President they
were appointed.

During the fall of 1863 the National Freedmen's Aid Commission of New
York, under the presidency of Hon. Francis G. Shaw, sent two agents,
Messrs. William L. Marsh and H. R. Foster, to Vicksburg, to establish an
agency there, and at Natchez, for the aid of the freed people, in
furnishing supplies of food and clothing to the destitute, and
establishing schools for the children of the freedmen, and for such
adults as could attend, and to help them in all possible ways to enter
upon the new and better civilization that awaited them. In this work the
Western Sanitary Commission co-operated, and Messrs. Marsh and Foster
wrote to the writer of this sketch, then acting as Secretary of the
above Commission, to send them several teachers and assistants in their
work. Among those who volunteered for the service was Miss Hagar, who
was wanted in another situation in St. Louis, but preferred this more
arduous work for the freedmen.

The reasons she gave for her choice were, that she was well and strong,
and felt a real interest in the welfare of the freed people; that she
had no prejudices against them, and that while there were enough who
were willing to fill the office of nurse to the white soldiers, it was
more difficult to get those who would render equal kindness and justice
to the black troops, and to the freed people, and therefore she felt it
her duty and pleasure to go. She was accordingly commissioned, and with
Miss A. M. Knight, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, (another worthy laborer in
the same cause) went down the river to Vicksburg, in the winter of 1864.

For several months she labored there with untiring devotion to the
interests and welfare of the colored people, under the direction of
Messrs. Marsh and Foster. No task was too difficult for her to undertake
that promised good results, and in danger of all kinds, whether from
disease, or from the assaults of the enemy, she never lost her presence
of mind, nor was wanting in the requisite courage for that emergency. In
person she was above the medium height, and had a face beaming with
kindness, and pleasant to look upon. Her mind had received a good degree
of culture, and her natural intelligence was of a high order. And better
than all within her earthly form dwelt a noble and heroic soul.

Late in April of that year, she had an attack of malarial fever, which
prostrated her very suddenly, and just in the proportion that she had
been