AN INNOCENT VICTIM.
S. SEYMOUR THOMAS’ MASTERPIECE.i
Second Edition—Revised and Enlarged.
ANGELS
OF THE
BATTLEFIELD.
A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in
the Late Civil War.
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BY GEORGE BARTON.
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... 1898 ...
THE CATHOLIC ART PUBLISHING COMPANY.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
ii
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the
year 1897
By George Barton, Philadelphia, Pa.,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington, D. C.
iii
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
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The object of this volume is to present in as consecutiveand comprehensive form as possible the history of theCatholic Sisterhoods in the late Civil War. Many bookshave been written on the work of other women in this war,but, aside from fugitive newspaper paragraphs, nothing hasever been published concerning the self-sacrificing laborsof these Sisterhoods. Whatever may have been the causeof this neglect or indifference, it is evident that the time hasarrived to fill this important gap in the literature of the war.
“The Sisters,” to quote an army chaplain, “do nothave reunions or camp-fires to keep alive the memories ofthe most bloody lustrum in our history, but their war storiesare as heroic, and far more edifying, than many the veteranstell.”
That genuine humility so characteristic of the Sistershas made the collection of the necessary data for this workvery difficult. Most of the stories embodied in the pagesthat follow have been gathered by personal interviews,through examinations of various archives and records, andby an extensive correspondence with Government officials,veterans of the war and the superiors of convents and communities.It is impossible to enumerate all those who haveivaided in the work, but the writer desires to thank especiallythe Sisters to whom he is indebted for the chapters relatingto the Sisters of Mercy who were with the Irish Brigade inthe West, and to the Sisters of St. Joseph who were atCamp Curtin, in Harrisburg, Pa.
While the author has not hesitated to avail himself ofevery possible source of information, it is only fair to saythat the great bulk of the material that goes to make up thevolume has been drawn from entirely original sources, andis presented in printed form for the first time. In order toform a basis for the work all of the obtainable literaturebearing upon the civil conflict was examined in a thoroughand exhaustive manner. It is no exaggeration to say thatnearly one thousand volumes bearing upon the “late unpleasantness”were searched with the hope of finding somedata bearing upon the saintly work of the Sisterhoods. Thebooks of reference included the more important histories ofthe war; the memoirs and recollections of the leading generalsof both the Union and Confederate armies; the debatesin Congress, the lives of the founders of the severalreligious orders; the histories of the Church and of theSisterhoods, and a score of miscellaneous works too numerousto name in a