576

THE NOBLE WORK OF A WOMAN.

recognizing the ability and energy of Miss D. L. Dix in her arrangements for the comfort and welfare of the sick soldiers in the present exigency," requested all women who offered their services as nurses to report to her. Like an angel of mercy, this self-sacrificing woman labored day and night throughout the entire war for the relief of the suffering soldiers, without expecting or receiving any pecuniary reward. She went from battle-field to battle-field, when the carnage was over; from camp to camp; and from hospital to hospital, superintending the operations of the nurses, and administering with her own hands physical comforts to the suffering, and soothing the troubled spirits of the invalid or dying soldier with a voice low, musical, and attractive, and always burdened with words of heart-felt sympathy and religious consolation. The amount of happiness that resulted from the services of this woman (of delicate frame, which seemed to be incapable of enduring the physical labor required of it, can never be estimated. The true record is only in the great Book of Remembrance. Yet she was not the only sister of charity engaged in works of mercy. She had hundreds of devoted, earnest, self-sacrificing co-workers of the gentler sex all over the land, serving with equal zeal in the camps and hospitals of the National and Confederate armies; and no greater heroism was displayed by soldiers in the field than was exhibited by these American women everywhere.

a 1861.

Working in grand harmony with those more extended organizations for the relief of the soldiers, were houses of refreshment and temporary hospital accommodations furnished by the citizens of Philadelphia. That city lay in the channel of the great stream of volunteers from New England, New York, and New Jersey, that commenced flowing abundantly early in May. These soldiers, crossing New Jersey, and the Delaware River at Camden, were landed at the foot of Washington Avenue, where, wearied and hungry, they often vainly sought for sufficient refreshments in the bakeries and groceries in the neighborhood before entering the cars for Washington City. One morning, the wife of a mechanic living near, commiserating the situation of some soldiers who had just arrived, went out with her coffee-pot and a cup, and distributed its contents among them. That generous hint was the germ of a wonderful system of relief for the passing soldiers, which was immediately developed in that city. Some benevolent women, living in the vicinity of this landing-place of the volunteers, imitated their patriotic sister, and a few of them formed themselves into a Committee' for the regular distribution of coffee on the arrival of soldiers. Gentlemen in the neighborhood interested themselves in procuring other supplies, and for a few days these were dispensed under the shade of trees in front of the cooper-shop of William M. Cooper, on Otsego Street, free services of Miss D. L. Dix are accepted by the War Department, and that she will give, at all times, all necessary aid in organizing military hospitals for the care of all the sick or wounded soldiers, aiding the chief surgeons by supplying nurses, and substantial means for the comfort and relief of the suffering; also, that she is fully authorized to receive, control, and disburse special supplies bestowed by individuals or associations for the comfort of their friends or the citizen soldiers from all parts of the United States." Dated April 23, 141, and signed SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War.

On the 4th of May, Miss Dix issued a circular letter to the large number of women who were offering their services as nurses, giving them information and directions, and then commenced her beneficent labors with great assiduity.

1 This Committee was composed of Mrs. William M. Cooper, Mrs. Grace Nickles, Mrs. Sarah Ewing, Mrs. Elizabeth Vansdale, Mrs. Catharine Vansdale, Mrs. Jane Coward, Mrs. Susan Turner, Mrs. Sarah Mellen, Mrs. Catharine Alexander, Mrs. Mary Plant, and Mrs. Captain Watson.

PHILADELPHIA REFRESHMENT SALOONS.

577

near Washington Avenue. Then this shop-generously offered for the purpose by Mr. Cooper-was used for refreshing the soldiers; and very soon whole regiments were fed there at tables supplied by the contributions of citizens of Philadelphia, and waited upon by the wives and daughters of those in the neighborhood. The first of the entire regiments so supplied was Colonel Blenker's (German Rifles), more than a thousand strong, who partook of a coffee breakfast there on the morning of the 27th of May.

The cooper-shop was not spacious enough to accommodate the daily increasing number of soldiers, and another place of refreshments was opened on the corner of Washington Avenue and Sansom Street, in a building formerly used as a boat-house and riggers' loft. Two Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Committees were formed, and known respectively as the "CooperShop" and the "Union." The former was organized on the 26th and theThey worked in harmony and generous rivalry,

latter on the 27th of May.

1 The following were the Officers and Managers of the two Associations, respectively:THE COOPER-SHOP.-President, William M. Cooper; Vice-President, C. V. Fort; Recording Secretary, Wm. M. Maull; Corresponding Secretary, E. S. Hall; Treasurer, Adam M. Simpson; Storekeeper, Sam. W. Nickles; Hospital Committee, Philip Fitzpatrick, R. G. Simpson, L. W. Thornton; General Committee, Henry W. Pearce, Wm. H. Dennis, George M. Flick, R. H. Ransley, Captain R. J. Hoffner, H. H. Webb, Fitzpatrick Horety, Jacob Plant, Henry Dubosq, L. W. Thornton, R. G. Simpson, Wm, Sprole, J. Coward.

THE UNION.-Chairman, Arad Barrows; Recording Secretary, J. B. Wade; Treasurer, B. S. Brown; Steward, J. T. Williams; Physician, E. Ward.

Committee of Gentlemen.-Arad Barrows, Bazilla S. Brown, Joseph B. Wade, Isaac B. Smith, Sr.. Erasmus W. Cooper, Job T. Williams, John W. Hicks, George Flomerfelt, John Krider, Sr., Isaac B. Smith, Jr., Charles B. Grieves, James McGlathery, John B. Smith, Curtis Myers, Dr. Eliab Ward, Chris. Powell, Captain W. S. Mason, Charles S. Clampitt, Leopold M. J. Lemmens, D. L. Flanagan, Richard Sharp, Charles H. Kingston, Robert R. Corson.

Committee of Ladies.-Mrs. Mary Grover, Mrs. Hannah Smith, Mrs. Priscilla Grover, Miss Sarah Holland, Mrs. Margaret Boyer, Mrs. Eliza J. Smith, Mrs. Anna Elkinton, Mrs. Ellen B. Barrows, Mrs. Mary L. Field, Mrs. Ellen J. Lowry, Mrs. Martha V. R. Ward, Mrs. Eliza Plumer, Mrs. Emily Mason, Mrs. Mary Green, Miss Catharine Baily, Mrs. Eliza Helmbold, Miss Amanda Lee, Mrs Elizabeth Horton, Mrs. Sarah Femington, Mrs. Kate B. Anderson, Miss Anna Grover, Miss Martha B. Krider, Miss Annie Field, Miss Mary Grover. Mrs. Mary A. Cassedy.

VOL. I.-37.

578

THE FIREMEN'S AMBULANCE SYSTEM.

all through the period of the war, in doing good. Both saloons were enlarged as necessity required, and both had temporary hospitals attached to them. To the immortal honor of the citizens of Philadelphia it must be recorded, that they liberally supplied these saloons with ample materials to give a bountiful meal, during the four years of the war, to almost twelve hundred thousand Union soldiers. In the Union Volunteer Saloon, alone, seven hundred and fifty thousand soldiers were fed; forty thousand were accommodated with a night's lodging; fifteen thousand refugees and freed

defenders of the Union, deserve the choicest blessings their country can bestow. At all hours of the day and night, these self-sacrificing heroines, when a little signal-gun, employed for the purpose,' announced the approach of a regiment or a company, would repair to the salcons, and, with the greatest cheerfulness, dispense the generous bounties of their fellow-citizens. These saloons, in which such an abounding work of love and patriotism had been displayed, were formally closed in August, 1865, when the sunlight of Peace was reilluminating the land, and the Flag of the Republic

"That floating piece of poetry,"

as Dr. Francis Lieber so appropriately called it in his song, "Our Country and Flag," was waving, unmolested, over every acre of its domain.

Philadelphia was also honored by another organization for the good of the volunteers, known as the Firemen's Ambulance System, which was wholly the work of the firemen of that city, who also contributed largely from their body to the ranks of the Union army. When sick and wounded

1 This little cannon, made of iron, has a notable history. It was cast at the Armory in Springfield, Massa

chusetts, and was a part of the ordnance in the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande, in 1846, where it was captured, placed on a Mexican privateer, and, while on duty in the Gulf of Mexico, was recaptured by a United States cruiser. It was finally lodged, for a while, in the Navy Yard at Philadelphia, and then put on board of the receiving-ship Union, which was scuttled by ice one night, and went to the bottom. It was afterward raised, and when the rebellion broke out, was sent down on service to Perryville, while the secessionists held Baltimore. Soon after its return to Philadelphia, it was mounted on a clumsy carriage captured in the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, at Vera Cruz, in 1847, and placed at the disposal of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Committee, as a signal-gun for the purpose mentioned in the text.

SIGNAL CANNON.

THE UNION ARMY NEAR WASHINGTON.

579 soldiers began to be brought in transports from camps and battle-fields to Philadelphia, to be placed in the admirable military hospitals that were established there, the Medical Department found it difficult to procure proper vehicles to convey them from the wharves to their destination. Delays and inconvenient conveyances caused much distress, which the sympathetic firemen attempted to remedy. An arrangement was made for the Chief of the Department to announce the arrival of a transport by a given signal, when the firemen would turn out with wagons, and repair to the landing-place. Finally, the Northern Liberties Engine Company had a splendid ambulance constructed.

PHILADELPHIA FIREMEN'S AMBULANCE.

More than thirty other engine and hose companies followed its example, and the suffering soldiers were conveyed from ship to hospital with the greatest tenderness. These ambulances cost, in the aggregate, over thirty thousand dollars, all of which sum was contributed by the firemen. They also gave their personal services freely, unmindful of their private interests. The number of disabled soldiers who were conveyed in these ambulances, during the period of the war, was estimated at more than one hundred and twenty thousand. Without disparagement to other cities (for all did noble work), it may, with propriety, be said, that in labors of genuine benevolence and generous giving for the comfort of the soldiers of the great Union Army, the citizens of Philadelphia stand peerless.

war.

While the people at home were working with unceasing diligence for the comfort of the soldiers, and were contributing the means for making the contest, as the President desired it to be, "short and decisive," those soldiers were eager for action. A large portion of those near the Potomac had enlisted for only three months, and their terms would expire before the close of July. They were anxious to move against the insurgents at Manassas, and to win the victory which they felt certain of achieving. It was important that such movement should be made, for various reasons, before the regiments of early volunteers should be dissolved. These volunteers would be so disheartened by the inglorious and almost inactive campaign in which they had been engaged, that they would be tardy in volunteering for the Those who might fill their places would be almost wholly ignorant of discipline and the rudiments of the military art which the first had acquired; and in the confusion incident to the substitution of new recruits for the three-months' men, the well-organized and well-officered insurgents might, by a sudden and concentrated movement, overwhelm the Union forces, seize the Capital, and, with the prestige thus obtained, secure for the Confederacy the recognition of its independence by foreign governments. This real danger was before the mind of the people and their representatives, and intensified the cry of" Forward to Richmond!" while the earlier troops had yet some time to serve. That cry found a sympathetic response in the Army and in Congress; and at the middle of July, the General-in-chief gave orders for a forward movement upon the foe at Manassas. An earlier

580

a

PREPARATIONS FOR A FORWARD MOVEMENT.

day had been fixed upon for the beginning of the movement, but the new regiments came in so slowly that it was not deemed safe to break camp before the 15th.

a July 8, 1861.

Lieutenant-General Scott was too infirm to take command of the Army in the field. He was afflicted with dropsy and vertigo; and for four months he had not been able to mount a horse. He chose Brigadier-General Irvin McDowell for that responsible posi

1834.

May 27,
1861.

tion. That officer was a native of Ohio; a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point; an excellent soldier, who had seen service under General Wool, in Mexico, and was then in the prime of life. He had been appointed to the command of the Department of Virginia, with his head-quarters at Arlington House, as we have observed; aud for several weeks he had been actively engaged in the reception of materials for, and the organization of, what was afterward known as the Army of the Potomac. This work was but imperfectly accomplished, when public opinion bore upon the authorities with such fearful pressure, that the Army, such as it was, was moved forward, with McDowell as its chief.

IRVIN M'DOWELL.

The relative position of the forces now to be brought into contact, each

1 See page 485.

2 The people who were shouting "Forward to Richmond had no conception of the time and labor required to organize, equip, and provide for the feeding of an army

sufficient for the emergency. When the war broke out, the preparations for it by the Government, as we have observed, were very meager. Every thing had to be provided-created, as it were-with inadequate means for doing the work. The armories and the armorers were few. The materials for making cannon and small-arms and munitions of war had to be collected. Agents had been sent to Europe to purchase arms for use until they could be manufactured at home. None of these had yet arrived; and the only ordnance that had crossed the ocean, for use by the National troops, was a battery of six Whitworth cannon, which were sent over and presented to the Government by loyal Americans residing in England. They were 12pounders, and each bore the inscription:-" FROM LOYAL AMERICANS IN EUROPE TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, 1861." The funds for their purchase were collected chiefly by R. G. Moulton, then residing in Manchester, England. The cost of the six guns, including the freight, was twelve thousand dollars. They were purchased of the Whitworth Ordnance Company of Manchester. They were each nine feet long, and were loaded at the breech; ane the weight of each was eleven hundred pounds. The bore was three inches, and rifled, and the ball was a double cone of iron, nine inches long. The charge required to throw the ball five miles was two pounds and one-half of powder.

WHITWORTII CANNON.

In addition to a lack of arms was a want of means for transportation. The men who fight must be fed; and it required seven hundred and fifty wagons, three thousand horses, and almost a thousand teamsters, to carry provisions, tents, intrenching tools, et cætera, for an army of fifty thousand men, such as was ordered to engage in the business of going forward to Richmond. These wagons had to be made, and the horses purchased, and the teamsters engaged, before that army could move efficiently, for it was going into an enemy's country. Only about ten weeks had been allowed for these preparations to be made, when "Forward to Richmond !" was the war-cry of the people.