Chapter XXV: Sisters of the Holy Cross

The heroic life and labors of Mother Angela. A cousin of the late
James G. Blaine. She gives up her school at South Bend, Ind., to
serve through the war. A historic meeting between Mother Angela
and General Grant Rev. L. A. Lambert, the chaplain at Mound City.
Sixty Sisters of the Holy Cross on duty. Sister Angela, of the
Visitation Community, and her love for the soldiers.

Mother Angela, of the Holy Cross Sisters, was one of the most devoted nurses in any of the orders that served during the civil war. She was a woman of high birth and considerable refinement. She came from a well-known Pennsylvania Irish family--the Gillespies. It was from this family that James Gillespie Blaine was so named. She was a cousin of the illustrious man, and was also related to the Ewings and the Shermans. Her parents migrated from Pennsylvania to Illinois while she was quite young, and her education was received at the Academy of the Visitation, in Washington, D. C. Mother Angela always had a high regard for Blaine. She was intimately acquainted with the details of his early life and his home at Brownsville, Pa. To those in whom she placed great confidence she frequently gave touching incidents of the young man’s early career, and on more than one occasion she repelled slanders which were no doubt implicitly believed by the public at large. She became connected with the Holy Cross Sisters many years before the war. When the first gun was fired at Sumter Mother Angela was in charge of a flourishing school at South Bend. When the need for nurses became pressing this was given up, the scholars returned to their homes, and the Sister teachers volunteered their services to those in charge of the hospitals. Mother Angela was sent out by the Very Rev. Father Sourin, Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, whose head house was at Notre Dame, Indiana.

The following is an extract from the Circular Letter issued October 21, 1861, by Father Sorin, who was the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in the United States:

“My Dear Daughters in Jesus Christ:

“Among the distressing features of the times I am glad to convey
you some consoling news, for, however much we deplore the
distracted state of our country, we find a gratification in being
able to assuage some of its sorrows....

A most honorable call has been made on your community by the First
Magistrate in our State, asking for twelve Sisters to go and
attend the sick, the wounded and dying soldiers.... The call has
been unhesitatingly responded to, and this afternoon six Sisters
of Holy Cross started for Paducah. Six more start within a
week.... They are all chosen from a large number of volunteers;
and if we judge of their sentiments by the joy with which they
have received their selection, we have reason to believe that they
duly appreciate the honor and favor bestowed upon them.

“It is well known that in the Crimean War the Sisters of Charity
literally covered themselves with glory before men, and,
doubtless, with merits before God. When the record of our present
struggles will be handed down to posterity will it not be a source
of joy for the Church to be able to show, in every rank of
society, many a glorious name generously sacrificed for the rescue
of the country?

“But why should we be left out of the list? If the Standard of the
Cross, under which we have enlisted, knows no enemies among men;
if our objects, on the contrary, is to rally them all under the
precious emblem of our salvation, our little army stands arrayed
against the enemy of mankind, the spirit of darkness, and all the
evils and the wounds which he has inflicted on humanity. Hence,
wherever there is a pain to soothe, a pang to relieve, a bleeding
heart or limb to treat or dress, there is a field for us to enter,
under pain of deserting our noble banner.... What a joy it would
bring to the apostolic heart of our venerated founder (Father
Moreaux) to hear of this heroic act of charity undertaken by this
little vanguard of his company in the New World! It is in his name
I have blessed them, and they may rest assured that while they
follow the fortunes of the battlefields of the nation, he, like
Moses, will be praying for them on the mountain top. We, too,
shall persevere with him in prayer in their behalf. In all our
Houses there shall be offered for them a General Communion every
Saturday, that they may fully discharge the important trust they
have received.”

Mother Angela met many of the great generals of the war, and they all united in declaring her a woman of marvelous executive ability. Besides this she had many other accomplishments of a high order. Although she was the Mother in charge, she gave her personal attention to many of the patients. On several historic occasions she waited upon Confederate and Union soldiers at the same time. “Johnny Reb,” as he was facetiously called, and the “Yank” would lie in cots side by side, with the peaceful face of Mother Angela between them. Often men lying helpless on their backs would get into heated disputes over the relative merits of the war, and but for their physical disability would have done each other violence. The Sisters alone possessed the power to quell these quarrels, and they did it with all the tact and diplomacy becoming their gentle natures.

The story of the first meeting between General Grant and Mother Angela comes from an eye-witness of that historic episode, and can be vouched for as strictly correct. Grant was just then beginning to develop the traits of a leader, which were to mark him later as the greatest captain of his time. His headquarters were in an old brick building that had formerly served as a bank in Cairo. Mother Angela came to this place to report for duty to General Grant. She was accompanied by the late Dr. Brinton, an honored physician of Philadelphia, and Rev. Louis A. Lambert, D. D., LL. D.[22]

Dr. Lambert, who was to act in the capacity of chaplain, escorted Mother Angela into Grant’s presence. The great Captain was seated at a desk behind the iron bars, which had evidently been formerly used by the cashier of the bank. He was writing with the air of a man who was absorbed in his task and unconscious of his surroundings. An ordinary cheap pipe was in his mouth, and every now and then he mechanically blew forth a cloud of smoke. The characteristics of the man so well-known in later years were just as pronounced then. The people all around him were plainly agitated with the thought of the great war that was about to rage in all its fury. He sat at his work calm, silent, and with an imperturbability of countenance that was sphinx-like. Dr. Brinton, who had been one of the first to suggest the Sisters, introduced Mother Angela to Grant. The General came out from behind the iron grating with his head bare, and, taking Mother Angela’s hand, gave it a hearty shake. The pipe he had been smoking was temporarily laid aside. There was a moment’s silence, and then Grant, looking at his visitor with a pleasant smile, said:

“I am glad to have you with us, very glad.”

There was a pause for a second, and then he added:

“If there is anything at all I can do for you I will be glad to do it. I thoroughly appreciate the value of your services, and I will give orders to see that you do not want for anything.”

After a few more minutes of general conversation, in which Dr. Brinton and Father Lambert joined, Mother Angela and the Sisters started for their mission at Mound City. In later years General Grant frequently expressed profound admiration for Mother Angela, not only as a nurse, but as a woman of unusual ability.

Grant about this period in his career was one of the most interesting characters of the war. It is curious to note the various estimates of his character. The following extract from a letter written from the “front” during the closing months of the war furnishes a striking pen picture of the man:

“In his manners, dress and style of living Grant displays more
republican simplicity than any other general officer in the army.
In manner he is very unassuming and approachable, and his
conversation is noticeable from its unpretending, plain and
straightforward style. There is nothing didactic nor pedantic in
his tone or language. His rhetoric is more remarkable for the
compact structure than the elegance and finish of his sentences.
He talks practically, and writes as he talks, and his language,
written and oral, is distinguished by strong common sense.

“He seldom indulges in figurative language; but when he does his
comparisons betray his habits of close observation. He dresses in
a careless, but by no means slovenly manner. Though his uniform
conforms to army regulations in cut and trimmings, it is often
like that of Sherman--worn threadbare. He never wears any article
which attracts attention by its oddity, except, indeed, the three
stars which indicate his rank. His wardrobe when campaigning is
generally very scant, while his headquarters train is often the
smallest in the army. For several months past he has been living
in a log hut of unpretending dimensions on the James River,
sleeping on a common camp-cot, and eating at a table common to all
his staff, plainly furnished with good roast beef, pork and beans,
‘hard-tack’ and coffee.

“It is related of the General that when the march to the rear of
Vicksburg began he announced to his army the necessity of ‘moving
light,’ i. e., without extra baggage. He set an example by sending
to the rear all his baggage except a green briar-root pipe, a
tooth-brush and a horn pocket-comb. The story of his appearance in
the Senate chamber in February last is still fresh in the minds of
the public. He had no sooner left the hall after paying his
respects to the Senators than one of the Democratic members rose
and asked the consideration of the Senate upon what he termed the
evident and gross mistake which had been made in appointing Grant
a Lieutenant General, and declared it to be his opinion that
‘there was not a second lieutenant of the Home Guard of his State
who did not “cut a bigger swell” than this man who had just left
their presence.’”

Mother Angela’s party after leaving General Grant had quite an experience in reaching their destination. The wagon which had been detailed as their conveyance broke down when they were half way thither, and there was some difficulty in patching it up sufficiently to finish the journey. But it was done, and the Sisters eventually reached Mound City, and began their work of mercy in the hospital located there. Sister Ferdinand was a fellow laborer with Mother Angela at this time. Father Lambert, the chaplain, attended the Post Hospital at Mound City and said Mass at 4 o’clock in the morning for the benefit of Mother Angela and her Sisters.

There was one incident that was kept quiet and which did not become generally known until after the war. Small-pox was raging at the time, and one of the brave Sisters was stricken down. She was hastily stowed away in a garret of the hospital building and a special guard placed over her. She recovered, and after that devoted herself to nursing others with even more zeal than she had shown before she was stricken down. Ordinarily small-pox cases were sent to the pest house, but in this instance the tenderness of the Sisters would not permit them to part with their afflicted colleague. It was against the rules, to be sure, but who can blame the Sisters for this merciful breach of discipline? It is only proper to state that the case was so isolated that not one of the twelve hundred patients was affected even in the remotest degree. One who was in the hospital at this time says that he is not certain but that the Surgeon General knew of the hidden case.

There were between 1200 and 1400 patients in the hospital, and all received the kindest care and attention. Mother Angela served through all the war, winning extraordinary distinction for tact, diplomacy and faithfulness.

The official communication written by Commander Davis after a battle on White River, June 17, 1862, indicates that Mother Angela was not unknown to the authorities.

U. S. Flag Steamer Benton, Memphis, June 20, 1862.
Hon. Gideon Wells, Secretary of the Navy.

Sir:--The number of men on board the hospital boat Red Rover is
forty-one. The account given me yesterday was incorrect. I shall
still wait for further knowledge before presenting a final report
of the casualties attending the capture of the St. Charles forts.
The Department will be gratified to learn that the patients are,
most of them, doing well. * * * Sister Angela, the Superior of the
Sisters of the Holy Cross (some of whom are performing their
offices of mercy at the Mound City Hospital), has kindly offered
the services of the Sisters for the hospital boat of this squadron
when needed. I have written to Commander Rennock to make
arrangements for their coming.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully your obedient servant,

CHARLES H. DAVIS,
Flag Officer Commanding Western Flotilla.

The Catholic Mirror, under date of November 8, 1862, records the following:

“A fourth colony of these devoted Sisterhoods has set forth on its
mission of mercy, to serve in the hospitals of Washington, as they
already serve so faithfully at Memphis, Cairo and Mound City. The
Hospital of St. Aloysius, erected in a week by Catholic charity,
fired by the zeal of the dead Jesuit Fathers, call them to its
succor; and they, fully responding to the holy fervor which built
these hospitals from the very overflowings of love to God and of
reverence for the tabernacle in which dwells the Holy of Holies,
will fill up the measure of these by ministering to the wants of
the sick and sorrowing and forlorn, the objects of His love who
died on Calvary, and renders daily His sacrifice for their
success, and the holy temple thus saved by piety from desecration.

“Who has not heard of the Jesuit Fathers? Their fame has spread
throughout the earth; and yet so silently they work, so sublimely
concealed their burning zeal, that but for an occasion like the
present, when the influence they possess over the human soul
manifested itself by a simultaneous impulse that cannot be
repressed, they for the most part live a hidden, unobtrusive
life--a life which makes the surer the good they invariably
effect--for near 400 years the devoted sons of St. Ignatius toiled
like their founder in striving to hide from the world the
individuals who achieved a good that will not be hidden; and it
seems a sort of sacrilege to withdraw the veil that hides this
good even partially from the world. When we think of what the
Jesuits have done through long ages, our heart burns, our spirit
fires, and in our heart of hearts perceive that men who do good in
every age, without being tainted with the spirit of any age,
demand from us reverence and not praise.

“When, then, we heard of the last demonstration of zeal, of
Catholic zeal, stirred up by the Jesuit Fathers, we felt no
extraordinary surprise, we manifested no extraordinary exultation;
a tranquil happiness stole over us; we thanked God that St.
Ignatius still lived in his sons, and that, great as was the work
of building St. Aloysius Hospitals in six days, a far greater
work, though a more hidden one, is being daily, hourly, performed
by these devoted soldiers of the Church.

“But, meantime, the hospital of St. Aloysius is a fact; in
Washington, hospitals to form a refuge for the sick, measuring six
hundred feet by twenty-six, are in actual existence, erected
spontaneously by Catholic charity, and purposing to be watched
over also by Catholic charity, for the Sisters of the Holy Cross
are already on the way to take charge of such inmates as this
unhappy war shall bring within its precincts.

“May they prosper in their mission at Washington, as at Memphis,
Mound City and at Cairo; may they bring balm to the wounded heart
as they bandage the wounded limb; and may the blessings they bring
to others react upon themselves to enable them to lead more and
more fully the life of recollection every true religious covets,
even while pursuing the apparently distracting occupations of
attending the sick and wounded! In bringing to the bedside the
comforts of a soul in constant and habitual communication with
God, by the faithfulness in which are performed the religious
exercises prescribed by the rule, a Sister of Holy Cross can
scarcely fail to dispense treasures far more valuable than the
gold and silver of the world.

“How many are the souls aided in their passage to eternity! How
many reclaimed from a life of sin! How many taught to bless the
temporary suffering which brought them acquainted with the peace
that passeth all understanding! The annals of these deeds are
hidden now; but on the Day of Judgment they will stand forth and
praise the religious, who, by her spirit of prayer, was enabled to
perform these ‘miracles of the soul.’”

The following communication, signed “P,” and addressed to the editor of the New York Tablet, on April 12, 1862, is interesting, not only in particularizing the order in question, but in affording another glimpse of Mother Angela:

“In your issue of the 22d I find a notice of the military hospital
at Mound City. There is a mistake in that article which I am sure
you will willingly rectify. The Sisters who are in charge there
are not the ‘Sisters of Charity;’ they are the ‘Sisters of the
Holy Cross,’ from their Convent of St. Mary’s, St. Joseph’s
County, Indiana. Under the direction of their Superioress, Mother
St. Angela, these pious Sisters have had for some time the charge
of the hospitals at Cairo, Mound City and Paducah. Upon their
arrival, about the beginning of October, all the other female
nurses were dispensed with, and the Sisters assumed the entire
control of the wards, each Sister having the care of one ward.

“When it became known throughout the West that Mother Angela and
her Sisters had assumed this arduous position, hundreds of her
friends hastened to forward to her care large supplies of clothing
and linen suitable for hospital purposes. She even made a journey
to Chicago for the purpose of obtaining supplies, and right nobly
did the citizens respond to her call. There are now over thirty
Sisters there, who are almost exhausted by their incessant labors;
they know no rest night or day. Fourteen hundred wounded men are
hourly receiving at their hands such care as can only be bestowed
by pious souls who look for their reward not on earth but in
heaven.

“It must be a great consolation to the relatives and friends of
our gallant soldiers to know that they are attended on their beds
of pain and suffering by such nurses. Wherever a Sister moves she
has the prayers and blessings of the poor soldier, and the thanks
and gratitude of the officers. Beside whatever bed death has laid
his hand, there is seen a Sister seeking to alleviate the
suffering of the patient and to prepare the parting soul for the
judgment so soon to be pronounced upon it.”

The following reference to the Holy Cross Sisters from the pen of Father Corby is apropos:

“Sixty Sisters of the Holy Cross went out under Mother Angela.
These Sisters volunteered their services to nurse the sick and the
wounded soldiers, hundreds of whom, moved to sentiments of purest
piety by the words and example of these angel nurses, begged to be
baptized in articulo mortis--at the point of death. The labors and
self-sacrifice of the Sisters during the war need no praise here.
The praise is on the lips of every surviving soldier who
experienced their kind and careful ministration. Many a soldier
now looks down from on high with complacency on the worthy Sisters
who were instrumental in saving the soul when life could not be
saved. Nor was it alone from the Order of the Sisters of the Holy
Cross that Sister nurses engaged in the care of the sick and
wounded soldiers. Many other orders made costly sacrifices to save
life and to save souls, notably the noble Order of the Sisters of
Charity. To members of this order I am personally indebted. When
prostrate with camp fever, insensible for nearly three days, my
life was entrusted to their care. Like guardian angels these
Daughters of St. Vincent watched every symptom of the fever, and
by their skill and care I was soon able to return to my post of
duty.”[23]

One of the interesting features of the charitable work of the war came to the notice of Mother Angela in the early part of 1864. It was a donation of $1000 from Pope Pius the IX for the relief of the sick and wounded soldiers. Through Cardinal Barnabo the Pope expressed to Bishop Timon, of Buffalo, his tender sympathy for the sufferings of the many wounded, and requested the Bishop to give, in the Pope’s name, $500 to aid in alleviating the suffering of the wounded soldiers in the Northern army, and the same amount for the same object for the Southern soldiers. Bishop Timon gave $500 to Mrs. Horatio Seymour, president of the Sanitary Commission, to aid our wounded soldiers, and $500 to Miss D. L. Dix, to be applied in procuring for wounded Southern prisoners in the hospitals any additional comforts which might be deemed useful.

The following incident concerning Mother Angela’s war experiences is from the pen of Eliza Allen Starr:

During the early days of the war and the hospital service we all know how inadequate were the supplies for the sick and wounded; how meagre the equipments for the hospital nurses. A poor, little circular stovepipe served the indefatigable Mother Angela on which to prepare with her own skillful hands the early cup of gruel for her patients, rising as four, or, if need were, at three in the morning to answer the first call of the sufferers; and the character of the stores provided was such as few could realize one year later. At this time the Commissary Board sent a visitor to the camp and hospital where Mother Angela and her Sisters were stationed. During all these months nothing could exceed the courtesy of the officers, who always shared any choice provisions which came to them with the Sisters, as they supposed, while the Sisters as scrupulously passed on to their patients everything which could tempt the sick appetite, sharing, in fact, only the rations served regularly to the hospital wards. When the Commissary visitor arrived he was duly escorted to the hospital, which excited his warmest approbation for its order, neatness, comfort of every sort; but as he was bowing himself out in the most complimentary manner from the presence of Mother Angela and her band of Sisters, she said to him: “But, Mr. ----, you must allow us to show you some hospitality. Pardon our lack of silver and porcelain, but take a cup of hospital tea!” “Thank you, thank you, Mother Angela, but I have taken dinner already with the officers, and need nothing.” “Allow me to insist!” and before another excuse could be urged a Sister appeared with a snow-white napkin and the tincup and spoon of the hospital and--the anything than fragrant beverage of hospital tea. “Sugar, Sister,” said the sweetly-ringing voice of the gentlewoman, Mother Angela, and before our Commissary visitor could wave off this fresh specimen of hospital luxury, Mother Angela had dumped into the tin cup what resembled the scrapings of the molasses barrel more than sugar. Our Commissary visitor was a gentleman from the toe of his boot to the crown of his head, and he drank the cup of tea, well stirred, to its dregs, without a grimace, bowing as he handed the empty tincup to the Sister, while Mother Angela rubbed her little hands with unmistakable glee, and the full merriment of laughing eyes, as she said: “I knew, Mr. ----, you would wish to taste of our hospital tea!” And the Commissary visitor vowed in his heart as he turned from the hospital door that the next train, on his arrival home, should take, as he said in his letter to Mother Angela, such stores to her own and to every hospital under his charge as a Christian man could accept without shame from the hand of any hospital nurse in the land.

There was another Sister Angela who was prominent during the civil war, but who was not so conspicuous as her illustrious namesake. She is thus referred to in a recent work:[24]

“Sister Angela became a member of the Community (Visitation Sisters) about 1819. She was one of those characters who convey to the mind the image of a soul of spotless innocence. She celebrated her golden jubilee and lived for several years afterwards, retained to the last her full mental faculties and childlike simplicity. She was made Superioress of the foundation in Philadelphia. On the breaking up of the house there she was recalled to Georgetown. Then for twelve years at different times she served as Superioress of Georgetown Convent and governed with a gentle firmness and a lovely spirit of forebearance; enduring the many trials incidental to authority with the utmost patience.

“During the civil war her energy and wisdom shone forth especially. She was at that time most generous in trying to aid poor chaplains, and she showed a true zeal for souls in the advice she gave to soldiers who applied to her for help. Her charity was remembered, as the nuns of Georgetown had reason to realize not long ago, during the encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, when one of the veterans called to see “Sister Angela,” not knowing she had been dead several years. The veteran gave as his reason for desiring to see her that the angelic Superioress had converted him. Whenever worn out with marching and laden with dust, regiments halted in front of the Convent during the war, a liberal lunch was served to the weary soldiers, and objects of piety sent out to those who wanted them by Sister Angela.”