 Appendix, Part 15 of Angels of the Battlefield. The purpose of the writer of this history, as already stated, has been to furnish for the first time a full and detailed story of the labours of the Catholic sisterhoods in the Civil War. But in doing that he has not had the slightest intention of detracting from the splendid service rendered by other bodies and other persons. One of the most notable organisations that contributed its part in the humane work Incident to the War was the Sanitary Commission. It had its rise in a spontaneous movement of the women in New England. It has said that 7,000 branch aid societies were connected with the Commission at one time. Charles J. Still of Philadelphia has written a history of the Commission, from which most of the facts embodied in this sketch have been obtained. Committees were sent to Washington, the part of the government, the Secretary of War on the 9th of June, 1861, issued an order appointing Henry, and after much negotiation involving tedious delay, on W. Bellows, D.D., Professor A.D. Boesch, L.L.D., Professor Jeffries Wyman, M.D., W.H. Van Buren, M.D., Walcott Gibbs, M.D., R.C. Wood, Surgeon, U.S.A., G.W. Cullum, U.S.A., Alexander E. Shearis, U.S.A. In connection with such others as they might choose to associate with them, a commission of inquiry and advice in respect of the sanitary interests of the United States forces. They were to serve without remuneration from the government, and were to be provided with a room for their use in the City of Washington. They were to direct their inquiries to the principles and practices connected with the inspection of recruits and enlisted men, the sanitary condition of volunteers, to the means of preserving and restoring the health and of securing the general comfort and efficiency of the troops, to the proper provision of cooks, nurses, and hospitals, and to other subjects of alike nature. The mode by which they proposed to conduct these inquiries was detailed in the letter of the New York delegation to the Secretary of War on 22 May. The order appointing them directed that they should correspond freely with the Department and with the Medical Bureau concerning these subjects, and on this footing and within these limits their relations with the official authorities was established. To enable them to carry out fully the purposes of their appointment, the Surgeon General issued a circular letter announcing the creation of the commission and directing all the officers in his department to grant its agents every facility in the prosecution of their duties. On the 12th of June the gentleman named as commissioners in the order of the Secretary of War, with the exception of Professor Wyman, who had declined his appointment, assembled at Washington. They proceeded to organize the board by the selection of the Rev. Dr. Bellows as president. Their first care was to secure the services of certain gentlemen as colleagues, who were supposed to possess special qualification but whose names had not been included in the original warrant. Accordingly Dr. Elisha Harris and Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew were unanimously chosen commissioners at the first meeting, and George T. Strong and Dr. J. S. Newberry in like manner at the one next succeeding. At different periods during the war, right Rev. Bishop Clarke, Honourable R. W. Burnett, Honourable Mark Skinner, Honourable Joseph Holt, Horace Binney, Jr., Rev. J. H. Haywood, Professor Fairman Rogers, J. Huntington-Wulcott, Charles J. Still, E. B. McCag and F. Law Olmsted were elected by the board members of the commission. At the first meeting a plan of organization prepared by the president was presented, discussed, and finally adopted. On the thirteenth the commission, in a body, waited on the president and secretary of war, who gave their formal sanction to this plan of organization by affixing to it their signatures. The experiences of the war suggested but little alteration, even in the outline of this report. While to a strict adherence to the general principles it embodied, the sanitary commission owed much of its wonderful success. The plan reduced to a practical system and method. The principles lay down in the letters of the New York gentleman to the government authorities, and endeavored to apply them to the actual existing condition of the army. Confining its proposed operations within the limited sphere of inquiry and advice, which had been assigned to it by the government, it declared what it proposed to do and by what methods in each of these departments of duty. In order that its work might be carried on systematically and thoroughly, two general committees were created, one respecting inquiry, the other, advice. The object of the first was to determine by all the light which could be derived from experience what must necessarily be the wants and conditions of troops brought together as ours had been. To ascertain exactly how far evils which had proved the scourge of other armies had already invaded our own, and to decide concerning the best measures to be adopted to remove all causes of removable and preventable disease. Each branch of inquiry under this head was referred to a distinct subcommittee. From the first was expected such suggestions of preventable measures as experience in former wars had proved to be absolutely essential. To the second was entrusted the actual inspection by its own members or their agents of the camps and hospitals, so that the real condition of the army, in a sanitary point of view, concerning which there were many conflicting rumors, could be definitely known. To the third was referred all questions concerning the improvement of the health and efficiency of the army in respect to diet, clothing, quarters, and matters of a similar nature. In regard to the other branch of duty assigned to the commission under its appointment, that of advice, the Board took the same wide and comprehensive views as had guided them in regard to the needful subjects of inquiry. Their purpose was to get the opinions and conclusions of the commission, approved by the Medical Bureau, ordered by the War Department, and carried out by the officers and men. The interest excited in thousands of homes throughout the land, whose inmates were members of aid societies in favor of the Sanitary Commission, and who looked upon it only as the almanor of their vast offerings for the relief of the army, led to the popular error that it was only a relief association, upon a grand scale, and quite overshadowed in popular estimation its original purpose, if not the peculiar and exclusive work before it. The commission itself, however, never departed from the true scientific idea and conception of a preventive system, and always regarded the relief system vast as was the place occupied by it in the war, inferior in the importance of its results to those due to well considered and thoroughly executed preventive measures. The commission at the close of the war established a pension bureau and war-claim agency for the benefit of disabled soldiers and their orphans and widows. The entire money receipts of the commission, from 1861 to 1866, were four million, nine hundred and twenty-four thousand, four hundred and eighty dollars and ninety-nine cents, and the value of supplies furnished is estimated at fifteen million dollars. End of appendix part fifteen. Chapter fifty-two of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Appendix part sixteen. The Blue and the Grey. By the flow of the inland river, whence the fleets of iron have fled, where the blades of the grave-grass quiver, asleep on the ranks of the dead, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, under the one, the blue, and under the other, the grey. These in the robings of glory, those in the gloom of defeat, all with the battle-blood gory in the dusk of eternity meet, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, under the laurel, the blue, under the will, the grey. From the silence of sorrowful hours the desolate mourners go, lovingly laden with flowers alike for the friend and the foe, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, under the rose, the blue, under the lilies the grey. So with an equal splendor the morning sun rays fall, with a touch impartially tender on the blossoms blooming for all, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, broidered with gold the blue, mellowed with gold the grey. So when the summer colleth on forest and field of grey, with an equal murmur fallot the cooling drip of the rain, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, wet with the rain the blue, wet with the rain the grey. Sadly, but not with upgrading, the generous deed was done, in the storm of the years that our fading, no braver battle was won, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, under the blossoms the blue, under the garlands the grey. No more shall the war cry sever, or the winding rivers be red, they banish our anger for ever when they laurel the graves of our dead, under the sod and the dew, waiting the judgment day, love and tears for the blue, tears and love for the grey. End of chapter 52. Chapter 53 of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Appendix part 17, A Miracle of War. The following interesting little incident is taken from very Reverend W. C. Corby's book entitled Memoirs of Chaplain Life. On the 29th of November, 1863, says Reverend Constantine L. Egan, OP, Chaplain of the 9th Massachusetts Volunteers, we advanced to Main Run and formed a line of battle, ambivalent for the night. The enemy were posted on the East Ridge, about one mile from the stream called Mile Run. On a center ridge nearly 100 feet above the surface of the stream. Their works could easily be seen by us, posted on the West Ridge of the Run. They were strongly fortified, their works bristly with abotus, infantry parapets, and appalmments for batteries. About three o'clock on the evening of the 30th, the order was given to charge the enemy's line. Seeing the danger of death before us, I asked the colonel to form his regiment into a solid square so that I could address the men. He did so. I then spoke to them of their danger and had treated them to prepare for it by going on their knees and making a sincere, active condition for their sins with the intention of going to confession if their lives were spared. As the regiment fell on their knees, other Catholic soldiers broke from their ranks and joined us so that in less than two minutes, I had the largest congregation I ever witnessed before or even since. Having pronounced the words of general absolution to be given in such emergencies and danger, I spoke a few words of encouragement to them. After talking to the soldiers and finishing my remarks, they arose from their knees, grasping their muskets with a firm clench, and went back to the respective commands, awaiting the hour to expire to make the assault. Smith Johnson, taking this as his theme, has written the following poem entitled, A Miracle of War and dedicated it to Father Corby. Two armies stood in stern array on Gettysburg historic field. This side the blue, on that the gray. Each side resolved to win the day or life to home and country yield. Take arms, fall in, rang o'er the line of Hancock's ever violent core. Four to the left the cannons chime with music terribly sublime with death's unceasing solemn roar. With spirits ardent, undismayed, with flags uplifted toward the sky, there stands brave Magers old brigade. Those noble laurels nare will fade upon the page of history. All forward men, no pause a while, dead silence follows like parade. At order to arms for long the file, there moves a priest with holy smile, the priest of Magers old brigade. All eyes were toward him, reverent turned, for he was known and loved by all. And every face with fervor burned, and with a glance his mission learned, a mission of high heaven's call. Then spake the priest. My comrades, friends, ere long the battle fierce will surge, ere long the curse of war descends, at such a moment God commends you from the soul all sin to purge. Kneel, soldiers, lift your heart to God and sweet contrition crush the pride of human minds. Kneel on the sod that soon will welter in your blood. Look up to Christ who for you died. And every man, what ere his creed kneels down and whispers pass along the ranks, and murmuring voices plead to be from sins contagion freed, and turned from path of mortal wrong. Across the veil the gray lines view the priest and those who kneeling now for absolution humbly sue, and joining hearts the gray and blue together make the holy vow. The smoke of battle lifts a pace, and o'er the field light forms of men with glazing eyes and pallid face, dead yet alive, for God's sweet grace has saved them from the death of sin. Smith Johnson. End of Chapter 53. It has been aptly said that the battlefield of Gettysburg has become the mecca of American reconciliation. By act of Congress a national park has been established there, observatories erected, and everything possible done to make the battlefield convenient and attractive to tourists. The National Cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated November 19, 1863. The oration was by Edward Everett. On this occasion President Lincoln made the famous address that will never die. It was as follows. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, but in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it never can forget what they did here. It is for us, the living rather, to be dedicated here, to the unfinished work which they, who fought here, have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. End of Section 54, Appendix 18. Section 55 of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Section 55, Appendix 19. The Faith and the Flag. While the work of the zealous Catholic sisterhoods on the battlefield and in the camp and hospital was for humanity in its broadest sense, the effect of their example and the beauty of their daily lives also had the effect of clearing away the mists of prejudice, that sometimes distorted and clouded the views of honorable, well-meaning and worthy non-Catholics. The writer has endeavored to present the history of the labors of the sisters in a straightforward and dispassionate manner. He has dealt exclusively in facts and has, as far as possible, avoided comment. It has especially been his aim to keep entirely clear of sectional disputes or religious controversies. Hence it will be found that the story of the work of the sisters has reference, in main, to their devotion to suffering humanity. It was inevitable, however, that men living in the atmosphere of sanctity created by these good women should feel the consoling benefit of their silent influence. The result was that non-Catholics began to take a broader and more kindly view of their Catholic comrades and fellow citizens. And long before the war closed, they realized that the faith and the flag were entirely compatible. A few years ago, William J. Onahan of Chicago, in an address, incidentally touched upon this very point, speaking of those who were distrustful of the church and its teachings, he said, quote, if they could realize the harmony and benevolent influence of her teaching, the number of souls redeemed through her efforts and graces, from despair and sin, the wounded hearts soulless by her balm, the extent of human misery she has removed or mitigated, let them but think how that church has consecrated the marriage tie, sanctify the home, shield the unfortunate, lift it up the lowly and sorrow-stricken, staying the arm of the oppressor, pleading for the rights of the poor against the power of the tyrant and the greed of the capital. Witness the asylums and the refuges the Catholic Church has established all over the world for every condition of infirmity and suffering, for the orphans, the foundlings, the sick, the aged, the wayward and the fallen. See the admirable sisterhoods to which no parallel can be found on earth, the sisters of charity and mercy, the poor handmaids of Jesus Christ, the sisters of St. Joseph, the nuns of the good shepherd, the little sisters of the poor and countless others, varying in the admirable diversity of their charitable labours. Watch these sisters at their appointed duties in the hospitals and asylums, in the hovels of the poor, by the bedside of the dying. I, in pest houses and smallpox hospitals as well as on the battlefield, ministering to the dying soldier, all bent on doing God's work for God's sake. Assuredly these facts, these daily examples here before our eyes, within reach of our feet in daily walk. Assuredly, these ought to serve toward dispelling the false glare of prejudice. As a preliminary, let me say I adopt without reserve or qualification, the language of the Baltimore Catholic Congress. We rejoice at the marvellous development of our country and regard with just pride, a part taken by Catholics in such development. In the words of the pastoral, issued by the Archbishops of the United States, assembled in the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, we claim to be acquainted both with the laws, institutions and spirit of our country, and we emphatically declare that there was no antagonism between them. We repudiate with equal earnestness, the assertion that we need to lay aside any of our devotedness to our church to be true Americans, and the insinuations that we need to bait any of our love for our country's principles to be faithful Catholics. We believe that our country's heroes were the instruments of the God of nations in establishing this home of freedom, to both the Almighty and to His instruments, in the work we look with grateful reverence, and to maintain the inheritance of freedom which they have left us. Should it ever, which God forbid, be imperiled, our Catholic citizens will be bound to stand forward as one man, ready to pledge anew their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Before turning to the question of the rights and duties, let me first define what I understand by the term Catholic citizen. An American citizen, whether by birth or adoption, who, having had the grace of Christian baptism, believes and practices the teachings of the Catholic church, in other words, a practical Catholic. Now we come to the question of rights and duties. What are our rights as citizens? No more, no less, precisely than those possessed by any other American citizen. What are the rights we, in common, have with others? In general terms, we have the right of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing our own happiness. We hold in the language of the Constitution of Illinois that all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences. That no man can, of right, be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. That no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience. We have a right to be protected in our persons and property. We cannot be deprived of either, without due process of law. The right to free elections, to trial by jury, to equality before the law. But I need not enter into detail of the Bill of Rights which specifies the catalog of free man's inheritance. The highest and most precious right, however, is that of religious freedom. Liberty to worship God without let or hindrance and free from religious disabilities of any kind, and next to their own rights as free men to exercise it as shall best promote the welfare of the city, state, and nation. Catholics, then, are entitled to absolute equality before the law. And this is according to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of the United States as well as of the several states now, I believe, without exception. There is, nevertheless, an unwritten law which operates as a practical discrimination against Catholics in public life, as effectually as though it were so expressed in the Constitution. It is the law of public opinion, deriving its force and effect from popular prejudice. It is a well-known fact that neither of the great political parties would dare to nominate a Catholic for the presidency, and the same is true as to the office of governor in the different states. Surely it would not be claimed that no American Catholic could be found qualified by a position and ability for any of these high offices. Eternal vigilance, it has been said, is the price of liberty. Probably if Catholics were alert in asserting their rights in a just and lawful, as well as in a reasonable manner, there would be less disposition shown to infringe upon these rights and to ignore their claim to representation. Again, the government, whether national or state, has no just claim or authority to deny the rights of conscience to Catholics, whether they be employed in the service of the nation, in the army or naval forces, in penal or reformatory institutions, in asylums, or elsewhere. The state may lawfully and justly deprive a man of his liberty and place him behind prison bars, but it has no right to compel him, while there, to attend a form of religious worship in which he does not believe. It should not deny or hamper the attendance and ministrations of priest or elder whose services are sought by the prisoner or state's own ward. Justice and sound policy alike demonstrate the wisdom of invoking the services of the Catholic missionary for Catholics, whether in jail or asylum or on the frontier. General Grant testified that Father Desmet's presence among the Indians was of greater value to the government than a regiment of cavalry, and recent events on our northern borders intensify the force of this conclusion. The Catholic missionary is always a peacemaker. Catholics ask nothing in the way of privileges. We have no claim to privileges. We only ask what we are willing to concede to others, equality and fair play. If others are content to minimize religious principles or to abdicate them entirely, we must be excused if we insist on holding fast to ours. We are on firm ground, in that respect. We do not care to follow others into the slough of despond. We are persuaded that every vexed question, occupying and disturbing the public attention, dividing and distracting the people, can be amicably adjusted. Provided the wise men of the nation and the states will take these questions out of the hands of fanatics and bigots who are only too eager and anxious to inaugurate a reign of discord and religious strife. Catholics, be assured, will have no part in this warfare beyond protecting and defending their rights, God-given and constitutional rights. They would be unworthy of American citizenship where they to be content with less. We come now to the question of the duties of Catholics as citizens. Let it be understood that in undertaking to answer this as well as the previous question under consideration, I speak for myself only as a Catholic layman. I express my own thoughts and convictions unreservedly. What are the duties referred to? First and primarily, I should say to be American and all that the term broadly implies. How do I define the term American? It stands in my mind for liberty, order, education and opportunities. It is the duty of the Catholic citizen to love liberty for its own sake, order for the general good and to illustrate the highest type of model of civic virtue. It is a duty to foster and nourish the purity of home life and the domestic virtues eagerly to promote education and to make every necessary sacrifice for it and to see to it that Catholic children shall have the benefit of a sound Christian education. Catholics should avail themselves of the material opportunities and advantages afforded in this wonderful age and country and strive to be in the front ranks in the march of progress. The field is wide and inviting. The race is open to all. The privilege of American citizenship should be regarded as precious and priceless. Because so easily acquired, perhaps, it is not sufficiently estimated at its true value and worth. Think what American citizenship confers. See what it assures. Equal part and membership in this mighty empire, the equal advantage in its unsurpassed opportunities, the unqualified privileges of its unequaled freedom, no standing armies here to be moved at a monarch's caprice, weighing down and depressing the nation's energies, draining it of its lifeblood, sapping its vitality, and worst evil of all, menacing the peace of the world, no armed constabulary to terrorize over a peasant population and enforce the heartless edict of brutal landlords, no hereditary or favored classes, no obstacle to the unfettered enjoyment of those rights which we possess from God in the natural law and that are guaranteed to us in the constitution and laws of the land, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What a future opens before us. What possibilities for ourselves and for our children. Justly are the American people jealous of this inheritance. It must be guarded with vigilant care, lest unworthy hands and evil guidance should put it in peril. American liberty and the opportunities of American life are too precious to the human family to permit the one and the other to be wrecked or endangered. I rejoice in every indication of patriotic public spirit, whether shown in devotion and respect for the country's flag or in reverence and admiration for the nation's heroes. We need all these demonstrations to keep alive, in this material age, the order and purity of true patriotism. True American patriotism is the inheritance and monopoly of no one class or condition. Its title is not derived from accident of birth or color, is not to be determined by locality. Montgomery, Pulaski, Stubin, DeKalb, Ruchambu, Moilans, and Sullivan's fought for American liberty in the revolutionary days, with the order and a fidelity at least equal to that displayed by those native and to the manner born. Jackson was nonetheless a typical American because of the accident of his father's foreign birth, or as is sometimes intimated of his own, and who shall question the patriotic devotion of general shields, honorably identified with the early history of your own state, of meager, of Mulligan, of Sheridan, of Meade, and countless others I might name. Apprehension is sometimes expressed at the growth of foreign influence and the display of foreign customs. But this fear is after all purile. Under our system of government, the foreigner who comes to stay is soon assimilated, and while there may be here and there instances and examples, the outgrowth of foreign habits and customs not welcome to American notions, yet these can be only passing and temporary accidents. The foreigner, I insist, is all right. Provided he is loyal to American laws and government, we have no use for any other. Unquote. End of Section 55. Section 56 of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Section 56, Appendix 20. A Romance of the War. This record of their life and conduct could not be brought to a more appropriate close than by the recital of a touching romance of the war, growing directly out of the work of the sisters during that crucial period. The episode upon which the story hinges gains added interest from the fact that it constituted one of the actual occurrences of the closing day of the war. A few years before the first shot was fired upon Sumter, a household that was a perfect picture of domestic felicity existed in one of the large cities of Kentucky. It consisted of four persons, father, mother, son, and daughter. The parents were in comfortable circumstances, and in their life and conduct were all that the heads of a Christian family should be. The son and daughter vied with one another in performing those little acts of devotion and duty that go so far toward making up the sum total of harmony and happiness that should ever reign about the family hearthstone. At the time our narrative begins, the son was approaching his 20th year. He was a tall, handsome, manly fellow, and by a course of preparatory work was now about to begin the final years of study at the West Point Military Academy. The daughter, a girl of unusual intelligence and beauty, was two years the junior of her brother. Hers was a devout nature, and choice and study led her to adopt the habit of a sister of charity, as the means for carrying out a desire to be both useful and good during her transitory stay upon this earth. Just at this period, death, by one of those inexplicable strokes, which can never be made quite clear to the human intellect, carried off both parents. The devoted children of such a loving father and mother were naturally prostrated at such an affliction, but they rallied nobly, and grief only served to bring out the better qualities of their nature. After all that was mortal of the dearest ones had been consigned to the earth. They calmly sat down and rationally discussed their future plans. The result was just what might have been expected, both resolved to carry out their original design. The parting was a sad one. The man going to complete his knowledge of a soldier's life, the woman to her convent home, to receive the final vows, and to learn the last lessons concerning the philosophy of charity in its sweetest and grandest sense. Many years passed, and the brother and sister in their widely separated and totally different spheres of life were as dead to one another as if they had never lived under the same roof. The civil war with all of its horrors began, what had been the theoretical discussion of cabinets and the political orations of legislatures now developed into the fierce and awful reality of war. It was no longer a question of what might or could have been the actual grim visaged monster with all the hideous ills that follow was engaged in the work of death and destruction. Men volunteered their services, and after them came the nurses. One of these was Sister S. From one of the northern houses of the Sisters of Charity. In order to expedite her mission of mercy, it was necessary that she should enter the service of the federal government. The record of daily life from that time forth was the record of every member of the Catholic sisterhood that served during the war. Days of uninterrupted work, nights of ceaseless watching. Soon after the siege of Vicksburg, word was telegraphed to Baltimore that a core of Sisters of Charity was needed at once to care for the scores of sick and wounded, then suffering in Louisiana. Only five Sisters were available. They were sent at once with Sister S. in command. They found travel seriously impeded from the start. This fact caused the good Samaritans much anguish of mind for the summons they received said that many of the men would die unless they had the immediate attendance of experienced nurses. When the Sisters reached Chattanooga, they found that a special train had been provided for the purpose of rushing them with all possible speed to the city of New Orleans. On this train there were also a number of Union officers, carrying important sealed orders from the authorities at Washington to the men in charge of the Union forces in what was known as the Department of the Gulf. Sisters and officers were filled with conflicting emotions, but all had one object in common, the desire to reach New Orleans at the earliest possible moment. With the Sisters it was a race for life, for lives that may be saved by their exertions. With the men it was a race for honor, for promotion perhaps, for official commendation from the general of the army, or the president of the United States. Finally the train steamed into the Crescent City and the officers went to seek their commanders and the Sisters, their patients, who were in a small town on the Mississippi River. Sister S divided her small force of nurses with such rare good judgment and executive ability that in 24 hours all of the sick and wounded men were resting comfortably. Suddenly came the order to depart and the Union troops all left the town, taking with them such of the convalescent patients as were able to bear the strain of travel. 12 hours later a portion of the Confederate army entered the town, bringing several hundred of their sick and wounded. Sister S, thinking that the call to duty in this instance was no less imperative than it had been in the case of the Union men the day before, started for the hospital, where the wounded Confederates had been carried. One of the Union surgeons who had remained behind with his wounded men placed a detaining hand upon her arm. Where are you going? he said. To look after these men, she replied. That is impossible, he said. You are in the service of the United States government and you are not permitted to serve under the enemy. You have no objection to your nursing the wounded Confederates, but it must be under the auspices of our generals. The Union forces will probably regain possession of this town before nightfall, and then you can wait upon both sides alike. But I insist. And the eyes of the usually mild-mannered sister, sparkled as she stamped her foot in an emphatic manner. I know nothing of technical military rules, but I insist upon my right to nurse these poor men. I regret very much being placed in such a position. Said the surgeon gently. But I am here representing the government. And I responded the sister. I'm here representing something greater than the government. What is that? He asked in an incredulous tone. Humanity was the quiet reply. The officer, a brave man obeying orders, did not utter another word, but bowing his head, opened the door, and admitted the sister and her companions into the presence of the sec. Scarcely a minute had elapsed when the surgeon heard the heart-rendering shriek of a woman come from the interior of the building. Rushing in, he beheld the sister, kneeling beside a cot at the far end of the room. The tears were pouring down her cheeks, but it was evident that they were tears of joy. The bearded man upon the cot was seriously wounded, but there was a placid expression upon his countenance as he kissed the hand of the sister. Need this dramatic scene be explained to the reader? It was the son and daughter mentioned in the beginning of the sketch, reunited after years of separation. The one enlisted in the Confederate army, the other a nurse serving under the Union government. The sight drew tears from rough soldiers who seldom betrayed a motion of any character. The sister lavished every attention upon her wounded brother, what would have been a solemn duty under any conditions now became a work of love and affection, but it was all in vain. He had been marked as a victim by the grim destroyer. In a few days he breathed his last, edified and consoled by the presence of his sister and all of the offices of religion. Funerals from the hospital always occurred at night, and this was no exception. But the obsequies of the young Confederate officer were out of the ordinary, every one about the hospital and indeed in the town, evinced a desire to do something as a mark of respect to sister S. The moon was shining brightly on the night of the internment, and it looked down upon a ghostly procession that followed the body to its last resting place. Six convalescent soldiers, three Union men and three Confederates acted as pallbearers. The services of the church were conducted by the chaplain. Sister S. was the chief mourner. The other sisters followed with lighted tapers. No one took more interest in the proceedings or did more for the convenience of those concerned than the surgeon with whom the sister had the altercation a few days before. After the war the sister devoted herself to those works of charity and mercy, which to a person with the desire and will are within reach in times of peace as well as in times of war. End of section 56. Section 57, part one of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Section 57, Publishers' Notice, part one. No book on the war that has been published in recent years has met with a more generous reception than has been accorded by the reading public to the Angels of the Battlefield. Congratulations and expressions of goodwill have come from all classes of persons. Following will be found brief comments from letters and from notices of the secular and religious press. These references are in most cases mere excerpts from lengthy reviews of the book. Of course, it has been impracticable to publish quotations from all of the newspapers, but those that are given are of representative character. Archbishop Ryan's eloquent and earnest letter of recommendation. I beg to thank you for the copy of your book, Angels of the Battlefield, which you were kind enough to send to me. I have read it with great satisfaction and beg to congratulate you on your success in presenting the touching and edifying scenes in which charity center angels into both camps alike to heal the sick and console the dying, to chasten triumph and comfort defeat. The mission of these Angels of the Battlefield was to remove the strong prejudices that impeded the progress of the church. It was like the mission of Saints Peter and John to the poor lame man at the porch that was called Beautiful of Solomon's Temple. The nation, wounded and crippled by the war, was sent in through the beautiful gate of Catholic charity to view the true temple of God. As of those who never belonged to the fold of the Catholic Church, how many can cry out with honest Captain Jack Crawford quoted by you. My friends, I am not a Catholic, but I stand ready at any and all times to defend these noble women, even with my life, for I owe that life to them. I earnestly recommend your excellent book to all with whom my opinion may have any influence. Most reverent PJ Ryan, D-D-L-L-D Archbishop of Philadelphia. A very flattering tribute from the Governor of Pennsylvania. I am more than pleased with the work. It is a valuable addition to our war literature. I cannot but recommend your subject matter in a proof of your literary style. I congratulate you heartily on the graceful and deserved tribute to the women who served so faithfully and loyally the cause of humanity during the dark days of our nation's struggle. General Daniel H. Hastings, Governor of Pennsylvania. I praise from the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. General J.P.S. Gobin, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, writes, I have at length had an opportunity to carefully read your volume, Angels of the Battlefield, and wish to thank you for the pleasure you have given me. Your book is a valuable addition to the literature of the war. You have depicted those scenes with rare fidelity and without exaggeration, which so frequently justify the title you have selected. Very truly yours, J.P.S. Gobin, Commander-in-Chief. Particularly happy in avoiding sectional, political, or religious controversies. There is a praiseworthy attempt to give plain facts without comment or unnecessary coloring. The author has been particularly happy in avoiding sectional, political, or religious controversies. Although many volumes have been written concerning the work of women in the war, this book is said to be the first connected and consecutive history of the self-sacrificing labors of the Catholic sisterhoods during that great conflict. The Washington, D.C. Post. 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 inkindled 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. The Courier du Livre, Quebec, Canada, official organ of the Quebec Historical Society. Courgell words from Wright Reverend Edmund 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. Wright Reverend Edmund 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. SM 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 a 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 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 Mono Nongala. Daily Republican. Magnificent contribution to the best literature of our day. It was a beautiful thought to collect in one splendidly illustrated volume the touching records of so many noble lives. To snatch from oblivion, as it were, the names of those heroic sisters whose deeds of mercy and valor in our hospitals and our battlefields have hitherto been known in some instances to God and themselves alone. Your book is unique and magnificent contribution to the best literature of our day and I wish it the success it so richly deserves. Eleanor C. Donnelly of Philadelphia. Supplies a chapter essential to the history of the war. It supplies a chapter essential to the history of our civil war. The Christian religion claims that its teachings have mitigated the horrors of war and the conduct of the Catholic sisterhoods north and south furnished a striking evidence of the truth of such claims in the particular instance of our domestic conflict. In such books as yours that accomplish the end which the sovereign Pontif Leo, the 13th most ardently desires in the relations of church and state the perfect accord of the love of our faith with the love of country. Reverend Joseph V. O'Connor of the Diocese of Philadelphia. The whole book, clean and written in an easy practical style. I offer you my sincere congratulations for having given us a volume that illustrates heroic charity in a manner calculated to command the admiration of all men. Men may differ about politics, economics, creed, the relative merits of men of letters and affairs. They will be one however in recognizing the angels of the battlefield as the grandest types of all the Christian virtues, charity, the bond of the true brotherhood of man. The whole book is so clean and written in such an easy practical style that it is more fascinating than a classical novel even than a well written sensational one. After reading it through one feels like reading it to some friend and calling his attention to its many beautiful passages and the thrilling episodes in which it abounds. It is a volume that all can read with ease and interest not alone in clubs and homes but in the refractories and community rooms of our convents. From cover to cover it is in every chapter calculated to edify all and inspire thoughts and aspirations that are good, sweet and elevating. Reverend William Walsh of the Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee embodies the work of several years of research and correspondence. This large volume embodies the work of several years of research and correspondence on the part of the author. The war itself is the merest thread upon which are strung these tales of womanly heroism which have not to do with political or sectional feeling. The brave sisters find in this volume their appreciative historian. The Catholic Columbian veterans should see that it finds a place in post-libraries. The author has been at pains to collect all the data he could find, anecdotes, thrilling incidents and statistics concerning the good nuns. His book is very entertaining. We can well believe that it will delight many an old soldier who knew the tender ministrations of the angels of the battlefield. Veterans should see that it finds a place in the post-libraries where such useful adjuncts are found. Providence, Rhode Island, visitor. Will take its place with standard histories of the war. This work is one of much more than usual interest. It will take its place with the standard books concerning the history of the Great Civil War. Hamden, New Jersey, Review. End of Section 57. Section 58, Part 2 of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording, while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton. Section 58, Publishers' Notice, Part 2. These pictures of sisters who have gone to their reward. This interesting history gives especially vivid pictures of three sisters who became conspicuous by reason of their superior attainments, Sister Anthony, Sister Gonzago, and Sister Angela, all now gone to their reward. Taggart's Times, Philadelphia. The data is presented in a very attractive and pleasing form. This interesting book is hamsonly bound, and beautifully and profusely illustrated. It fills a gap in the history of the rebellion. Mr. Barton, who is a trained and able writer, has expended considerable time in gathering the data about these noble women, and he presents it in a very attractive and pleasing form. The volume abounds with the personal experience of the sisters. The narrative is replete with thrilling and pathetic incidents. Pittsburgh Dispatch. The writer presents a book with not a dull page in it. The author of the book has succeeded in investing his work with an absorbing interest, while he fully accomplishes his motive in setting forth numerous heroic acts and deeds of mercy, of members of the sisterhoods. He has so interwoven them with stirring incidents of the strife as to create a history that has an enduring value apart from its personal interest. He has made his selections with a judgment of what is most interesting, and only acquired by a long experience in newspaper work. He has, therefore, succeeded in making a book of over three hundred pages with not a dull page in it. It is safe to say that no one who reads the introductory chapter will willingly lay the book aside until the whole work has been absorbed. Major John W. Finney, in the Potsfell Miners Journal. The story of the sisters well told in this charming book. Many books have been written about the faithful work of women during the war, in hospitals and on the battlefields, but these books, at least those we have seen of them, are strangely silent about the work of the Catholic sisterhoods in the same good cause. Some years ago we called the attention of Mr. George Barton of Philadelphia to this fact, and suggested that a work of the sisters in field and post-hospitals during the war would afford ample material for a most interesting and edifying book. He saw the matter in the same light we did, and set himself to the task. The result is this admirable work. The labors of all the sisters are given in this charming book in detail, and in chronological order. Reverend L. A. Lambert, L. L. D., in New York Freeman's Journal. Illustrations in perfect taste, from the beginning to the end. Typographically the work is a masterpiece. The seventeen half-tone illustrations are beautifully executed, besides they are in perfect taste, from the front-spece, Thomas, innocent victim, to the closing scene, Lincoln at Gettysburg. The volume is bound in red, with green trimmings, and the lettering is tastefully brought out in guilt, giving an artistic effect of colouring, pleasing to the eye, and in keeping with the interior exquisite-ness of finish. As a holiday book the publishers could not have improved on the angels of the battlefield. The Connecticut Catholic. It should appeal especially to veterans of the war. All sorts of books have been written about the late war, enough to fill a good-sized library, and I think I have read them all, but Mr Barton's book is a new thing in that class of literature. The author has ventured on untrodden paths, with the result that he has given to the public a vast amount of interesting history that has not hitherto seen the light of day. Angels of the battlefield should meet with a generous welcome from all classes and conditions of people, irrespective of locality or religious belief. It should appeal especially to the veterans of the war, many of whom now living have experienced the practical charity and kindness of the gentle members of the various sisterhoods. The general appearance of the book is very attractive, and makes it suitable for presentation purposes. Congressman James Rankin Young, SM, in the Philadelphia Evening Star. Fills a gap in the chronicle of the gruesome years of the war. This work will fill, we believe, a gap in the chronicle of those gruesome years. The unselfish deeds of other women have been often related, but the incessant and universal help of the Catholic religious of the battlefields has never yet been placed in an orderly fashion before the world. Catholic Standard and Times, Philadelphia. The effort was well worth making, and the task is done admirably. In the Angels of the Battlefield has given a history of the labours of the Catholic sisterhoods in the Civil War. Among all the agencies for a relief of suffering in that dreadful conflict none was more beautiful and more self-sacrificing than the work of these untiring sisters. The effort was well worth making, and Mr. Barton has done his task admirably. Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. The reader brought face to face with the sternal realities of war. The author in this work leads us into an entirely new field of literature. He treats of a subject never before taken up in such pretentious shape. Though vivid are his pictures of the great conflict and of the noble and humane work done by these self-sacrificing angels, that the reader comes face to face with the sternal realities of the war. The book is an altogether readable one, and is a worthy adjunct to the already published literature of the Civil War. Burlington, New Jersey, Democrat. All will welcome this delightful volume with its sprightly narrative. Everyone who took part in the late war, on either side, will welcome this delightful volume of reminiscence of one of the most beautiful and touching aspects of the history so full of misfortune and horrors. The special friends and admirers of the sisterhoods, whose members participated, will all seek to possess it, and also many Catholic apologists and students of American history. The narrative is sprightly and abounds in anecdotes. This publication well deserves the large sale it is sure to have, the St. Louis Church Progress. The clear, crisp newspaper English, one of its good points. The fact that a writer had actually found a field or phase of our national history unrecorded, or as newspaper men would say, uncovered, by a book, is sufficient to entitle this volume to mention by the newspapers. The work has been well done, not only as to the amount and systematic presentation of evidence, the authenticity of which is confirmed by numerous authorities of unquestionable standing both in and out of the Catholic Church, but also in the manner of treatment, the language being the clear, crisp newspaper English, without which no book need be expected to meet with any great degree of popular success. The Camden, New Jersey Post. Illustrating the extent and the superb courage of the sisters. To the story of the part which our American womanhood played in the war for the Union, Mr. Barton has contributed some new data in the field of our war literature, which, hitherto, has been untouched. Used by a spirit of gentle enthusiasm, Mr. Barton has painstakingly told in a book of several hundred pages how the sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church toiled in the lowliest and most perilous offices of the nerfs, as they followed the armies into the very storm of shot and shell. The book is full of anecdotes of historic value in illustrating the extent and superb courage of the labours of these useful women. Let us hope that when the true history of the Civil War shall be written as it has yet to be, there will be a place in it for them, as among the noblest of their sex. Penn in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. A comprehensive book that makes history and valuable history. Mr. Barton has written a book that makes history and valuable history. Which is not one of the kind that, according to the proverb, has enemies, if he has any, need rejoice over, but a tribute to the noble band to which every kindly heart, irrespective of religious faith, will respond. The author gives us a compact presentation of the history of these noble women in the matricidal strike of the sixties, a subject which has been hitherto sadly neglected. The humility of the sisters made the collection of data difficult, but stories included in the work have been gathered after much painstaking effort. Louis N. McGargy in the Philadelphia Times. The twenty-seven chapters of the volume crowded with stories. The twenty-seven chapters of the volume are crowded with incidents and stories, some pathetic, some humorous, and others still historical. There are fleeting glimpses of Generals McClellan, Butler, Jefferson Davis, and other characters of the time. One chapter is devoted to a collection of non-Catholic tributes to the sisters. There is a letter in the volumes that revealed General Butler in a chivalrous light. Some of the sisters of a convent at New Orleans had complained that their property was being damaged by the military operations in that vicinity, and in response the Generals sent to reply couched in language that presents the man in a new light, to those not intimately acquainted with him. Philadelphia Enquirer. A fascinating volume that penetrates the memories of the sisterhoods in the Civil War. To the annals of the war, George Barton, an historical student of Philadelphia, has just added a fascinating volume entitled Angels of the Battlefield, in which he has endeavored to perpetuate the memories of the members of the Roman Catholic sisterhoods, who helped to care for the sick, wounded, and dying in the Civil War. It is hard to obtain information from such people, and as military records are proverbially careless in such matters, the sisters not coming within military jurisdiction, the author was compelled to obtain his material by the slow process of personal application to the witnesses of the many affairs in which these Christian workers were the chief actors. The sisters received no pay, and the only gifts they accepted were upon the condition that the gift would in turn be given again, in order to do good among those who most needed it. Their services will never be forgotten, and the story of their devotion and sacrifices will ever be one of the prettiest chapters in the annals of the Union. Margarita Arline Hamm, in the New York Mail and Express. End of Publishers' Notice, Part 2. End of Section 58. Section 59 of Angels of the Battlefield. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. Publishers' Notice, Part 3. A book valuable as a record and in its literary style. Mr. Barton has presented to the public a valuable book, valuable as a record and valuable in its literary style. It is well described by a historical critic as a tribute to the noble band of women, Samaritans to which every kindly heart, irrespective of religious faith will respond. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who so readily and with such self-sacrificing heroism volunteered their humble services to help the sick and administer to the dying in the great civil conflict received in Angels of the Battlefield a just and due recognition of their moral courage and heroism. The Chattanooga, Tennessee Times. The descriptions of the more important engagements are really graphic. His facts, gathered from letters still extant from conversations had with many of the surviving nuns and the testimony of not a few who owed their lives from the ministrations of the sisters give a very complete and accurate account of his subject. He traces the work of the sisters at times with a vividness that is startling. His descriptions of the more important engagements, especially of Shiloh, Entium and Gettysburg, are really graphic and they give us the truest idea of the noble character of the sisters who amid such scenes of carnage pursued uninterruptedly their mission of love and mercy. The Angels of the Battlefield should be read by everyone who desires to possess a complete knowledge of the war. The New World, Chicago. It is well to let the world know of their heroic service. Although the noble sisters who for the love of God went forth during the Civil War to nurse the sick and wounded do not desire to have their deeds perpetuated on earth it is well to let the world know of the heroic services they rendered from 1861-5. The author presents in a compact form the history of the labors of the sisters during this period in a most readable manner. The volume contains handsome illustrations of some of the more prominent generals and sisters of the war. Several valuable pictures of battles are also given. The Church News, Washington. Praiseworthy attempt to give plain facts without comment. The News compliments the author upon the excellence of his work and commends it to its readers. The labor of four of the most conspicuous sisterhoods are detailed in a most complete and thorough manner. The book begins with the work of the Sisters of Charity and then takes up in natural sequence the labors of the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St. Joseph's and the Sisters of the Holy Cross. There has been a praiseworthy and successful attempt to give plain facts without comment or unnecessary coloring. It is one of the best books of the year. The Harrisburg News. Fleeting glimpses of many of the great characters of the time. The 27 chapters of the volume are crowded with incidents and stories, some pathetic, some humorous, and others still historical. There are fleeting glimpses of General McClellan, General Butler, Jefferson Davis, and other characters of the time. One chapter is devoted to a collection of non-Catholic tributes to the Sisters, while an appendix furnishes the reader with some interesting and important facts that it was deemed advisable to separate from the text. The Union and Times, Buffalo. Right Reverend L. F. Horström, D.D., Bishop of Cleveland. It was a happy thought for you, even at this late hour, to gather together some of the glorious records of the labors of the noble bands of sisters on the field and in the hospitals during the war. Gather up the fragments lest they be lost. These victories of charity ought to be at least as memorable as the bloody triumphs of the battlefield. F. Horström, Bishop of Cleveland. An endorsement from the editor of a well-known Latin German. Translation. Angels of the Battlefield, a history of the labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Civil War by George Barton, author. The Catholic Art Publishing Company, Bird Building, Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia. The work is illustrated with the finest engravings imprinted in very fine paper. It relates to the work of the various Sisterhoods in caring for the wounded soldiers in the late American Civil War. A history of healing wounds and cleansing the bloodstains therefrom is certainly more noble than that of the infliction of the shedding of blood. The reading is not less worthy, especially if one does not wish to judge our race by its barbarity, but by its virtue. It has been very gratifying to us, and perhaps will be so to others, who endeavor to humanize mankind. Arcade Mogherosi, editor, Braco Latinus, Mr. Rum Gentian Latinum. Pleasure taking in complimenting the author on his splendid production. We are personally acquainted with the author, have read the book carefully, and take great pleasure in complimenting Mr. Barton on his splendid production. While the battle scenes, camp life, and other stirring events of the war period from 1861-5 have received attention from the bright minds and the facts recorded in the pages of history in every civilized country. Yet this book by Mr. Barton is the first that treats exclusively on the great work accomplished by the Catholic Sisterhoods of the Civil War. Clearfield, Republican. Recounts many incidents which will be read with the deepest interest. Angels of the battlefield is a well printed, generously illustrative volume of more than 300 pages, containing no inconsiderable amount of information about the services rendered by sisters of different religious orders during the Civil War. Mr. Barton writes feelingly of their devotedness and self-sacrifices, and recounts many incidents which will be read with the deepest interest. The author has wisely touched upon the leading events of the years 1861-5 and thus rendered the volume more acceptable to general readers than it would otherwise be. He has to be congratulated on the services he has rendered to the cause of religion and truth. The Ave Maria. This comprehensive history of mercy reads almost like a romance. Angels of the battlefield is an elegantly bound volume and cloth with gilt back and front and beautifully illustrated. The book is crowded with incidents and stories, pathetic, humorous and historical, and the story of the self-sacrificing work of the sisters is told in a compact and comprehensive form. This history of mercy reads almost like a romance. Boston Daily Globe. Tribute of permanent preservation well carried out and richly deserved. It is a noble record, north, south or west, and the tribute of permanent preservation so well carried out by Mr. Barton is richly deserved. We cannot afford to let the noble deeds of our women in the Civil War any more than those of our men die out from our recollection and gratitude. The Catholic sisterhoods were active in the work of helping and nursing in the Civil War, as they are in all wars and epidemics. Their work was so unobtrusive that there has been difficulty in getting the data necessary for this record. But by means of personal interviews and examination of records and newspaper files, the author does justice to the devotion of these good sisters. The Baltimore Sun. The nobler literature of the world gains by this work. One of the most beautiful stories of the Civil War has been fittingly told at the end of 32 years. The materials were not easily gathered, for as the author remarks, a genuine humility has stood in the way of the collection of the data. But the work has been done, and the nobler literature of the world gains by its performance. As the South Sacrificing Sisters ministered to all whom they could reach during the war, never asking whether the uniform was blue or gray, so a striking and appropriate characteristic of this book is the fact that the narrative is interwoven without regard to the opposing lines of armies. St. Louis Globe Democrat. Author of the work has succeeded in compiling a fascinating volume. The book fills 300 pages with accounts of the different sisterhoods and their leading members. Incidentally, it brings in many of the great men of the 60s, such as Archbishop Hughes, whose labors for the Union have made him immortal. Archbishop Kinrick. Archbishop Ryan. General McClellan. General Butler. Abraham Lincoln. Archbishop Elder. General Grant. Archbishop Spalding. General Anderson. General Wood. General Rose Krantz. Governor Morton and Colonel Mulligan. The author and his endeavor to perpetuate the memories of the modest members of the Catholic sisterhoods who helped the sick and wounded in the Civil War has compiled a fascinating volume. Irish American. New York. Performed his task with excellent judgment and in a broad spirit. Most of the stories given were gathered in personal interviews. By examination of various archives and records. And by an extensive correspondence with government officials. Army veterans. And superiors of convents and communities. The gentle ways the fathomless sympathies of the sisters soothed and cheered the soldier who lay sick and wounded. The sister seemed to the sufferer like a link to his mother. He was far more ready to unboozle his thoughts to the sister than to the doctor. In his last moments, he would give the sister his messages. And asked to hold her hand as his life drifted away. The Western Chronicle. End of section 59. End of Angels of the Battlefield by George Barton.