Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience

by L. P. Brockett; Mary C. Vaughan

As President of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, her labors were arduous and unremitting. The work of this association was always very great, consisting in part of the manufacture of hospital garments, by contract with the medical purveyor, which work was given out to the wives of soldiers, to enable them the better to support themselves and children, during the absence of their husbands in the army. The work of cutting out these garments, giving them out, keeping an account with each soldier's wife, paying the price of the labor, etc., was no small undertaking, requiring much labor from the members of the society. It was an interesting sight, on Thursday of each week, to see hundreds of poor women filling the large rooms of the association on Chestnut Street, from morning to night, receiving work and pay, and to witness the untiring industry of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Committees, waiting upon them.

The visitation of these families by committees, and their reports, to say nothing of the general sanitary and hospital work performed by the society, required a large amount of labor; and in addition to this the aid rendered to destitute families of Union refugees, and the part taken by Mrs. Clapp in organizing a Refugee Home, and House of Industry, would each of itself make quite a chapter of the history of the association.

In all these labors Mrs. Clapp showed great executive and administrative ability, and must be reckoned by all who know her, among the truly patriotic women of the land. And in all the relations of life her character stands equally high, adorning, as she does, her Christian profession by works of piety, and patriotism, and love, and commanding the highest confidence and admiration of the community in which she lives.

The devoted labors of Miss H. A. Adams, in the service of the soldiers of the Union and their families, from the beginning of the war, till near its close, entitle her to a place in the records of this volume. She was born in Fitz William, New Hampshire, at the foot of Mount Monadnock, and grew to maturity amid the beautiful scenery, and the pure influences of her New England home. Her father, Mr. J. S. Adams, was a surveyor, a man of character and influence, and gave to his daughter an excellent education. At fifteen years of age she became a teacher, and in 1856 came West for the benefit of her health, having a predisposition to pulmonary consumption, and fearing the effect of the east winds and the trying climate of the Eastern States.

Having connections in St. Louis she came to that city, and, for a year and a half, was employed as a teacher in the public schools. In this, her chosen profession, she soon acquired an honorable position, which she retained till the commencement of the war. At this time, however, the management of the schools was directed by a Board of Education, the members of which were mostly secessionists, the school fund was diverted from its proper uses by the disloyal State government, under Claib. Jackson, and all the teachers, who were from New England, were dismissed from their situations, at the close of the term in 1861. Miss Adams, of course, was included in this number, and the unjust proscription only excited more intensely the love of her country and its noble defenders, who were already rallying to the standard of the Union, and laying down their lives on the altars of justice and liberty.

In August, 1861, the Ladies' Union Aid Society, of St. Louis, was organized. Miss Adams was present at its first meeting and assisted in its formation. She was chosen as its first secretary, which office she filled with untiring industry, and to the satisfaction of all its members, for more than three years.

In the autumn of 1863, her only brother died in the military service of the United States. With true womanly heroism, she went to the hospital at Mound City, Illinois, where he had been under surgical treatment, hoping to nurse and care for him, and see him restored to health, but before she reached the place he had died and was buried. From this time her interest in the welfare of our brave troops was increased and intensified, and there was no sacrifice she was not willing to undertake for their benefit. Moved by the grief of her own personal bereavement, her sympathy for the sick and wounded of the army of the Union, was manifested by renewed diligence in the work of sending them all possible aid and comfort from the ample stores of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Western Sanitary Commission, and by labors for the hospitals far and near.

The duties of Miss Adams, as Secretary of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, were very arduous.

The Society comprised several hundred of the most noble, efficient and patriotic women of St. Louis. The rooms were open every day, from morning to night. Sanitary stores and Hospital garments were prepared and manufactured by the members, and received by donation from citizens and from abroad, and had to be stored and arranged, and given out again to the Hospitals, and to the sick in regimental camps, in and around St. Louis, and also other points in Missouri, as they were needed. Letters of acknowledgement had to be written, applications answered, accounts kept, proceedings recorded, information and advice given, reports written and published, all of which devolved upon the faithful and devoted Secretary, who was ever at her post, and constant and unremitting in her labors. Soldiers' families had also to be assisted; widows and orphans to be visited and cared for; rents, fuel, clothing, and employment to be provided, and the destitute relieved, of whom there were thousands whose husbands, and sons, and brothers, were absent fighting the battles of the Union.

Missouri was, during the first year of the war, a battle-ground. St. Louis and its environs were crowded with troops; the Hospitals were large and numerous; during the winter of 1861-2, there were twenty thousand sick and wounded soldiers in them; and the concurrent labors of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Western Sanitary Commission, were in constant requisition. The visiting of the sick, ministering to them at their couches of pain, reading to them, cheerful conversation with them, were duties which engaged many of the ladies of the Society; and numerous interesting and affecting incidents were preserved by Miss Adams, and embodied in the Reports of the Association. She also did her share in this work of visiting; and during the winter of 1863-4, she went to Nashville, Tennessee, and established there a special diet kitchen, upon which the surgeons in charge of the hospitals, could make requisitions for the nicer and more delicate preparations of food for the very sick. She remained all winter in Nashville, in charge of a branch of the St. Louis Aid Society, and, by her influence, secured the opening of the hospitals to female nurses, who had hitherto not been employed in Nashville. Knowing, as she did, the superior gentleness of women as nurses, their more abundant kindness and sympathy, and their greater skill in the preparation of food for the sick; knowing also the success that had attended the experiment of introducing women nurses in the Military Hospitals in other cities, she determined to overcome the prejudices of such of the army surgeons as stood in the way, and secure to her sick and wounded brothers in the hospitals at Nashville, the benefit of womanly kindness, and nursing, and care. In this endeavor she was entirely successful, and by her persuasive manners, her womanly grace and refinement, and her good sense, she recommended her views to the medical authorities, and accomplished her wishes.