LADIES DISTINGUISHED FOR SERVICES AMONG THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.
MRS. FRANCES D. GAGE.
On the 12th of October, 1808, was born in the township of Union,
Washington County, Ohio, Frances Dana Barker. Her father had, twenty
years before that time, gone a pioneer to the Western wilds. His name
was Joseph Barker, a native of New Hampshire. Her mother was Elizabeth
Dana, of Massachusetts, and her maternal grandmother was Mary Bancroft.
She was thus allied on the maternal side to the well-known Massachusetts
families of Dana and Bancroft.
During her childhood, schools were scarce in Ohio, and in the small
country places inferior. A log-cabin in the woods was the Seminary where
Frances Barker acquired the rudiments of education. The wolf's howl, the
panther's cry, the hiss of the copperhead, often filled her young heart
with terror.
Her father was a farmer, and the stirring life of a farmer's daughter in
a new country, fell to her lot. To spin the garments she wore, to make
cheese and butter, were parts of her education, while to lend a hand at
out-door labor, perhaps helped her to acquire that vigor of body and
brain for which she has since been distinguished.
She made frequent visits to her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Bancroft Dana,
whose home was at Belpre, Ohio, upon the Ohio river, only one mile from
Parkersburg, Virginia, and opposite Blennerhasset's Island. Mrs. Dana,
was even then a radical on the subject of slavery, and Frances learned
from her to hate the word, and all it represented. She never was on the
side of the oppressor, and was frequently laughed at in childhood, for
her sympathy with the poor fugitives from slavery, who often found their
way to the neighborhood in which she lived, seeking kindness and charity
of the people.
It had not then become a crime to give a crust of bread, or a cup of
milk to the "fugitive from labor," and Mrs. Barker, a noble,
true-thinking woman, often sent her daughter on errands of mercy to the
neighboring cabins, where the poor creatures sought shelter, and would
tarry a few days, often to be caught and sent back to their masters.
Thus she early became familiarized with their sufferings, and their
wants.
At the age of twenty, on the 1st of January, 1829, Frances Barker became
the wife of James L. Gage, a lawyer of McConnellsville, Ohio, a good and
noble man, whose hatred of the system of slavery in the South, was
surpassed only by that of the great apostle of anti-slavery, Garrison,
himself. Moral integrity, and unflinching fidelity to the cause of
humanity, were leading traits of his character.
A family of eight children engrossed much of their attention for many
years, but still they found time to wage moral warfare with the
stupendous wrong that surrounded them, and bore down their friends and
neighbors beneath the leaden weight of its prejudice and injustice.
Mrs. Gage records that "it never seemed to her to require any sacrifice
to resist the popular will upon the subjects of freedom for the slave,
temperance, or even the rights of woman." They were all so manifestly
right, in her opinion, that she could not but take her stand as their
advocates, and it was far easier for her to maintain them than to yield
one iota of her conscientious views.
Thus she always found herself in a minority, through all the struggling
years between 1832 and 1865. She had once an engagement with the editor
of a "State Journal" to write weekly for his columns during a year.
This, at that time seemed to her a great achievement. But a few plain
words from her upon the Fugitive Slave Law, brought a note saying her
services were no longer wanted; "He would not," the editor wrote,
"publish sentiments in his Journal, which, if carried out, would strike
at the foundations of all law, order, and government," and added much
good advice. Her reply was prompt:
"Yours of ---- is at hand. Thanking you for your unasked counsel, I
cheerfully retire from your columns.
"Respectfully yours,
"F. D. GAGE."
She has lived to see that editor change many of his views, and approach
her standard.
The great moral struggle of the thirty years preceding the war, in her
opinion, required for its continuance far more heroism than that which
marshalled our hosts along the Potomac, prompted Sheridan's raids, or
Sherman's triumphant "march to the sea."
In all her warfare against existing wrong, that which she waged for the
liberties of her own sex subjected her to the most trying persecution,
insult and neglect. In the region of Ohio where she then resided, she
stood almost alone, but she was never inclined to yield. Probably,
unknown to herself, this very discipline was preparing her for the
events of the future, and its supreme tests of her principles.
A member of Congress once called to urge her to persuade her husband to
yield a point of principle (which he said if adhered to would prove the
political ruin of Mr. Gage) holding out the bribe of a seat in Congress,
if he would stand by the old Whig party in some of its tergiversations,
and insisting that if he persisted in doing as he had threatened, he
would soon find himself standing alone. She promised the gentleman that
she would repeat to her husband what he had said, and as soon as he had
gone seized her pencil and wrote the following impromptu, which serves
well to illustrate her firm persistence in any course she believes
right, as well as the principle that animates her.
DARE TO STAND ALONE.
"Be bold, be firm, be strong, be true,
And dare to stand alone.
Strike for the Right whate'er ye do,
Though helpers there be none.
"Oh! bend not to the swelling surge
Of popular crime and wrong.
'Twill bear thee on to Ruin's verge
With current wild and strong.
"Strike for the Right, tho' falsehood rail
And proud lips coldly sneer.
A poisoned arrow cannot wound
A conscience pure and clear.
"Strike for the Right, and with clean hands
Exalt the truth on high,
Thou'lt find warm sympathizing hearts
Among the passers by,
"Those who have thought, and felt, and prayed,
Yet could not singly dare
The battle's brunt; but by thy side
Will every danger share.
"Strike for the Right. Uphold the Truth.
Thou'lt find an answering tone
In honest hearts, and soon no more
Be left to stand alone."
She handed this poem to the gentleman with whom she had been conversing,
and he afterwards told her that it decided him to give up all for
principle. He led off in his district in what was soon known as the Free
Soil party, the root of the present triumphant Republican party.
In 1853 the family of Mrs. Gage removed to St. Louis. Those who fought
the anti-slavery battle in Massachusetts have little realization of the
difficulty and danger of maintaining similar sentiments in a
slaveholding community, and a slave State. Mrs. Gage spoke boldly
whenever her thought seemed to be required, and soon found herself
branded as an "abolitionist" with every adjective appended that could
tend to destroy public confidence.
While Colonel Chambers, the former accomplished editor of the Missouri
Republican lived, she wrote for his columns, and at one time summing up
the resources of that great State, she advanced this opinion: "Strike
from your statute books the laws that give man the right to hold
property in man, and ten years from this time Missouri will lead its
sister State on the eastern shore of the Mississippi."
After the publication of this article, Colonel Chambers was waited upon
and remonstrated with by some old slaveholders, for allowing an
abolitionist to write for his journal. "Such sentiments," they said,
"would destroy the Union." "If your Union," replied he, "is based upon a
foundation so unstable that one woman's breath can blow it down, in
God's name let her do it. She shall say her say while I live and edit
this paper."
He died soon after, and Mrs. Gage was at once excluded from its columns,
by the succeeding editors, refused payment for past labors, or a return
of her manuscripts.
The Missouri Democrat soon after hoisted the flag of Emancipation under
the leadership of Frank Blair. She became one of its correspondents, and
for several years continued to supply its columns with an article once
or twice a week. Appearing in 1858 upon the platform of the Boston
Anti-Slavery Society, she was at once excluded as dangerous to the
interests of the party which the paper represented.
During all the years of her life in Missouri Mrs. Gage frequently
received letters threatening her with personal violence, or the
destruction of her husband's property. Slaves came to her for aid, and
were sent to entrap her, but she succeeded in evading all positive
difficulty and trial.
During the Kansas war she labored diligently with pen, tongue, and
hands, for those who so valiantly fought the oppressor in that hour of
trial. She expected to be waylaid and to be made to suffer for her
temerity, and perhaps she did; for about the close of that perilous year
three disastrous fires, supposed to be the work of incendiaries, greatly
reduced the family resources.
This portion of the life of Mrs. Gage has been dwelt upon at
considerable length, because she regards the struggle then made against
the wickedness, prejudice, and bigotry of mankind, as the main bravery
of her life, and that if there has been heroism in any part of it, it
was then displayed. "If as a woman," she says, "to take the platform
amidst hissing, and scorn, and newspaper vituperations, to maintain the
right of woman to the legitimate use of all the talents God invests her
with; to maintain the rights of the slave in the very ears of the
masters; to hurl anathemas at intemperance in the very camps of the
dram-sellers; if to continue for forty years, in spite of all opposing
forces, to press the triune cause persistently, consistently, and
unflinchingly, entitles me to a humble place among those noble ones who
have gone about doing good, you can put me in that place as it suits
you."
At the breaking out of the war, by reason of her husband's failure in
business at St. Louis, and his ill-health, Mrs. Gage found herself
filling the post of Editor of the Home Department of an Agricultural
paper in Columbus, Ohio. The call for help for the soldiers, was
responded to by all loyal women. Mrs. Gage did what she could with her
hands, but found them tied by unavoidable labors. She offered tongue and
pen, and found them much more efficient agents. The war destroyed the
circulation of the paper, and she was set free.
The cry of suffering from the Freedmen reached her, and God seemed to
speak to her heart, telling her that there was her mission.
In the autumn of 1862, without appointment, or salary, with only faith
in God that she should be sustained, and with a firm reliance on the
invincible principles of Truth and Justice, in the hope of doing good,
she left Ohio, and proceeded directly to Port Royal.
She remained among the freedmen of Beaufort, Paris, Fernandina, and
other points, thirteen months; administering also to the soldiers, as
often as circumstances gave opportunity. Her own four boys were in the
Union army, and this, if no more, would have given every "boy in blue,"
a claim upon her sympathy and kindness.
In the fall of 1863, Mrs. Gage returned North, and with head and heart
filled to overflowing with the claims of the great mission upon which
she had entered, she commenced a lecturing tour, speaking to the people
of her "experiences among the Freedmen." To show them as they were, to
give a truthful portrayal of Slavery, its barbarity and heinousness, its
demoralization of master and man, its incompatibility with all things
beautiful or good, its defiance of God and his truth; and to show the
intensely human character of the slave, who, through this fearful ordeal
of two hundred years, had preserved so much goodness, patient hope,
unwavering trust in Jesus, faith in God, such desire for knowledge and
capability of self-support--such she felt to be her mission, and as such
she performed it! She believed that by removing prejudice, and inspiring
confidence in the Emancipation Proclamation, and by striving to unite
the people on this great issue, she could do more than in any other way
toward ending the war, and relieving the soldier--such was the aim of
her lectures, while she never omitted to move the hearts of the audience
toward those so nobly defending the Union and the Government.
Thus, in all the inclement winter weather, through Pennsylvania, New
York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri, she pursued her labors of love,
never omitting an evening when she could get an audience to address,
speaking for Soldiers' Aid Societies, and giving the proceeds to those
who worked only for the soldier,--then for Freedmen's Associations. She
worked without fee or reward, asking only of those who were willing, to
give enough to defray her expenses--for herself--thankful if she
received, cheerful if she did not.
Following up this course till the summer days made lecturing seem
impossible, she started from St. Louis down the Mississippi, to Memphis,
Vicksburg, and Natchez. On this trip she went as an unsalaried agent of
the Western Sanitary Commission--receiving only her expenses, and the
goods and provisions wherewith to relieve the want and misery she met
among our suffering men.
A few months' experience among the Union Refugees, and unprotected
fugitives, or unprotected Freedmen, convinced her that her best work for
all was in the lecturing field, in rousing the hearts of the multitude
to good deeds.
She had but one weak pair of hands, while her voice might set a hundred,
nay, a thousand pairs in motion, and believing that we err if we fail to
use our best powers for life's best uses, she again, after a few months
with the soldiers and other sufferers, entered the lecturing field in
the West, speaking almost nightly.
In the month of September, she was overturned in a carriage at
Galesburg, Illinois. Some bones were broken, and she was otherwise so
injured as to be entirely crippled for that year. She has since been
able to labor only occasionally, and in great weakness for the _cause_.
This expression she uses for all struggle against wrong. "Temperance,
Freedom, Justice to the negro, Justice to woman," she says, "are but
parts of one great whole, one mighty temple whose maker and builder is
God."
Through all the vicissitudes of the past; through all its years of
waiting, her faith in Him who led, and held, and comforted, has never
wavered, and to Him alone does she ascribe the Glory of our National
Redemption.
MRS. LUCY GAYLORD POMEROY.
In 1803, some families from Bristol and Meriden, Connecticut, removed to
the wilderness of New York, and settled in what is now Otisco, Onondaga
County. Among these were Chauncey Gaylord, a sturdy, athletic young man,
just arrived at the age of twenty-one, and "a little, quiet, black-eyed
girl, with a sunny, thoughtful face, only eleven years old." Her name
was Dema Cowles. So the young man and the little girl became
acquaintances, and friends, and in after years lovers. In 1817 they were
married. Their first home was of logs, containing one room, with a rude
loft above, and an excavation beneath for a cellar.
In this humble abode was born Lucy Ann Gaylord, the subject of this
sketch, who afterwards became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, United
States Senator from Kansas.
Plain and humble as was this home, it was a consecrated one, where God
was worshipped, and the purest religious lessons taught. Mrs. Gaylord
was a woman of remarkable strength of character and principles, one who
carried her religion into all the acts of daily life, and taught by a
consistent example, no less than by a wise precept. Her mother had early
been widowed, and had afterwards married Mr. Eliakim Clark, from
Massachusetts, and had become the mother of the well-known
twin-brothers, Lewis Gaylord, and Willis Gaylord Clark, destined to
develop into scholars and poets, and to leave their mark upon the
literature of America. She had been entrusted with the care of these
beautiful and noble boys for some years, and was already experienced in
duties of that kind, before children of her own were given her.
Doubtless to her high order of intellect, refined taste, amiable
disposition, and sterling good sense, all the children who shared her
care are indebted to a great extent for the noble qualities they
possess.
Other children succeeded Lucy, and as the elder sister, she shared, in
their primitive mode of life, her mother's cares and duties. Her
character developed and expanded, and she grew in mental grace as in
stature, loving all beautiful things and noble thoughts, and early
making a profession of religion.
By this time the family occupied a handsome rural homestead, where
neatness, order, regularity, industry and kindness reigned, and where a
liberal hospitality was always practiced. Here gathered all the large
group of family relatives, here the aged grandmother Clark lived, and
hither came her gifted twin sons, from time to time, as to their home.
The most beautiful scenery surrounded this homestead; peace, order,
intelligence, truth and godliness abounded there, and amidst such
influences Lucy Gaylord had the training which led to the future
usefulness of her life. Even in her youth she was the friend and safe
counsellor of her brothers, as in her maturer years she was of her
gifted husband.
At eighteen she made a public profession of religion, and soon after the
thought of consecrating herself to the missionary work took possession
of her mind. To this end she labored and studied for several years,
steadfastly educating herself for a vocation to which she believed
herself called, though often afflicted with serious doubts as to whether
she, being an only daughter, could leave her parents.
In early life she became an earnest and efficient teacher in
Sunday-schools, her intellectual pursuits furnishing her with ever fresh
means of rendering her instruction interesting and useful to her
classes. She undoubtedly at the first considered this as a training for
the work to which, in time, she hoped to devote herself.
But this hope was destined to disappointment. One violent illness after
another finally destroyed her health, and she never quite recovered the
early tone of her system. Yet she worked on, doing good wherever the
means presented.
Soon afterwards she met with the great sorrow of her life. The young man
to whom she was soon to be married, between whom and herself the
strongest attachment existed, cemented by a mutual knowledge of noble
qualities, was suddenly snatched from her, and she became a widow in all
but the name.
This sorrow still more refined and beautified her character. By degrees
the sharpness of the grief wore away, and it became a sweet, though
saddened memory. Eight years after her loss, she became the wife of
Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Southampton, Massachusetts. "They were of kindred
feelings in life's great work, had suffered alike by early bereavement,
and were drawn together by that natural affinity which unites two lives
in one."
He had given up mercantile business in Western New York not long before,
and had returned to his early home to care for the declining years of
his aged parents. And this was the missionary work to which Mrs. Pomeroy
found herself appointed. She was welcomed heartily, and found her duties
rendered light by appreciation and affection.
Here, as elsewhere, Mrs. Pomeroy made herself actively useful beyond, as
well as within, her home. She performed duties of Sabbath School and
general religious instruction, that might be called arduous, especially
when added to her domestic cares and occupations. These, with other
labors, exhausted her strength and a protracted season of illness
followed.
From that time, 1850, for five or six years, she continued to suffer,
being most of the time very ill, her life often despaired of. During all
this season of peculiar trial she never lost her faith and courage, even
when her physicians gave no hope of her recovery, being contented to
abide by the will of Providence, convinced that if God had any work for
her to do He would spare her life. During this time her husband was
often absent, being first in the Massachusetts Legislature, and
afterwards sent out as Agent by the Northeastern Aid Society to Kansas,
which they were desirous to settle as a free State. Into this last duty
she insisted with energy that he should enter. During his absence she
experienced other afflictions, but her health notwithstanding rallied,
and as soon as possible she made preparations to remove to Kansas where
Mr. Pomeroy wished to make a home. In the spring of 1857 she finally
arrived there, and there she remained until the spring of 1861, when she
accompanied her husband to Washington, when he went thither to take his
seat in the Senate.
The hardships and the usefulness of her life in Kansas are matters of
history, and it is truly surprising to read how one so long an invalid
was enabled to perform such protracted and exhausted labors. All who
knew her there bear ample and enthusiastic testimony to the usefulness
of her life. To the whites she was friend, hostess, counsellor,
assistant, in sickness and in health. To the poor and despised blacks,
striving to find freedom, she was friend and teacher, even at the time
when her near neighborhood to the slave State of Missouri, made the
service most dangerous. Then followed the terrible famine year of 1860.
During all that time she freely gave her services in the work of
providing for the sufferers. Mr. Pomeroy, aided by the knowledge he had
acquired in his experience as Agent of Emigration, was able at once to
put the machinery in motion for obtaining supplies from the East, and
Mrs. Pomeroy transformed her home into an office of distribution, of
which she was superintendent and chief clerk. It was a year that taxed
far too heavily her already much exhausted strength.
When she accompanied her husband to Washington in the spring, her health
failed, cough and hoarseness troubled her, and she was obliged to leave
for visits in her native air, and for a stay of some months at Geneva
Water Cure.
From the breaking out of the war Mrs. Pomeroy, on all occasions, proved
herself desirous of the welfare of our soldiers. The record of her deeds
of kindness in their behalf is not as ample as that of some others, for
her health forbade the active nursing, and visiting of the sick in
hospitals, which is the most showy part of the work. But her
contributions of supplies were always large; and she had always a
peculiar care and interest in the religious and moral welfare of the
volunteers, who, far from the influences of home, and exposed to new and
numerous temptations, were, she felt, in more than one sense encircled
by peculiar dangers.
Only once did she revisit her Kansas home, and in the autumn of 1862
spent some months there. There was at that time a regiment in camp at
Atchison, and she was enabled to do great good to the sick in hospital,
not only with supplies, but by her own personal efforts for their
physical and spiritual welfare.
On her return to Washington she there entered as actively as possible
into this work. Her form became known in the hospitals, and many a
suffering man hailed her coming with a new light kindling his dimmed
eyes. She brought them comforts and delicacies, and she added her
prayers and her precious instructions. She cared both for souls and
bodies, and earned the immortal gratitude of those to whom she
ministered.
In January, 1863, her last active benevolent work was commenced, namely
the foundation of an asylum at the National Capital for the freed
orphans and destitute aged colored women whom the war, and the
Proclamation of Emancipation, had thrown upon the care of the
benevolent. For several months she was actively engaged in this
enterprise. A charter was immediately obtained, and when the Association
was organized, Mrs. Pomeroy was chosen President.
Almost entirely by her exertions, a building for the Asylum was
obtained, as well as some condemned hospital furniture, which was to be
sold at auction by the Government, but was instead transferred--a most
useful gift--to the Asylum.
But when the time came, about the 1st of June, 1863, for the Association
to be put in possession of the buildings and grounds assigned them, Mrs.
Pomeroy was too ill to receive the keys, and the Secretary took her
place. She was never able to look upon the fruit of her labors. Again,
she had exhausted her feeble powers, and she was never more to rally.
A slow fever followed, which at last assumed the form of typhoid. She
lingered on, slightly better at times, until the 17th of July, when
preparations were completed for removing her to the Geneva Water Cure,
and she started upon her last journey. She went by water, and arrived at
New York very comfortably, leaving there again on the boat for Albany,
on the morning of the 20th. But death overtook her before even this
portion of the journey was finished. She died upon the passage, on the
afternoon of July 20th, 1863. After her life of usefulness and devotion,
her name at last stands high upon the roll of martyr-women, whom this
war has made.
MARIA R. MANN.
Among the heroic women who labored most efficiently and courageously
during the late civil war for the good of our soldiers, and the poor
"contrabands," as the freed people were called, was Miss Maria R. Mann,
an educated and refined woman from Massachusetts, a near relative of the
first Secretary of the Board of Education of that renowned Commonwealth,
who gave his life and all his great powers to the cause of education,
and finished his noble career as the President of Antioch College, in
Ohio.
Miss Mann, is a native of Massachusetts, and spent the greater portion
of her mature life previous to the war, as a teacher. In this, her
chosen profession, she attained a high position, and for a number of
years taught in the High Schools. As a teacher she was highly esteemed
for her varied and accurate knowledge, the care and minuteness with
which she imparted instruction to her pupils, the high moral and
religious principle which controlled her actions, and made her life an
example of truth and goodness to her pupils, and for her enthusiastic
interest in the cause of education, of freedom and justice for the
slave, and of philanthropy and humanity towards the orphan, the
prisoner, the outcast, the oppressed and the poor, to whom her heart
went out in kindly sympathies, and in prayer and effort for the
improvement of their condition.
During the first year of the rebellion, she left all her pleasant
associations in New England, and came out to St. Louis, that she might
be nearer to the scene of conflict, and aid in the work of the Western
Sanitary Commission, and in nursing the sick and wounded soldiers, with
whom the hospitals at St. Louis were crowded that year. On her arrival,
she was duly commissioned by Mr. Yeatman, (the agent of Miss Dix for the
employment of women nurses), and entered upon her duties in the Fifth
Street Hospital.
For several months, she devoted herself to this work with great fidelity
and patience, and won the gratitude of many a poor sufferer by her
kindness, and the respect of the surgeons, by her good judgment and her
blended gentleness and womanly dignity.
Late in the fall of 1862, the Western Sanitary Commission was moved to
establish an agency at Helena, Ark., for the special relief of several
hundred colored families at that military post who had gathered there
from the neighboring country, and from the opposite shore in
Mississippi, as a place of refuge from their rebel owners. It was at
that time a miserable refuge, for the post was commanded by pro-slavery
Generals, who succeeded the humane and excellent Major-General Curtis,
who was unfortunately relieved of his command, and transferred to St.
Louis, in consequence of slanders against him at Washington, which some
of his pro-slavery subordinates had been busy in fabricating; and the
free papers which he gave to the colored people were violated; they were
subjected to all manner of cruelties and hardships; they were put under
a forced system of labor; driven by mounted orderlies to work on the
fortifications, and to unload steamboats and coal barges; and discharged
at night without compensation, or a comfortable shelter. No proper
record was kept of their services, and most of them never received any
pay for months of incessant toil. They were compelled to camp together
in the outskirts of the town, in huts and condemned tents, and the
rations issued to them were cut down to a half ration for the women and
children; so that they were neither well fed nor sheltered properly from
the weather, while they were entirely destitute of comfortable
clothing, and were without the means of purchasing new. Subjected to
this treatment, very great sickness and mortality prevailed among them.
In the miserable building assigned them for a hospital, which was wholly
unprovided with hospital furniture and bedding, and without regular
nurses or attendants, they were visited once a day by a contract
surgeon, who merely looked in upon them, administered a little medicine,
and left them to utter neglect and misery. Here they died at a fearful
rate, and their dead bodies were removed from the miserable pallet of
straw, or the bare floor where they had breathed their last, and buried
in rude coffins, and sometimes coffinless, in a low piece of ground near
by. The proportion of deaths, was about seventy-five percent. of all who
were carried sick to this miserable place, so that the colored people
became greatly afraid of being sent to the hospital, considering it the
same as going to a certain death; and many of them refused to go, even
in the last stages of sickness, and died in their huts, and in and out
of the very places into which they had crawled for concealment,
neglected and alone.
This state of things was fully known to the Generals commanding, and to
the medical director, and the army surgeons at Helena, without the least
effort being made on their part towards their improvement or
alleviation. From August, 1862, to January, 1863, they continued to
suffer in this manner, until the printed report and appeal of the
chaplains at Helena for aid, brought some voluntary contributions of
clothing, and secured the attention of the Western Sanitary Commission,
at St. Louis, to the great need of help at Helena, for the
"contrabands."
It was at this juncture that the Commission proposed to Miss Mann to go
to Helena, and act the part of the Good Samaritan to the colored people
who had congregated there; to establish a hospital for the sick among
them; to supply them with clothing and other necessaries, and in all
possible ways to improve their condition. The offer was readily accepted
by her, and in the month of January she arrived at Helena, with an ample
supply of sanitary goods and clothing, and with letters commending her
to the protection and aid of the commanding general, and to the chaplain
of the post, (who now furnishes this sketch from his memory), and to the
superintendent of freedmen, who welcomed her as a providential messenger
whom God had sent to his neglected and suffering poor.
The passage from St. Louis to Helena, a distance of six hundred miles,
in mid-winter, at a time when the steamers were fired on by guerrillas
from the shore, and sometimes captured, was made by Miss Mann,
unattended, and without knowing where she would find a shelter when she
arrived. The undertaking was attended with difficulty and danger, and
many obstacles were to be overcome, but the brave spirit of this noble
woman knew no such word as fail. Fortunately, the post chaplain, who had
been detailed to a service requiring clerks, was able to receive Miss
Mann, provide rooms for her, give her a place at the mess board, and
render useful aid in her work. He remembers with a grateful interest how
bravely she encountered every difficulty, and persevered in her humane
undertaking, until almost every evil the colored people suffered was
removed. A new hospital building was secured, furnished, and provided
with good surgeons and nurses, and the terrible sickness and mortality
reduced to the minimum per-centage of the best regulated hospitals; a
new and better camping ground was obtained, and buildings erected for
shelter; a school for the children was established, and the women taught
how to cut and make garments, and advised and instructed how to live and
be useful to themselves and their families. Material for clothing was
furnished them, which they made up for themselves. As the season of
spring came, the able-bodied men were enlisted as soldiers, by a new
order of the Government; those who were not fit for the military service
were hired by the new lessees of the plantations, and the condition of
the colored people was changed from one of utter misery and despair, to
one of thrift, improvement and comparative happiness.
In all these changes Miss Mann was a moving spirit, and with the
co-operation of the chaplains, and the friendly sanction and aid of
Major-General Prentiss--who on his arrival in February, 1863, introduced
a more humane treatment of the freed people--she was able to fulfil her
benevolent mission, and remained till the month of August of that year.
The heroism of Miss Mann during the winter season at Helena, was a
marvel to us all. It was an exceedingly rainy winter, and the streets
were often knee deep with mud. The town is built on a level, marshy
region of bottom land, and for weeks the roads became almost impassable,
and had to be waded on horseback, or the levee followed, and causeways
had to be built by the military. But Miss Mann was not to be prevented
by these difficulties from visiting the "Contraband Hospital," as it was
called, and from going her rounds to the families of the poor colored
people who needed her advice and assistance. I have often taken her
myself in an open wagon with which we carried the mail bags to and from
the steamers--having charge of the military post-office--and conveyed
her from place to place, when the wheels would sink almost to the hubs,
and returned with her to her quarters; and on several occasions when she
had gone on foot when the side-walks were dry, and she came to a
crossing that required deep wading, I have known her to call some stout
black man to her aid, to carry her across, and set her down on the
opposite sidewalk. In these cases the service was rendered with true
politeness and gallantry, and with the remark, "Bress the Lord, missus,
it's no trouble to carry you troo de mud, and keep your feet dry, you
who does so much for us black folks. You's light as a fedder, anyhow,
and de good Lord gibs you a wonderful sight of strength to go 'bout dis
yere muddy town, to see de poor culled folks, and gib medicines to the
sick, and feed the hungry, and clothe de naked, and I bress de good Lord
dat he put it into your heart to come to Helena."
In the autumn of 1863 Miss Mann felt that her work in Helena was
accomplished, and she returned to St. Louis, the colored people greatly
lamenting her departure. In her work there she not only had the
co-operation and assistance of the Western Sanitary Commission, but of
many benevolent ladies in New England, personal friends of Miss Mann and
others, who, through Rev. Dr. Eliot of St. Louis, supplied a large
portion of the funds that were necessary to defray the expenses of our
mission.
A new call to a theatre of usefulness in Washington City, in the
District of Columbia, now came to Miss Mann, to become the teacher of a
colored orphan asylum, which she accepted, where she devoted her
energies to the welfare of the children of those who in the army, or in
some other service to their country and race have laid down their lives,
and left their helpless offspring to be cared for by Him, who hears even
the young ravens when they cry, and moves human hearts to fulfil the
ministry of his love; and who by his Spirit is moving the American
people to do justly to the freed people of this land, and to make
reparation for the oppression and wrong they have endured for so many
generations.
After rendering a useful and excellent service as a teacher in the
Colored Orphan Asylum at Washington, she was induced by the colored
people, who greatly appreciated her work for their children, to
establish an independent school in Georgetown. Friends at the North
purchased a portable building for a school-house; the Freedmen's Bureau
offered her a lot of ground to put it on, but not being in the right
locality she rented one, and the building was sent to her, and has been
beautifully fitted up for the purpose. The school has been successfully
established, and under her excellent management, teaching, and
discipline, it has become a model school. Intelligent persons visiting
it are impressed by the perfect order maintained, and the advancement of
the scholars in knowledge and good behaviour.
Miss Mann has made many personal sacrifices in establishing and carrying
forward this school without government patronage or support, and the
only fear concerning it is that the colored people will not be able from
their limited resources to sustain it. It is her wish to prepare her
scholars to become teachers of other colored schools, a work she is
amply and remarkably qualified to do, and one in which she would be
sustained by philanthropic aid, if the facts were known to those who
feel the importance of all such efforts for the education and
improvement of the colored people of this country, in the new position
upon which they have entered as free citizens of the republic.
Among the gratifying results which Miss Mann has found in this work of
instruction among the colored people are the rapid improvement she has
witnessed among them, the capacity and eagerness with which they pursue
the acquisition of knowledge, the gratitude they have evinced to her,
and the consciousness that she has contributed to their welfare and
happiness.
As a noble, self-sacrificing woman, devoted to the service of her
fellow-beings, and endowed with the best attributes of human nature,
Miss Mann deserves the title of a Christian philanthropist, and her life
and labors will be remembered with gratitude, and the blessing of him
that was ready to perish, and of those who had no helper, will follow
her all the remainder of her days.
SARAH J. HAGAR
It is due to the memory of this noble young woman that she should be
included in the record of those sainted heroines who fearlessly went
into the midst of danger and death that they might minister to the poor
and suffering freedmen, whom our victorious arms had emancipated from
their rebel masters, and yet had left for a time without means or
opportunity to fit themselves for the new life that opened before them.
To this humane service she freely devoted herself and became a victim to
the climate of the lower Mississippi, while engaged in the arduous work
of ministering to the physical wants and the education of the freed
people, who in the winter and spring of 1864, had gathered in camps
around Vicksburg, and along the Louisiana shore.
Miss Hagar was the eldest daughter of Mrs. C. C. Hagar, who also was one
of the army of heroic nurses who served in the hospitals of St. Louis
during the greater part of the war. For many months they had served
together in the same hospital, and by their faithfulness and careful
ministrations to the sick and wounded soldier had won the highest
confidence of the Western Sanitary Commission, by whose President they
were appointed.
During the fall of 1863 the National Freedmen's Aid Commission of New
York, under the presidency of Hon. Francis G. Shaw, sent two agents,
Messrs. William L. Marsh and H. R. Foster, to Vicksburg, to establish an
agency there, and at Natchez, for the aid of the freed people, in
furnishing supplies of food and clothing to the destitute, and
establishing schools for the children of the freedmen, and for such
adults as could attend, and to help them in all possible ways to enter
upon the new and better civilization that awaited them. In this work the
Western Sanitary Commission co-operated, and Messrs. Marsh and Foster
wrote to the writer of this sketch, then acting as Secretary of the
above Commission, to send them several teachers and assistants in their
work. Among those who volunteered for the service was Miss Hagar, who
was wanted in another situation in St. Louis, but preferred this more
arduous work for the freedmen.
The reasons she gave for her choice were, that she was well and strong,
and felt a real interest in the welfare of the freed people; that she
had no prejudices against them, and that while there were enough who
were willing to fill the office of nurse to the white soldiers, it was
more difficult to get those who would render equal kindness and justice
to the black troops, and to the freed people, and therefore she felt it
her duty and pleasure to go. She was accordingly commissioned, and with
Miss A. M. Knight, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, (another worthy laborer in
the same cause) went down the river to Vicksburg, in the winter of 1864.
For several months she labored there with untiring devotion to the
interests and welfare of the colored people, under the direction of
Messrs. Marsh and Foster. No task was too difficult for her to undertake
that promised good results, and in danger of all kinds, whether from
disease, or from the assaults of the enemy, she never lost her presence
of mind, nor was wanting in the requisite courage for that emergency. In
person she was above the medium height, and had a face beaming with
kindness, and pleasant to look upon. Her mind had received a good degree
of culture, and her natural intelligence was of a high order. And better
than all within her earthly form dwelt a noble and heroic soul.
Late in April of that year, she had an attack of malarial fever, which
prostrated her very suddenly, and just in the proportion that she had
been strong and apparently well fortified against disease, it took a
deep hold of her vital powers, and on the 3d of May, she yielded to the
fell destroyer, and breathed no more.
The following tribute to her character, is taken from the letter of Mr.
Marsh, in which he communicated the sad tidings of her death.
"In her death the National Freedmen's Aid Association, has lost a most
earnest, devoted, Christian laborer. She entered upon her duties at a
time of great suffering and destitution among the Freedmen at Vicksburg,
and when we were much in need of aid. The fidelity with which she
performed her labors, and the deep interest she manifested in them soon
endeared her to us all. We shall miss her sorely; but the noble example
she has left us will encourage us to greater efforts, and more patient
toil. She seemed also to realize the magnitude and importance of this
work upon which she had entered, and the need of Divine assistance in
its performance. She seemed also to realize what sacrifice might be
demanded of one engaged in a work like this, and the summons, although
sudden, did not find her unprepared to meet it. She has done a noble
work, and done it well.
"The sacrifice she made is the greatest one that can be made for any
cause, the sacrifice of life. 'Greater love than this hath no man, that
a man lay down his life for his friends.' She has gone to receive her
reward."
Her remains were brought to her native town in Illinois, and deposited
there, where the blessed memory she has left among her friends and
kindred, is cherished with heartfelt reverence and affection.
MRS. JOSEPHINE R. GRIFFIN.
If the most thoroughly unselfish devotion of an earnest and gifted woman
to the interests and welfare of a despised and down-trodden race, to the
manifest injury and detriment of her own comfort, ease, or pecuniary
prospects, and without any hope or desire of reward other than the
consciousness of having been their benefactor, constitutes a woman a
heroine, then is Mrs. Griffin one of the most remarkable heroines of our
times.
Of her early history we know little. She was a woman of refinement and
culture, has always been remarkable for her energy and resolution, as
well as for her philanthropic zeal for the poor and oppressed. The
beginning of the war found her a widow, with, we believe, three
children, all daughters, in Washington, D. C. Of these daughters, the
eldest has a position in the Treasury Department, a second has for some
time assisted her mother in her labors, and the youngest is in school.
Mrs. Griffin was too benevolent ever to be rich, and when the freedmen
and their families began to concentrate in the District of Columbia, and
on Arlington Heights, across the Potomac, she sought them out, and made
the effort to ameliorate their condition. At that time they hardly knew
whether they were to be permanently free or not, and massed together as
they were, their old slave habits of recklessness, disorder, and
over-crowding soon gained the predominance, and showed their evil effect
in producing a fearful amount of sickness and death. They were not,
with comparatively few exceptions, indolent; but they had naturally
lapsed into the easy, slovenly methods, or rather want of method of the
old slave life, and a few were doing the greater part of what was done.
They were mere children in capacity, will and perseverance. Mrs.
Griffin, with her intensely energetic nature, soon effected a change.
Order took the place of disorder, under her direction; new cabins were
built, neatness and system maintained, till their good effects were so
apparent, that the freedmen voluntarily pursued the course advised by
their teacher and friend; all who were able to do any work were provided
as far as possible with employment, and schools for the children in the
day time, and for adults in the evening, were established. In this good
work she received material assistance from that devoted young Christian
now gone to his rest, the late Cornelius M. Welles. After awhile, the
able-bodied men were enlisted in the army, and the stronger and
healthier women provided with situations in many instances at the North,
and the children, and feeble, decrepit men and women, could not perform
work enough for their maintenance. Mrs. Griffin began to solicit aid for
them, and carried them through one winter by the assistance she was able
to collect, and by what she gave from her own not over-full purse. Some
land was now allotted to them, and by the utmost diligence they were
enabled to provide almost entirely for themselves, till autumn; but
meantime the Act of Emancipation in the District of Columbia had drawn
thither some thousands of people of color from the adjacent states of
Maryland and Virginia. All looked up to Mrs. Griffin as their special
Providence. She was satisfied that it was better for them, as far as
possible, to find places and work in the Northern States, than to remain
there, where employment was precarious, and where the excessive number
of workers had reduced the wages of such as could find employment. She
accordingly commenced an extensive correspondence, to obtain from
persons at the North in want of servants, orders for such as could be
supplied from the colored people residing in the District of Columbia.
Having completely systematized the matter, she has been in the habit,
for nearly two years past, of leaving Washington once or twice a week,
with a company of colored persons, for whom she had obtained situations
in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, or smaller
cities, paying their fare, providing them with food on the journey, and
at its termination until she could put them into the families who had
engaged them, and then returning to make up another company. The cost of
these expeditions she has provided almost entirely from her own means,
her daughters who have imbibed their mother's spirit, helping as far as
possible in this noble work. In the autumn of 1865 she found that
notwithstanding all for whom she could provide situations, there were
likely to be not less than twenty thousand colored persons, freedmen and
their families, in a state of complete destitution before the 1st of
December, and she published in the Washington and other papers, an
appeal to the benevolent to help. The Freedmen's Bureau at first denied
the truth of her statements, but further investigation convinced them
that she was right, and they were wrong, and Congress was importuned for
an appropriation for their necessities. Twenty-five thousand dollars
were appropriated, and its distribution left to the Freedmen's Bureau.
It would have been more wisely distributed had it been entrusted to Mrs.
Griffin, as she was more thoroughly cognizant of the condition and real
wants of the people than the Bureau could be. Mrs. Griffin has pursued
her work of providing situations for the freedmen, and watching over
their interests to the present time; and so long as life and health
lasts, she is not likely to give it up.
MRS. M. M. HALLOWELL.
The condition of the loyal whites of East Tennessee and Northern Alabama
and Georgia, deservedly excited the sympathy and liberality of the loyal
North. No portion of the people of the United States had proved their
devotion to the Union by more signal sacrifices, more patient endurance,
or more terrible sufferings. The men for the mere avowal of their
attachment to the Union flag and the Constitution were hunted like deer,
and if caught, murdered in cold blood. Most of them managed, though with
great peril, to escape to the Union army, where they became valuable
soldiers, and by their thorough knowledge of the country and their skill
in wood-craft rendered important service as scouts and pioneers.
Whenever they escaped the Rebels visited them, their houses were
plundered, their cattle and other live stock seized, and if the house
was in a Rebel neighborhood or in a secluded situation, it was burned
and the wife and children driven out penniless, and often maltreated,
outraged or murdered. If they escaped with their lives they were obliged
to hide in the caves or woods by day, and travel often hundreds of miles
by night, to reach the Union lines. They came in, wearied, footsore, in
rags, and often sick and nearly dead from starvation. When they reached
Nashville, or Knoxville after it came into our possession, they were in
need of all things; shelter, food, clothing, medicine and care. A few of
them were well educated; the majority were illiterate so far as book
knowledge was concerned, but intelligent and thoughtful on the subject
of loyalty and the war; not a few were almost reduced to a state of
fatuity by their sufferings, and seemed to have lost all distinct
consciousness of what was occurring around them. Nashville and Knoxville
a little later, Memphis, Cairo, St. Louis, and Louisville swarmed with
these poor loyal people, and efforts were made in each city to aid them.
In the Northern cities large contributions of money and clothing were
made for their relief. In Boston, Edward Everett, ever ready to aid the
suffering, gave the great influence of his name, as well as his personal
efforts, (almost the last act of his well-spent life) in raising a
liberal fund for their help. In New York, Brooklyn and other cities,
efforts were made which resulted in large contributions. In
Philadelphia, Mrs. M. M. Hallowell, a lady of high position and great
energy, appealed to the public for aid for these unfortunate people, and
Governor Curtin and many other State and National official personages,
gave their influence and contributions to the work. A large amount of
money and stores having been collected, Mrs. Hallowell and a committee
of ladies from Philadelphia visited Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga
and Huntsville to distribute their stores in person. The journey
undertaken early in May, 1864, was not unattended with danger; for,
though General Sherman had commenced his great march toward Atlanta,
Forrest, Morgan and Wheeler were exerting themselves to cut his
communications and break up his connection with his base. Along some
portions of the route the guerrillas swarmed, and more than once the
cars were delayed by reports of trouble ahead. The courageous ladies,
however, pushed forward and received from the generals in command the
most hearty welcome, and all the facilities they required for their
mission. They found that the suffering of the loyal refugees had not
been exaggerated; that in many cases their misery was beyond
description, and that from hunger, cold, nakedness, the want of suitable
shelter, and the prevalence of malignant typhoid fever, measles, scarlet
fever and the other diseases which usually prevail among the wretched
and starving poor, very many had died, and others could not long
survive. They distributed their stores freely yet judiciously, arranged
to aid a home and farm for Refugees and Orphans which had been
established near Nashville, and to render future assistance to those in
need at Knoxville, Chattanooga, &c., and returned to Philadelphia. Mrs.
Hallowell visited them again in the autumn, and continued her labors for
them till after the close of the war. The Home for Refugees and Orphans
near Nashville, formed a part of the battle ground in the siege and
battles of Nashville in December, 1864, and was completely ruined for
the time. Some new buildings of a temporary character were subsequently
erected, but the close of the war soon rendered its further occupation
unnecessary.
Mrs. Hallowell's earnest and continued labors for the refugees drew
forth from the loyal men and women of East Tennessee letters full of
gratitude and expressive of the great benefits she had conferred on
them. Colonel N. G. Taylor, representative in Congress from East
Tennessee, and one of the most eloquent speakers and writers in the
West, among others, addressed her an interesting and touching letter of
thanks for what she had done for his persecuted and tried constituents,
from which we quote a single paragraph.
"Accept, my dear madam, for yourself and those associated with you, the
warmest thanks of their representative, for the noble efforts you have
been and are making for the relief of my poor, afflicted, starving
people. Most of the men of East Tennessee are bleeding at the front for
our country (this letter was written before the close of the war) whilst
their wives and little ones are dying of starvation at home. They are
worthy of your sympathy and your labor, for they have laid all their
substance upon the altar of our country and have sacrificed everything
they had for their patriotism."
OTHER FRIENDS OF THE FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES.
In many of the preceding sketches we have had occasion to notice the
labors of ladies who had been most distinguished in other departments of
the great Army work, in behalf of the Freedmen, or the Refugees. Mrs.
Harris devoted in all five or six months to their care at Nashville and
its vicinity. Miss Tyson and Mrs. Beck gave their valuable services to
their relief. Miss Jane Stuart Woolsey was, and we believe still is
laboring in behalf of the Freedmen in Richmond or its vicinity. Mrs.
Governor Hawley of Connecticut was among the first to instruct them at
Fernandina and Hilton Head. Miss Gilson devoted nearly the whole of the
last year of her service in the army to the freedmen and the hospital
for colored soldiers. In the West, Mrs. Lucy E. Starr, while Matron of
the Soldiers' Home at Memphis, bestowed a large amount of labor on the
Refugees who were congregated in great numbers in that city. Mrs.
Clinton B. Fisk, the wife of the gallant Christian, General Fisk,
exerted herself to collect clothing, money and supplies for the
Refugees, black and white, at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and distributed it
to them in person. Mrs. H. F. Hoes and Miss Alice F. Royce of Wisconsin,
were very active in instructing and aiding the children of Refugees at
Rolla, Missouri, in 1864 and 1865. Mrs. John S. Phelps established with
the aid of a few other ladies a school for the children of Refugees at
Springfield, Missouri, and Mrs. Mary A. Whitaker, an excellent and
efficient teacher, had charge of it for two years.
At Leavenworth and Fort Scott, large and well conducted schools for the
children of Refugees and Freedmen were established, and several teachers
employed, one of them, Mrs. Nettie C. Constant, at Leavenworth, winning
a very high reputation for her faithfulness and skill as a teacher.
The Western Sanitary Commission, the National Freedmen's Relief
Association, Relief Societies in Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and
elsewhere, and later the American Union Commission, were all engaged in
labor for either the Freedmen or the Refugees or both.
All these organizations employed or supported teachers, an all worked in
remarkable harmony. At Vicksburg the Western Sanitary Commission sent,
in the spring of 1864, Miss G. D. Chapman of Exeter, Maine, to take
charge of a school for the children of Refugees, of whom there were
large numbers there. Miss Chapman served very faithfully for some
months, and then was compelled by her failing health, to return home.
The Commission then appointed Miss Sarah E. M. Lovejoy, daughter of Hon.
Owen Lovejoy, to take charge of the school. It soon became one of the
largest in the South, and was conducted with great ability by Miss
Lovejoy till the close of the War.
The National Freedmen's Relief Association had, at the same time, a
school for Freedmen and the children of Freedmen there, and Miss Mary E.
Sheffield, a most faithful and accomplished teacher from Norwich,
Connecticut, was in charge of it. The climate, the Rebel prejudices and
the indifference or covert opposition to the school of those from whom
better things might have been expected, made the position one of great
difficulty and responsibility; but Miss Sheffield was fully equal to the
work, and continued in it with great usefulness until late in May, 1865,
when finding herself seriously ill she attempted to return North, but on
reaching Memphis was too ill to proceed farther, and died there on the
5th of June, 1865, a martyr to her faithfulness and zeal.
In Helena, a Refugee Home was established by the Western Sanitary
Commission, and Mrs. Sarah Coombs, a benevolent and excellent lady of
that town, placed in charge of it. At Nashville, Tennessee, the
Nashville Refugee Relief Society, under the management of Mrs. Mary R.
Fogg, established a Refugees' Home which was aided by the Western
Sanitary Commission, the Philadelphia ladies, and other associations. At
Little Rock, Arkansas, was another Home which did good service. But the
most extensive institution of this description, was the Refugee and
Freedmen's Home at St. Louis, occupying the Lawson Hospital in that
city, and established by the Western Sanitary Commission with the
co-operation of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, and the Ladies'
Freedmen's Relief Association. Mrs. H. M. Weed was its efficient matron,
and was supported by a staff of six or seven assistants and teachers.
Over three thousand Refugees were received and aided here in the six
months from February to July, 1865, and both children and adults were
taught not only elementary studies but housework, cooking and laundry
work; the women were paid moderate wages with which to clothe themselves
and their children, and were taught some of the first lessons of a
better civilization. In the superintendence of this good work, Mrs.
Alfred Clapp, the President of the Ladies' Union Aid Society, Mrs.
Joseph Crawshaw, an active member of that Society, Mrs. Lucien Eaton,
the President of the Ladies' Freedmen's Association, and Mrs. N.
Stevens, one of the managers of that Society, were assiduous and
faithful.
There were great numbers of other ladies equally efficient in the
Freedmen's Schools and Homes in the Atlantic States, but their work was
mainly under the direction of the Freedmen's Relief, and subsequently of
the American Union Commission, and it is not easy to obtain from them
accounts of the labors of particular individuals. The record of the
women who have labored faithfully, and not a few of them to the loss of
their health or lives in work which was in some respects even more
repulsive to the natural sensibilities than that in the hospitals, if
smaller in numbers, is not less honorable than that of their sisters in
the hospitals.