 | "AUNT LIZZIE" AND "MOTHER." Women of the war : |  |
"AUNT LIZZIE" AND "MOTHER."
AMONG a great number of unostentatious, but effective
and noble-hearted hospital nurses, who labored with
the sick of Grant's and Sherman's armies in the West, two,
who went from Peoria, Illinois, deserve special mention.
Neither matrons nor lady superintendents, they have left
a record of love, admiration, and gratitude on the hearts of
thousands whom they saw and nursed in the hospitals.
They were Miss Lizzie Aiken and Mrs. Sturgis, or,
as the soldiers always called them, "Aunt Lizzie" and
"Mother."
Although they labored at other points, it is for their work
in the Memphis Hospitals that they are principally known
and most affectionately remembered.
Their appearance, language, service, and the extent of
their usefulness will best be understood from the letters of
soldiers who were under their care, and saw most of their
life at Memphis.
Charles M. Kendall, a Wisconsin soldier, writes, "On
the 2d of February, 1863, I was sent to the Adams Hospital,
in Memphis, having met with a serious accident in
breaking one of my shoulders, so as to disable me for field
service. The first word of consolation that I received was
`My dear boy, what can I do for you?'
"I felt sure from that moment, that, as long as she staid
in the hospital, I should not want for anything. After I
was able to do duty, I was put in charge of one of the
wards. There I had an opportunity of seeing what the
ladies were doing to alleviate the sufferings of our brave
boys. About this time I also became acquainted with
`Mother.' Every one called her by that name; and for me,
it was easy to follow their example, for she seemed to have
the feelings of a mother for all of us. I do not suppose
any soldier ever asked for anything he ought to have, that
she did not procure it. If she could not get it of the Commissions,
she would buy it for him with her own money.
I saw her in the wards by night and by day for months,
preparing and giving suitable food to the sickest of the
men.
"A careful observation of over two years has taught me
that nursing is fully as important as medicine. In the
wards where there was the best nursing, there were always
the fewest deaths.
"When the sanitary stores were nearly expended, these
ladies hit upon the idea of getting up a Soldiers' Fair, from
which they realized quite a large sum of money. Whenever
they could find time, they would go from house to house
asking for donations.
"Though spurned from some doors, and insulted at other
houses, they never faltered, but kept on till they were
successful. The money thus obtained was judiciously expended,
and the amount of good accomplished cannot be
estimated.
"Towards the close of the war, when some of the
Andersonville prisoners were brought up the Mississippi
River, the boat on which they came remained several hours
at Memphis. These ladies were soon on board, working
with a will; and many a poor, starving soldier was feelingly
refreshed in body and mind by the visit of these angels of
mercy. Often did I hear the exclamation, `God bless that
woman! Why, she talks just like mother; and who is she,
that she takes so much interest in my welfare?'
"Then, again, when that terrible disaster took place, the
explosion of the Sultana, as usual they were on hand, doing
all in their power for the sufferers. I have known a great
many men in their dying moments send for some lady to
come and talk with them. How often have I seen `Mother'
sit by their cots and point them to the Lamb of God!
Doubtless many a soul is happy in heaven to-day, saved
through the influence of that Christian woman in the dying
hours of life.
"These ladies can never receive their full reward till they
hear the welcome plaudits in the blessed kingdom. Many
other ladies there were, who, for their noble course,
deserve all the praise that words can bestow. Some of
them are dead, and their names will never appear in human
histories; but the good they accomplished will never be
forgotten by us private soldiers."
Another soldier, Charles P. Hopkins, of Indiana, furnishes
the following charming sketch of Aunt Lizzie in the
hospital, and the reputation these ladies enjoyed among
the western soldiers: —
"I entered the United States army," says he, "Company
September, 1861. Nothing worth record occurred till October,
1862, when we were at Rienzi, Mississippi, and took
part in the ever-memorable battle of Corinth. There I first
saw the true heroism of our noble northern ladies, flitting
from one to another of the wounded, speaking words of
comfort, cheering the depressed, binding up wounds,
moistening the lips of those from the front who came
nearly perishing with thirst and loss of blood.
"Soon after this battle I was taken sick, and sent to
Paducah, where I heard boundless praises of `Aunt Lizzie'
and `Mother Sturgis.'
"So often did I hear them mentioned, and in terms so
warm, that I came to look upon them as angels in disguise.
"In March, 1863, I was discharged, but during the following
summer regained my health, and reënlisted in the 7th
Indiana cavalry. The winter following was very severe.
Many of our boys fell a prey to disease, myself among the
number. On the 1st of March, 1864, I was sent to the
Adams Hospital, in Memphis.
"Hear I first saw Aunt Lizzie, of whom I had heard the
boys speak in such exalted terms. I was very sick at the
time. Three of my comrades had been numbered with the
dead, and I had given up all hopes of again
`Mounting barbéd steeds to fright the souls of fearful adversaries,'
Lizzie came through our ward. How well do I remember
that evening! Let me describe her as I saw her then. A
little old lady, dressed in brown, with a red sontag over
brushed. She carried a pair of silver-bowed spectacles in
her left hand, and with the right, which looked smooth and
soft, she grasped the hand or stroked the forehead of every
patient as she came to his bedside, all the while speaking
words of comfort, and throwing out her sympathies broadcast,
with smiles so winning and motherly, that tears would
moisten our eyes, and great unspoken words of love and
gratitude well up from the hearts of us poor sufferers as
she passed.
"When she came to my cot with that kindly touch on my
forehead and the stereotyped inquiry, in a tone so sympathetic
that it could never grow old, `Well, my boy, how do
you do to-day? Are you better?' it was too much for me.
I cried, and could have fallen down and done homage to a
spirit so saintly. From that hour I began to get well, and
was soon strong enough to do light service around the
hospital. So they made me baggage master, and I had
charge of all the boys' knapsacks as they were brought in.
I often visited Aunt Lizzie and Mother Sturgis in their
room, and found that they gave, not only the whole day,
but a part of the night, to these labors of charity. The
day was spent chiefly in the different wards in nursing the
sickest patients. After the gas was lighted, there they sat,
`Mother' on one side of a table, `Aunt Lizzie' on the other,
mending the blue regulation pants or the frock of some
neglected soldier boy, or darning a pile of socks, and singing,
`Home, sweet home,' or, `We are coming, Father
Abraham.'
"It was a treat to go through Aunt Lizzie's ward with
enlisted, and would say, `How are you now, Wisconsin?'
or, `How does my Michigan boy feel this morning?' and,
`Indiana, how is he?' and so on all through the ward.
They would smile in all their pain when she was talking
with them. Did they ask for anything, she did all in her
power to procure it for them, frequently taking from her
own scanty allowance to purchase an article if it was not
among the stores. Never weary, always ready; no matter
at what hour, if help was wanting, she was there.
"And `Mother' — no day was too long or night too
dreary for her. Often I found her at midnight beside the
cot of some poor boy about to enter the vast unknown; the
tear of sympathy in her eye, putting to his lips some cooling
draught, or trying to stay the fast-ebbing sands of his
life with some carefully-mixed punch or egg-nog, the
materials for which she had bought from her own slender
purse. There were others in this hospital who performed
excellent service — Mrs. Brake and Jenny Matheson in wards
B and C. Letty Covell was to be found from early dawn
till late at night in the diet kitchen of ward B, and Mrs.
Webb in the kitchen of ward A, while our two noble
`Maggies,' as we called them, Miss Miller and Miss Staffer,
had charge of the linen-room."
No correct estimate can ever be had of the good accomplished
by these quiet, earnest, Christian nurses during
the four years of their unceasing devotion.
When the war was almost over, "Aunt Lizzie" stated to
a friend that she had kept count of nearly all, and it was
then about three thousand soldiers to whom she had read
whose eyes she had then closed in death. In how many
cases these dying exercises were of unspeakable importance
to the parting soul, is known only to the recording angel.
But in reflecting upon such opportunities of Christian usefulness
so admirably improved, we are permitted to suppose
that they will not fail to win for her at last the golden
sentence, "They that turn many to righteousness shall
shine as the stars forever and ever."
| "AUNT LIZZIE" AND "MOTHER." Women of the war : | |