Woman's Work in the Civil War Part 51

In the fall of 1864, she had a similar pleasure in contributing to the dinner at David's Island, where several thousand sick and wounded soldiers, (both white and colored) returned prisoners, and freedmen were gathered, fourteen boxes and parcels of similar luxuries. Various accidents combined to prevent her arrival in time, and her good things were consequently in part too late for the dinner. There was fortunately a plenty beside, and the Berkshire's contribution was reserved for the feast of welcome to the poor starved wrecks so soon to come home from the privations and cruelties of Andersonville.

Mrs. Fenn however enjoyed the occasion to the fullest, and was welcomed with such joy and grat.i.tude, by the men who had so often shared the good things she had sent to the hospitals, as more than repaid her for all her labors and sacrifices. Many thousands of all cla.s.ses, sick and wounded convalescents, and returned prisoners, white and colored troops, were then gathered there, and on the last day of her stay, Mrs. Fenn enjoyed the pleasure of personally distributing to each individual in that vast collection of suffering men, some little gift from the stores she had brought. Fruit, (apples, or some foreign fruit), cakes, a delicacy for the failing appet.i.te, stores of stationery, contributed by the liberal Berkshire manufacturers, papers, books--to each one some token of individual remembrance. And, with great gusto, she still tells how she came at last to the vast pavilion where the colored troops were stationed, and how the dusky faces brightened, and the dark eyes swam in tears, and the white teeth gleamed in smiles, half joyful, half sad; and how, after bestowing upon each some token of her visit, and receiving their enthusiastic thanks, she paused at the door, before bidding them farewell, and asked if any were there who were sorry for their freedom, regretted the price they had paid for it, or wished to return to their old masters, they should say--Aye. "The gentleman from Africa," perhaps for the first time in his life had a vote. He realized the solemnity of the moment. A dead silence fell upon the crowd, and no voice was lifted in that important affirmative. "Very well, boys," again spoke the clear, kind voice of Mrs. Fenn. "Each of you who is glad to be free, proud to be a free soldier of his country, and ready for the struggles which freedom entails, will please to say Aye." Instantly, such a shout arose, as startled the sick in their beds in the farthest pavilion. No voice was silent. An irrepressible, exultant, enthusiastic cry answered her appeal, and told how the black man appreciated the treasure won by such blood and suffering.

As has been said before, the personal labors of Mrs. Fenn were unintermitted as long as a sick or wounded soldier remained in any hospital. After all the hospitals in the neighborhood of New York were closed, except that of David's Island, months after the suspension of hostilities, she continued to be the medium of sending to the men there the contributions of Berkshire, and the supplies her appeals drew from various sources.

The United Societies of Shakers, at Lebanon and Hanc.o.c.k, furnished her with many supplies--excellent fruit, cheese, eatables of various kinds, all of the best, cloth, linen new and old, towels, napkins, etc., etc., all of their own manufacture and freely offered. The Shakers are no less decided than the Quakers in their testimony against war, but they are also, as a body, patriotic to a degree, and full of kindly feelings which thus found expression.

At one time Mrs. Fenn with a desire of saving for its legitimate purpose even the small sum paid for rent, gave up the rooms she had hired, and for more than a year devoted the best parlor of her own handsome residence to the reception of goods contributed for the soldiers.

Thousands of dollars' worth of supplies were there received and packed by her own hands.

Among other things accomplished by this indefatigable woman was the making of nearly one hundred gallons of blackberry cordial. Most of the bandages sent from Pittsfield were made by her, and so nicely, that Mrs.

Fenn's bandages became famed throughout the army and hospitals. In all, they amounted to many thousand yards. One box which accompanied Burnside's expedition, alone contained over four thousand yards of bandages, which she had prepared.

Though the bounties she so lavishly sent forth were in a very large measure devoted to the hospitals in the neighborhood of New York, to the Soldiers' Rest in Howard Street; New England Rooms, Central Park, Ladies' Home and Park Barracks, they were still diffused to all parts of the land. The Army of the Potomac, and of the Southwest, and scores of scattered companies and regiments shared them. The Ma.s.sachusetts Regiments, whether at home or abroad, were always remembered with the tenderest care, and especially was the gallant Forty-ninth, raised almost entirely in Berkshire, the object of that helpful solicitude which never wearied of well-doing.

Almost decimated by disease in the deadly bayous of the Southwest, and in the fearful conflicts at Port Hudson and its neighborhood in the summer of 1863, the remnant at length returned to Berkshire to receive such a welcome and ovation at Pittsfield, on the 22d of August of that year, as has seldom been extended to our honored soldiery. About fifty of these men were at once taken to the hospital, and long lay ill, the constant recipients of unwearied kind attentions from Mrs. Fenn and her coadjutors.

Much as we have said of the excellent and extensive work performed by this most admirable woman, s.p.a.ce fails us for the detail of the half.

Her work was so various, and so thoroughly good in every department, both head and hands were so entirely at the service of these her suffering countrymen, that it would be impossible to tell the half. The close of the war has brought her a measure of repose, but for such as she there is no rest while human beings suffer and their cry ascends for help. Her charities are large to the freedmen, and the refugees who at the present time so greatly need aid. She is also lending her efforts to the collection of the funds needful for the erection of a monument to her fallen soldiers which Pittsfield proposes to raise at an expense of several thousands of dollars contributed by the people.

At sixty-eight, Mrs. Fenn is still erect, active, and with a countenance beaming with animation and benevolence, bids fair to realize the wish which at sight of her involuntarily springs to all lips that her life may long be spared to the good words and works to which it is devoted.

She has been the recipient of several handsome testimonials from her towns-people and from abroad, and many a token of the soldier's grat.i.tude, inexpensive, but most valuable, in view of the laborious and painstaking care which formed them, has reached her hands and is placed with worthy pride among her treasures.

MRS. JAMES HARLAN.

There have been numerous instances of ladies of high social position, the wives and daughters of generals of high rank, and commanding large bodies of troops, of Governors of States, of Senators and Representatives in Congress, of Members of the Cabinet, or of other Government officials, who have felt it an honor to minister to the defenders of their country, or to aid in such ways as were possible the blessed work of relieving pain and suffering, of raising up the down-trodden, or of bringing the light of hope and intelligence back to the dull and glazed eyes of the loyal whites who escaped from cruel oppression and outrages worse than death to the Union lines. Among these will be readily recalled, Mrs. John C. Fremont, Mrs. General W. H. L.

Wallace, Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Governor Salomon, Mrs. William H. Seward, Mrs. Ira Harris, Mrs. Samuel C. Pomeroy, Mrs. L. E. Chittenden, Mrs.

John S. Phelps, and, though last named, by no means the least efficient, Mrs. James Harlan.

Mrs. Harlan is a native of Kentucky, but removed to Indiana in her childhood. Here she became acquainted with Mr. Harlan to whom she was married in 1845 or 1846. In the rapid succession of positions of honor and trust to which her husband was elevated by the people, as Superintendent of Public Instruction, President of Mount Pleasant University, United States Senator, Secretary of the Interior, and again United States Senator, Mrs. Harlan proved herself worthy of a position by his side. Possessing great energy and resolution and a highly cultivated intellect, she acquitted herself at all times with dignity and honor. When the nominal became the actual war, and great battles were fought, she was among the first to go to the b.l.o.o.d.y battle-fields and minister to the wounded and dying. After the battle of Shiloh she was one of the first ladies on the field, and her labors were incessant and accomplished great good. Her position as the wife of a distinguished senator, and her energy and decision of character were used with effect, and she was enabled to wring from General Halleck the permission previously refused to all applicants to remove the wounded to hospitals at Mound City, St. Louis, Keokuk, and elsewhere, where their chances of recovery were greatly improved. At Washington where she subsequently spent much of her time, she devoted her energies first to caring for the Iowa soldiers, but she soon came to feel that all Union soldiers were her brothers, and she ministered to all without distinction of State lines. She lost during the war a lovely and beautiful daughter, Jessie Fremont Harlan, and the love which had been bestowed upon her overflowed after her death upon the soldiers of the Union. Her faithfulness, energy, and continuous labors in behalf of the soldiers, her earnestness in protecting them from wrongs or oppression, her quick sympathy with their sorrows, and her zealous efforts for their spiritual good, will be remembered by many thousands of them all over the country. Mrs. Harlan early advocated the mingling of religious effort with the distribution of physical comforts among the soldiers, and though she herself would probably shrink from claiming, as some of her enthusiastic friends have done for her, the honor of inaugurating the movement which culminated in the organization of the Christian Commission, its plan of operations was certainly fully in accordance with her own, and she was from the beginning one of its most active and efficient supporters.

Mrs. Harlan was accompanied in many of her visits to the army by Mrs.

Almira Fales, of whom we have elsewhere given an account, and whose husband having been the first State Auditor of Iowa, was drawn to her not only by the bond of a common benevolence, but by State ties, which led them both to seek the good of the soldiers in whom both felt so deep an interest. Mrs. Harlan continued her labors for the soldiers till after the close of the war, and has been active since that time in securing for them their rights. Her health was much impaired by her protracted efforts in their behalf, and during the year 1866 she was much of the time an invalid.

NEW ENGLAND SOLDIERS' RELIEF a.s.sOCIATION.

The "New England Society," of New York City, is an a.s.sociation of long standing, for charitable and social purposes, and is composed of natives of New England, residing in New York, and its vicinity. Soon after the outbreak of the war, this society became the nucleus of a wider and less formal organization--the Sons of New England. In April, 1862, these gentlemen formed the New England Soldiers' Relief a.s.sociation, whose object was declared to be "to aid and care for all sick and wounded soldiers pa.s.sing through the city of New York, on their way to or from the war." On the 8th of April, its "Home," a building well adapted to its purposes, was opened at No. 198 Broadway, and Dr. Everett Herrick, was appointed its resident Surgeon, and Mrs. E. A. Russell, its Matron.

The Home was a hospital as well as a home, and in its second floor accommodated a very considerable number of patients. Its Matron was faithful and indefatigable in her performance of her duties, and in the three years of her service had under her care more than sixty thousand soldiers, many of them wounded or disabled.

A Women's Auxiliary Committee was formed soon after the establishment of the a.s.sociation, consisting of thirty ladies who took their turn of service as nurses for the sick and wounded through the year, and provided for them additional luxuries and delicacies to those furnished by the a.s.sociation and the Government rations. These ladies, the wives and daughters of eminent merchants, clergymen, physicians, and lawyers of the city, performed their work with great faithfulness and a.s.siduity.

The care of the sick and wounded men during the night, devolved upon the Night Watchers' a.s.sociation, a voluntary committee of young men of the highest character, who during a period of three years never failed to supply the needful watchers for the invalid soldiers.

The ladies in addition to their services as nurses, took part in a choir for the Sabbath services, in which all the exercises were by volunteers.

The Soldiers' Depot in Howard Street, New York, organized in 1863, was an inst.i.tution of somewhat similar character to the New England Soldiers' Relief, though it recognized a primary responsibility to New York soldiers. It was founded and sustained mainly by State appropriations, and a very earnest and faithful a.s.sociation of ladies, here also bestowed their care and services upon the soldiers. Mrs. G. T.

M. Davis, was active and prominent in this organization.

PART IV.

LADIES DISTINGUISHED FOR SERVICES AMONG THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.

MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.

On the 12th of October, 1808, was born in the township of Union, Washington County, Ohio, Frances Dana Barker. Her father had, twenty years before that time, gone a pioneer to the Western wilds. His name was Joseph Barker, a native of New Hampshire. Her mother was Elizabeth Dana, of Ma.s.sachusetts, and her maternal grandmother was Mary Bancroft.

She was thus allied on the maternal side to the well-known Ma.s.sachusetts families of Dana and Bancroft.

During her childhood, schools were scarce in Ohio, and in the small country places inferior. A log-cabin in the woods was the Seminary where Frances Barker acquired the rudiments of education. The wolf's howl, the panther's cry, the hiss of the copperhead, often filled her young heart with terror.

Her father was a farmer, and the stirring life of a farmer's daughter in a new country, fell to her lot. To spin the garments she wore, to make cheese and b.u.t.ter, were parts of her education, while to lend a hand at out-door labor, perhaps helped her to acquire that vigor of body and brain for which she has since been distinguished.

She made frequent visits to her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Bancroft Dana, whose home was at Belpre, Ohio, upon the Ohio river, only one mile from Parkersburg, Virginia, and opposite Blennerha.s.set's Island. Mrs. Dana, was even then a radical on the subject of slavery, and Frances learned from her to hate the word, and all it represented. She never was on the side of the oppressor, and was frequently laughed at in childhood, for her sympathy with the poor fugitives from slavery, who often found their way to the neighborhood in which she lived, seeking kindness and charity of the people.

It had not then become a crime to give a crust of bread, or a cup of milk to the "fugitive from labor," and Mrs. Barker, a n.o.ble, true-thinking woman, often sent her daughter on errands of mercy to the neighboring cabins, where the poor creatures sought shelter, and would tarry a few days, often to be caught and sent back to their masters.

Thus she early became familiarized with their sufferings, and their wants.

At the age of twenty, on the 1st of January, 1829, Frances Barker became the wife of James L. Gage, a lawyer of McConnellsville, Ohio, a good and n.o.ble man, whose hatred of the system of slavery in the South, was surpa.s.sed only by that of the great apostle of anti-slavery, Garrison, himself. Moral integrity, and unflinching fidelity to the cause of humanity, were leading traits of his character.

A family of eight children engrossed much of their attention for many years, but still they found time to wage moral warfare with the stupendous wrong that surrounded them, and bore down their friends and neighbors beneath the leaden weight of its prejudice and injustice.

Mrs. Gage records that "it never seemed to her to require any sacrifice to resist the popular will upon the subjects of freedom for the slave, temperance, or even the rights of woman." They were all so manifestly right, in her opinion, that she could not but take her stand as their advocates, and it was far easier for her to maintain them than to yield one iota of her conscientious views.

Thus she always found herself in a minority, through all the struggling years between 1832 and 1865. She had once an engagement with the editor of a "State Journal" to write weekly for his columns during a year.

This, at that time seemed to her a great achievement. But a few plain words from her upon the Fugitive Slave Law, brought a note saying her services were no longer wanted; "He would not," the editor wrote, "publish sentiments in his Journal, which, if carried out, would strike at the foundations of all law, order, and government," and added much good advice. Her reply was prompt:

"Yours of ---- is at hand. Thanking you for your unasked counsel, I cheerfully retire from your columns.

"Respectfully yours, "F. D. GAGE."

She has lived to see that editor change many of his views, and approach her standard.

The great moral struggle of the thirty years preceding the war, in her opinion, required for its continuance far more heroism than that which marshalled our hosts along the Potomac, prompted Sheridan's raids, or Sherman's triumphant "march to the sea."

In all her warfare against existing wrong, that which she waged for the liberties of her own s.e.x subjected her to the most trying persecution, insult and neglect. In the region of Ohio where she then resided, she stood almost alone, but she was never inclined to yield. Probably, unknown to herself, this very discipline was preparing her for the events of the future, and its supreme tests of her principles.