Comment from the Official Organ of the Historical Society of Quebec, Canada.
As might be expected, the work is full of interest, and is an eloquent tribute to the faith that produces such heroines. There was difficulty in collecting the data for the genuine humility so characteristic of the Sisters would move them to hide, rather than publish, the deeds, in themselves so heroic, but in their eyes only what their duty, enlightened by faith and enkindled by charity, demanded of them. In order to make the narrative as consecutive as the scattered notes permitted, a sketchy account of the war is introduced.—Le Courrier Du Livre, Quebec, Canada, official organ of the Quebec Historical Society.
Cordial Words from Right Rev. Edmond F. Prendergast, D. D., Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia.
“I have read your beautiful work, ‘Angels of the Battlefield,’ from beginning to end, with the greatest pleasure. It is certainly a most delightful book, and I trust and hope that it will have readers everywhere.”—Right Rev. Edmond F. Prendergast, D. D., Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia.
General Miles, the Head of the Army, and the “Angels of the Battlefield.”
“Recently I had occasion to call on General Miles, the ranking officer of the army, the Miles who gained such distinction as one of Hancock’s fighting commanders. When I entered his office, at the War Department, I found him reading a book in which he appeared to be deeply interested. Having the curiosity which comes to newspaper men, both by nature and from training, I could not restrain myself from asking the General the name of the book. It proved to be “Angels of the Battlefield: A History of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the War of the Rebellion,” a work by a near friend and professional colleague of mine, Mr. George Barton.—“S. M.” in Philadelphia Evening Star.
The work possesses “the Light and Interest Which Belongs to Incidents from Life.”
The author has been able to gather from personal interviews with Sisters many narratives which give to his pages the light and interest which belong to incidents from life. He possesses the vivid sympathy with action and suffering, without which a history of this kind would be no better than dry bones. The author is rightly touched by the heroism that surrounded those cots, where enemies lay side by side in an agony, which, for many, could only obtain surcease in the grave. Some incidental descriptions of battles are animated, and we are sure our readers will find themselves moved for the better by this narrative of heroic charity on the part of the nuns, and soldierly heroism on that of the men to whom they ministered.—The Catholic World Magazine, New York.
Record of Blameless Lives, “Strung Like Golden Beads on a Silver Thread.”
It is a sweet, and clean, and healthy book. The sketches are delightful reading. The writer has poetic touch and a felicity of phrase. Nothing is overdrawn. Mr. Barton writes without rhetoric, but with wholesome sentiment, and rescues from the convents the story of the part these Sisters took in the great drama of our Civil war. It has been a labor of love, and the author has strung like golden beads on a silver thread the record of the blameless lives of the Sisters and their absolute devotion to duty. Literature and libraries are enriched by this contribution to impartial history.—The Monongahela (Pa.) Daily Republican.