“Mother” Bickerdyke Was Civil War Hero

Like everything else in the nineteenth century, the Civil War was a male-dominated affair. But one woman proved invaluable to the Union armies and was revered by even the likes of William T. Sherman.

“Mother” Mary Ann Bickerdyke became one of the war’s larger-than-life figures, but in 1861, she was a 43-year-old widow from Galesburg, Ill. whose occupation was listed as “botanic physician.” That spring, she was moved during a local church sermon by Rev. Edward Beecher, the brother of Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, on the misery of military hospital conditions at Cairo, Ill. A relief collection was raised, and Bickerdyke was sent to distribute the contribution.

Arriving in the calico dress and Shaker bonnet that became her signature, she was appalled at what she saw at Cairo, and quickly went to work. Among her first actions was to locate two hogshead barrels, saw them in two, and create a makeshift bathtub in which she washed dozens of soldiers — including a general. But Bickerdyke was never intimidated by rank.

She quickly became an indispensable figure in the army’s medical corps, winning over the men with her tireless concern for their needs. However, her forceful bravado grated on the officers, who usually bore the brunt of her tirades.

Bickerdyke made five trips aboard a hospital steamer to help transport wounded men from Fort Donelson back to Cairo and elsewhere. Three days after the bloodbath at Shiloh, “Mother” showed up in a grey Confederate overcoat and a slouch hat that replaced a lost bonnet. In no time, she set up a portable laundry and was serving hot soup, tea, and crackers to the men when a surgeon approached, demanding to know whose authority Bickerdyke was under. Without hesitation, Bickerdyke shot back, “I have received my authority from the Lord God Almighty. Have you anything that ranks higher than that?” General Sherman hardly disagreed.

Once, a colonel complained to Sherman about “that meddlesome old woman from the North.” He received little help from the admiring general, who simply said “I can’t do anything for you. She outranks me.”

In another instance, Bickerdyke ordered a passing brigade to halt and distribute coffee and soup to wounded comrades. Although she had no military authority to do so – and was not even an official member of the army – the brigade complied. In addition to her fieldwork, she was sent on major fund-raising tours on behalf of the Sanitary Commission to secure support for medical needs.

The dedication of this “Mother” to suffering men never wavered. By war’s end, she had reportedly organized 300 hospitals and worked on 19 battlefields while offering welcome comfort to thousands of wounded, sick, and dying men. Her yeoman efforts brought deserving — if not surprising — honor. At the Grand Review of troops in Washington on May 24, 1865, Sherman requested her presence on the review stand, but “Mother” was little interested in such pageantry. She chose instead to organize a first-aid station for needy soldiers.

Following the war, she settled in Salina, Kan., where she operated a boarding house and maintained her devotion to soldiers. Some credit her with influencing over 300 veterans to settle in Kansas, thanks in part to her successful effort to gain free transport for two years on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad for ex-soldiers.

When Kansas was racked by a massive grasshopper invasion in 1874, Bickerdyke, who was now living in Great Bend, again answered the call. She made ten trips to the Midwest and East to solicit donations and supplies, an exhausting whirlwind that broke her health. Bickerdyke spent an extended period of recuperation in California, where she continued her work for veterans as she regained her health. She also worked for a time at the U.S. Mint in San Francisco.

Bickerdyke eventually settled in Bunker Hill, Kan., and became active in a home for ex-nurses and military widows in Ellsworth, which was later named in her honor. The state of Kansas honored her with “Mother Bickerdyke Day” on July 19, 1897, and throngs flocked to Bunker Hill to visit and pay respects.

She died there after a debilitating stroke in 1901. She was buried back in Galesburg, where a statue in her honor was erected on the courthouse grounds in 1906. The statue, which depicts her offering water to a wounded soldier, is adorned with Sherman’s three legendary words, “She outranks me.”

This story was originally printed in the March 2022 issue of The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine, a free magazine distributed monthly in 11 Illinois counties. For more information, additional stories and more, visit http://www.thebuzzmonthly.com.

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