South.

All these developments Susan discussed with her father, for she
frequently came home between lectures. He was a tower of strength to
her. When she was disillusioned or when criticism and opposition were
hard to bear, his sympathy and wise counsel never failed her. There
was a strong bond of understanding and affection between them.

His sudden illness and death, late in November 1862, were a shock from
which she had to struggle desperately to recover. Her life was
suddenly empty. The farm home was desolate. She could not think of
leaving her mother and her sister Mary there all alone. Nor could she
count on help from Daniel or Merritt, both of whom were serving in the
army in the West, Daniel, as a lieutenant colonel, and Merritt as a
captain in the 7th Kansas Cavalry. For many weeks she had no heart for
anything but grief. "It seemed as if everything in the world must
stop."[146]

Not even President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued January
1, 1863, roused her. It took a letter from Henry Stanton from
Washington to make her see that there was war work for her to do. He
wrote her, "The country is rapidly going to destruction. The Army is
almost in a state of mutiny for want of its pay and lack of a leader.
Nothing can carry through but the southern Negroes, and nobody can
marshal them into the struggle except the abolitionists.... Such men
as Lovejoy, Hale, and the like have pretty much given up the struggle
in despair. You have no idea how dark the cloud is which hangs over
us.... We must not lay the flattering unction to our souls that the
proclamation will be of any use if we are beaten and have a
dissolution of the Union. Here then is work for you, Susan, put on
your armor and go forth."[147]

* * * * *

A month later, Susan went to New York for a visit with Elizabeth
Stanton, confident that if they counseled together, they could find a
way to serve their country in its hour of need.

She was well aware that all through the country women were responding
magnificently in this crisis, giving not only their husbands and sons
to the war, but carrying on for them in the home, on the farm, and in
business. Many were sewing and knitting for soldiers, scraping lint
for hospitals, and organizing Ladies' Aid Societies, which, operating
through the United States Sanitary Commission, the forerunner of the
Red Cross, sent clothing and nourishing food to the inadequately
e