the depot of supplies and rooms of the Association, was also a quiet and persevering toiler for the promotion of its great objects.



LADIES' UNION RELIEF ASSOCIATIONS OF BALTIMORE.

Amidst the malign influences of secession and treason, entire and unqualified devotion to the Union, shone with additional brightness from its contrast with surrounding darkness. In all portions of the South were found examples of this patriotic devotion, and nowhere did it display itself more nobly than in the distracted city of Baltimore. The Union people were near enough to the North with its patriotic sentiment, and sufficiently protected by the presence of Union soldiery, to be able to act with the freedom and spontaneity denied to their compatriots of the extreme South, and they did act nobly for the cause of their country and its defenders.

Among the ladies of Baltimore, few were more constantly or conspicuously employed, for the benefit of sufferers from the war, than MRS. ELIZABETH M. STREETER. With the modesty that almost invariably accompanies great devotion and singleness of purpose she sought no public notice; but in the case of one so actively employed in good works, it was impossible to avoid it.

More than one of the Associations of Ladies formed in Baltimore for the relief of soldiers, of their families, and of refugees from secession, owes its inception, organization, and successful career to the mind and energies of Mrs. Streeter. It may truly be said of her that she has refused no work which her hands could find to accomplish.

Mrs. Streeter was the wife of the late Hon. S. F. Streeter, Esq., a well-known citizen of Baltimore, a member of the city Government during the war, an active Union man, devoted to the cause of his country and her defenders as indefatigably as his admirable wife. Working in various organizations, he was made an almoner of the city funds bestowed upon the families of soldiers, and upon hospitals, and afterwards appointed in conjunction with George R. Dodge, Esq., to distribute the appropriation of the State, for the families of Maryland soldiers. Thus the two were continually working side by side, or in separate spheres of labor, for the same cause, all through the dark days of the rebellion.

Mrs. Streeter was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, her ancestors, the Jacksons, having been among the original settlers of the old Colony, and she has doubtless inherited the ancestral love of freedom. For thirty years she has been a resident of Baltimore.

On the 16th of October, 1861, she originated the Ladies' Union Relief Association, of Baltimore, and in connection with other zealous loyal ladies, carried on its operations for more than a year with great success. From this as a center, sprang other similar associations in different parts of the city, and connected with the various hospitals.

After the battle of Antietam, Mrs. Streeter, with Mrs. Pancoast, a most energetic member of the Association, spent some time on the field dispensing supplies, and attending to the wants of the wounded, suffering and dying.

Exhausted by her labors and responsibilities, at the end of a year, Mrs. Streeter resigned her official connection with the Ladies' Relief Association, and after a brief period of repose, she devoted herself to personal visitation of the hospitals, dispensing needed comforts and delicacies, and endeavoring by conversation with the inmates to cheer them, stimulate their patriotism, and to make their situation in all respects, more comfortable.

Subsequently, she connected herself with the hospital attached to the Union Relief Association, located at 120 South Eutaw Street, Baltimore. Up to the time of the discontinuance of the work of the Association, she gave it her daily attendance, and added largely to its resources by way of supplies.

At this time, Baltimore was thronged by the families of refugees, who were rendered insecure in their homes by the fact of their entertaining Union sentiments, or homeless, by some of the bands of marauders which followed the advance of the Confederate troops when they invaded Maryland, or, who perhaps, living unfortunately in the very track of the conflicting armies, found themselves driven from their burning homesteads, and devastated fields, victims of a wanton soldiery. Destitute, ragged and shelterless, their condition appealed with peculiar force to the friends of the Union. State aid was by no means sufficient, and unorganized charity unavailable to any great extent.

Mrs. Streeter was one of the first to see the need of systematic assistance for this class. On the 16th of November, 1863, the result of her interest was seen in the organization of the "Ladies' Aid Society, for the Relief of Soldiers' Families," which included in its efforts the relief of all destitute female refugees. A house was taken more particularly to accommodate these last, and the Association, which consisted of twenty-five ladies, proceeded to visit the families of soldiers and refugees in person, inquiring into their needs, and dispensing money, food, clothing, shoes, fuel, etc., as required. Over twelve hundred families were thus visited and relieved, in addition to the inmates of the Home. For this purpose they received from the city and various associations about seven thousand dollars, and a large amount from private contributions. In this and kindred work, Mrs. Streeter was engaged till the close of the war.

The second report of the Maryland Committee of the Christian Commission thus speaks of the services of the devoted women who proceeded to the field after the battle of Antietam, and there ministered to the wants of the suffering and wounded soldiers.

"Attendance in the hospitals upon the wounded at Antietam, was required for several months after the battle. Services and supplies were furnished by the Committee, principally through the agency of the ladies of the Relief Associations, to whom the Committee acknowledge its indebtedness for important and necessary labors, which none but themselves could so well perform. The hospitals were located near the battle-field, and the adjacent towns, and in Baltimore and Frederick cities. Connected with each of them there was a band of faithful and devoted women, who waited about the beds of the suffering objects of their concern, and ministered to their relief and comfort during the hours of their affliction. Through the months of September, October, and November, these messengers of mercy labored among the wounded of Antietam, and were successful in saving the lives of hundreds of the badly wounded. They had not yet cleared the hospitals, when other battles added to their number, and made new drafts for services, which were promptly and cheerfully rendered."

Many times the Committee take occasion to mention the valuable services of the loyal ladies of Baltimore, and the services of Mrs. Streeter are specially noticed in the third report in connection with the Invalid Camp Hospital located at the boundary of the city and county of Baltimore in the vicinity of Northern Avenue.

"The services to this camp, usually performed by ladies, were under the supervision of Mrs. S. F. Streeter, who visited the grounds daily, on several occasions several times a day. The Secretary of the Committee has frequently met Mrs. Streeter on her errand of benevolence, conveying to the sufferers the delicacies she had prepared. Her active and faithful services were continued until the breaking up of the camp."

The ladies of Baltimore worked in connection with the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, both of which organizations take occasion frequently to acknowledge their services.

Late in 1864, Mrs. Streeter was called to deep affliction. Her noble-hearted and patriotic husband, who had been as active as herself in all enterprises for the welfare of the soldiers, and the promotion of the cause for which the war was undertaken, was suddenly taken from her, falling a victim to fever contracted in his ministrations to the sick and wounded of the Army of the Potomac, and the home and city where his presence had been to her a joy and delight, became, since he was gone too full of gloom and sorrow to be borne. Mrs. Streeter returned to her New England home in the hope of finding there some relief from the grief which overwhelmed her spirit.

Two other ladies of Baltimore, and doubtless many more, deserve especial mention in this connection, Miss TYSON, and Mrs. BECK. Active and efficient members of the Ladies' Relief Association of that city, they were also active and eminently useful in the field and general hospitals. To the hospital work they seem both to have been called by Mrs. John Harris, who to her other good qualities added that of recognizing instinctively, the women who could be made useful in the work in which she was engaged.

Miss Tyson was with Mrs. Harris at French's Division Hospital, after Antietam, and subsequently at Smoketown General Hospital, and after six or eight weeks of labor there, was attacked with typhoid fever. Her illness was protracted, but she finally recovered and resumed her work, going with Mrs. Harris to the West, and during most of the year 1864, was in charge of the Low Diet Department of the large hospital on Lookout Mountain. Few ladies equalled her in skill in the preparation of suitable food and delicacies for those who needed special diet. Miss Tyson was a faithful, indefatigable worker, and not only gave her services to the hospitals, but expended largely of her own means for the soldiers. She was always, however, disposed to shrink from any mention of her work, and we are compelled to content ourselves with this brief mention of her great usefulness.

Mrs. Beck was also a faithful and laborious aide to Mrs. Harris, at Falmouth, and afterwards at the West. She was, we believe, a native of Philadelphia, though residing in Baltimore. Her earnestness and patience in many very trying circumstances, elicited the admiration of all who knew her. She was an excellent singer, and when she sang in the hospitals some of the popular hymns, the words and melody would often awaken an interest in the heart of the soldier for a better life.



MRS. C. T. FENN.

Berkshire County, Massachusetts, has long been noted as the birth-place of many men and women distinguished in the higher ranks of the best phases of American life, literature, law, science, art, philosophy, as well as religion, philanthropy, and the industrial and commercial progress of our country have all been brilliantly illustrated and powerfully aided by those who drew their first breath, and had their earliest home among the green hills and lovely valleys of Berkshire. Bryant gained the inspiration of his poems—sweet, tender, refined, elevating—from its charming scenery; and from amidst the same scenes Miss Sedgwick gathered up the quiet romance of country life, often as deep as silent, and wove it into those delightful tales which were the joy of our youthful hearts.

The men of Berkshire are brave and strong, its women fair and noble. Its mountains are the green altars upon which they kindled the fires of their patriotism. And these fires brightened a continent, and made glad the heart of a nation.

Berkshire had gained the prestige of its patriotism in two wars, and at the sound of the signal gun of the rebellion its sons—"brave sons of noble sires"—young men, and middle-aged, and boys, sprang to arms. Its regiments were among the first to answer the call of the country and to offer themselves for its defense. Let Ball's Bluff and the Wilderness, the Chickahominy, and the deadly swamps and bayous of the Southwest, tell to the listening world the story of their bravery, their endurance and their sacrifices.

But these men who went forth to fight left behind them, in their homes, hearts as brave and strong as their own. If Berkshire has a proud record of the battle-field, not less proud is that which might be written of her home work. Its women first gave their best beloved to the defense of the country, and then, in their desolate homes, all through the slow length of those horrible, sometimes hopeless years, by labor and sacrifice, by thought and care, they gave themselves to the more silent but not less noble work of supplying the needs and ministering to the comforts of the sick and wounded soldiery.

Foremost among these noble women, as the almoner of their bounty, and the organizer of their efforts, stands the subject of this sketch, Mrs. C. T. Fenn, of Pittsfield, whose devotion to the work during the entire war was unintermitted and untiring.

Mrs. Fenn, whose maiden name was Dickinson, was born in Pittsfield just before the close of the last century, and with the exception of a brief residence in Boston, has passed her entire life there. Her husband, Deacon Curtis T. Fenn, an excellent citizen, and enterprising man of business, in his "haste to be rich," was at one time tempted to venture largely, and became bound for others. The result was a failure, and a removal to Boston with the idea of retrieving his fortunes in new scenes. Here his only son, a promising young man of twenty-two years, fell ill, and with the hope of arresting his disease, and if possible saving his precious life, his parents returned to his native place, giving up their flattering prospects in the metropolis. It was in vain, however—in a few months the insidious disease, always so fatal in New England, claimed its victim, and they were bereaved in their dearest hopes.

This affliction did not change, but perhaps intensified, the character of Mrs. Fenn. She was now called to endure labor, and to make many sacrifices, while her husband was slowly winning his way back to competence. But ever full of kindness and sympathy, she devoted her time more unsparingly to doing good. Her name became a synonym for spontaneous benevolence in her native town. By the bed-sides of the sick and dying, in the home of poverty, and the haunts of disease, where sin, and sorrow and suffering, that trinity of human woe are ever to be found, she became a welcome and revered visitant. All sought her in trouble, and she withheld not counsel nor aid in any hour of need, nor from any who claimed them.

This was the prestige with which she was surrounded at the opening of the war, and her warm heart, as well as her patriotic instincts were at once ready for any work of kindness or aid it should develop. The following extract from the Berkshire County Eagle, of May, 1862, tells better than we can of the estimation in which she was held in her native town.

"Mrs. Fenn, as most of our Pittsfield readers know, has been for many years the kind and familiar friend of the sick and suffering. Familiar with its shades, her step in the sick chamber has been as welcome and as beneficial as that of the physician. When the ladies were appealed to for aid for our soldiers suffering from wounds or disease, she entered into the work with her whole soul and devoted all her time and the skill learned in years of attendance on the sick to the new necessities. Possessing the entire confidence of our citizens, and appealing to them personally and assiduously, she was met by generous and well selected contributions which we have, from time to time, chronicled. In her duties at the work room, in preparing the material contributed, she has had constant and reliable assistance, but very much less than was needed, a defect which we hope will be remedied. Surely many of our ladies have leisure to relieve her of a portion of her work, and we trust that some of our patriotic boys will give their aid, for we learn that even such duties as the sweeping of the rooms devolve upon her.

"Knowing that Mrs. Fenn's entire time had been occupied for months in this great and good cause, and that all her time was not adequate to the manifold duties imposed upon her, we were somewhat surprised to see a letter addressed to her in print a few weeks since, complimenting her upon her efforts for the soldiers and asking her to give her aid in collecting hospital stores for the clinic at the Medical College. Surely thought we, there ought to be more than one Dorcas in Pittsfield. Indeed, it occurred to us that there were ladies here who, however repugnant to aid the soldiers of the North, could, without violence to their feelings so far as the object is concerned, gracefully employ a share of their elegant leisure in the service of the Medical College. But Mrs. Fenn did not refuse the new call, and having let her charity begin at home with those who are dearest and nearest to our hearts, our country's soldiers, expanded it to embrace those whose claim is also imperative, the poor whom we have always with us, and made large collections for the patients of the clinic.

"We have thus briefly sketched the services of this noble woman, partly in justice to her, but principally as an incentive to others."

Very early in the war, a meeting of the ladies of Pittsfield was called with the intention of organizing the services, so enthusiastically proffered on all hands, for the benefit of the soldiers. It was quite numerously attended, and the interest and feeling was evidently intense. But they failed to organize anything beyond a temporary association. All wanted to work, but none to lead. All looked to Mrs. Fenn as head and leader, while she was more desirous of being hand and follower. No constitution was adopted, nor officers elected. But as the general expression of feeling seemed to be that all should be left in the hands of Mrs. Fenn, the meeting adjourned with a tacit understanding to that effect.

And so it remained until the close of the work. Mrs. Fenn continued to be the life and soul of the movement, and there was never any organization. In answer to her appeals, the people of Pittsfield, of many towns in Berkshire, as well as numbers of the adjoining towns in the State of New York, forwarded to her their various and liberal contributions. She hired rooms in one of the business blocks, where the ladies were invited to meet daily for the purpose of preparing clothing, lint, and bandages, and where all articles and money were to be sent.

Such was the confidence and respect of the people, that they freely placed in her hands all these gifts, without stint or fear. She received and disbursed large sums of money and valuable stores of all kinds, and to the last occupied this responsible position without murmur or distrust on the part of any, only from time to time acknowledging her receipts through the public prints.

Pittsfield is a wealthy town, with large manufacturing interests, and Mrs. Fenn was well sustained and aided in all her efforts, by valuable contributions. She received also the most devoted and efficient assistance from numerous ladies. Among these may be named, Mrs. Barnard, Mrs. Oliver, during the whole time, Mrs. Brewster, Mrs. Dodge, Mrs. Pomeroy, and many others, either constantly or at all practicable periods. Young ladies, reared in luxury, and unaccustomed to perform any laborious services in their own homes, would at the Sanitary Rooms sew swiftly upon the coarsest work, and shrink from no toil. A few of this class, during the second winter of the war manufactured thirty-one pairs of soldiers' trowsers, and about fifty warm circular capes from remnants of heavy cloth contributed for this use by Robert Pomeroy, Esq., a wealthy manufacturer of Pittsfield. The stockings, mittens of yarn and cloth, and hospital clothing of every variety, are too numerous to be mentioned.

Meanwhile supplies of every kind and description poured in. All of these Mrs. Fenn received, acknowledged, collected many of them by her own personal efforts, and then with her own hands arranged, packed, and forwarded them. During the war more than nine thousand five hundred dollars' worth of supplies thus passed directly through her hands, and of these nothing save one barrel of apples at David's Island, was ever lost.

During the entire four years of the war, she devoted three days of the week to this work, often all the days. But these three she called the "soldiers' days," and caused it to be known among her friends that this was not her time, and could not be devoted to personal work or pleasure.

The Sanitary Rooms were more than half a mile distant from her own home. But on all these mornings, immediately after breakfast, she proceeded to them, on foot, (for she kept no carriage), carrying with her, her lunch, and at mid-day, making herself that old lady's solace, a cup of tea, and remaining as long as she could see; busily at work, receiving letters, supplies, acknowledging the same, packing and unpacking, buying needed articles, cutting out and preparing work, and answering the numerous and varied calls upon her time. After the fatiguing labors of such a day, she would again return to her home on foot, unless, as was very frequently the case, some friend took her up in the street, or was thoughtful enough to come and fetch her in carriage or sleigh. When we reflect that these tasks were undertaken in all weathers, and at all seasons, by a lady past her sixtieth year, during so long a period, we are astonished at learning that her health was never seriously injured, and that she was able to perform all her duties with comfort, and without yielding to fatigue.

In addition to these labors, she devoted much time and personal attention to such sick and wounded soldiers as fell in her way cheered and aided many a raw recruit, faltering on the threshhold of his new and dangerous career. Twice, at least, in each year, she herself proceeded to the hospitals at New York, or some other point, herself the bearer of the bounties she had arranged, and in some years she made more frequent visits.

Early in her efforts, she joined hands with Mrs. Col. G. T. M. Davis, of New York, (herself a native of Pittsfield, and a sister of Robert Pomeroy, Esq., of that place), in the large and abundant efforts of that lady, for the welfare of the sick and wounded soldiers. Mrs. Davis was a member of the Park Barracks' Ladies' Aid Society, and through her a large part of the bounty of Berkshire was directed in that channel. The sick and weary, and fainting men at the Barracks, at the New England Rooms, and Bedloe's Island, were principally aided by this Association, which were not long in discovering the great value of the nicely selected, arranged and packed articles contained in the boxes which had passed through the hands of Mrs. Fenn, and came from Pittsfield.