dy to lift the wounded soldier as tenderly as
his own mother could have done, and her ready skill was exerted with
equal facility in dressing his wounds, or in preparing such nourishment
for him as should call back his fleeting strength or tempt his fickle
and failing appetite. She was a capital forager, and for the sake of a
sick soldier she would undergo any peril or danger, and violate military
rules without the least hesitation. For herself she craved
nothing--would accept nothing--if "the boys in the hospital" could be
provided for, she was supremely happy. The soldiers were ready to do
anything in their power for her, while the contrabands regarded her
almost as a divinity, and would fly with unwonted alacrity to obey her
commands.

We are not certain whether she was an assistant in one of the
hospitals, or succored the wounded in any of the battles in Kentucky or
Missouri, in the autumn of 1861; we believe she was actively engaged in
ministering to the wounded after the fall of Fort Donelson, and at
Shiloh after the battle she rendered great and important services. It
was here, or rather at Savannah, Tennessee, where one of the largest
hospitals was established, soon after the battle, and placed in her
charge, that she first met Mrs. Eliza C. Porter, who was afterward
during Sherman's Grand March her associate and companion. Mrs. Porter
brought from Chicago a number of nurses, whom she placed under Mrs.
Bickerdyke's charge.

The care of this hospital occupied Mrs. Bickerdyke for some months, and
we lose sight of her till the battle of Perrysville where amid
difficulties which would have appalled any ordinary spirit, she
succeeded in dressing the wounds of the soldiers and supplying them with
nourishment. But with her untiring energy, she was not satisfied with
this. Collecting a large number of negro women who had escaped from the
plantations along the route of the Union Army, she set them to work
gathering the blankets and clothing left on the field, and such of the
clothing of the slain and desperately wounded as could be spared, and
having superintended the washing and repairing of these articles,
distributed them to the wounded who were in great need of additional
clothing. She also caused her corps of contrabands to pick up all the
arms and accoutrements left on the field, and turn them over to the
Union Quartermaster. Having returned after a time to Louisville, she was
appointed Matron of the Gayoso Hospi