Nurse Mary (Ball) Bickerdyke served in the United States Civil War. Enlisted: Jun 09, 1861 Mustered out: Mar 20, 1865 Side: USA
Mary volunteered as a nurse, established around 300 hospitals, and cared for thousands of soldiers in the US Civil War who affectionately called her "Mother". Honored for eternity: In Memoriam
Mary (Ball) Bickerdyke was a resident of and interred in Illinois.
Mary Ann Ball was born on 19 July 1817 in Ohio, the daughter of Hiram Ball and Elizabeth Gatton. She married Robert Bickerdyke on 27 April 1847 near Cincinnati, Ohio. Her husband, Robert, passed in 1859, and the 1860 US Census shows her living as a widow in Illinois with three children, all attending school that year:
Census Image[1]
Household
Role
Sex
Age
Birthplace
Mary A Bickerdike
Head/ Nurse
F
42
N Y
Mary Bickerdike
Daughter/ Student
F
17
Ohio
James Bickerdike
Son
M
10
Ohio
Hiram Bickerdike
Son
M
7
Ohio
Dr Benjamin R Woodward, the surgeon of the 22nd Illinois Infantry, wrote a letter which was read prior to the sermon at a Galesburg, IL church and this letter inspired the citizens to collect medical supplies for the benefit of soldiers wounded during the US Civil War. As no one else was willing to deliver the supplies, Mary Bickerdyke volunteered to escort the supplies to the US Army hospital in Cairo, Illinois 350 miles south. This was the beginning of Mary Bickerdyke's association with the soldiers under the commands of Gen. U. S. Grant and Gen. W. T. Sherman.
She became known as "Mother" Bickerdyke to the soldiers she cared for. Mother Bickerdyke put forth a great effort improving sanitation, billeting, nourishment, clothing, battlefield evacuation, and the stockpiling of supplies to benefit of the wounded and is credited with establishing 300 hospitals during the course of the war. While in Cairo, Mother Bickerdyke worked with Mary J Safford who was known as the "Angel of Cairo" and both women's efforts were supported by Mary Livermore's work with the United States Sanitary Commission.
Marjorie Barstow Greebie writes in her book, Lincoln's Daughters of Mercy page 119...
"Mrs. Bickerdyke is a large heavy woman of forty-five, strong as a man," reported one army surgeon. "Muscles of iron, nerves of steel, sensitive but self-reliant, kind, and tender, seeking all for others, nothing for herself."
Like most of the first great army nurses, she made herself the special guardian of the private soldier, protecting him against careless army surgeons, rascally quartermasters, and selfish officers. As Grant's offensive in the West progressed, she acquired such authority that she was often called "General Bickerdyke."
After the war she worked with soldiers helping them apply for the pensions they had earned during their service. Later in life, she moved into the home of her son James in Kansas and passed away on 8 Nov 1901 in Kansas.
Her remains were transported to Galesburg and she was interred in the Linwood Cemetery, Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois. Find A Grave: Memorial #5416238[2]
And again Greenbie page 202...
Asked to write her own record, she wrote simply: "I served in our Civil War from June 9, 1861, to March 20, 1865. I was in nineteen hard fought battles in the departments of the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland armies. I did the work of one, and I tried to do it well."
↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 14 January 2021), memorial page for Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke (19 Jul 1817–8 Nov 1901), Find a Grave Memorial no. 5416238, citing Linwood Cemetery, Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
"Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XD2B-DF8 : 26 August 2019), Robert Bickerdyke and Mary Ann Ball, 27 Apr 1847; citing Marriage, Hamilton, Ohio, United States, v A 17 p 350 cn 697, Franklin County Genealogical & Historical Society, Columbus; FHL microfilm.
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMYK-SJ8 : accessed 20 February 2020), Mary A Bickerdyke in household of James Bickerdyke, Center Township Bunkerhill city, Russell, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 149, sheet 2A, family 35, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,498.
"Illinois Soldier Burial Places, 1774-1974," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVYM-T4Z3 : 10 September 2019), Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke, ; citing Burial, Galesburg, Knox, Illinois, United States, Linwood Cemetery, Illinois State Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1,001,184.
Greenbie, Marjorie Latta Barstow, Lincoln's Daughters of Mercy, New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1944
Acknowledgement
Living very near the bronze statue honoring this dedicated nurse and the inspiration of researching nurses in the Civil War, thank you to Warren Kuntz for this glorious image.
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