Mother Bickerdyke

Mary Ann Bickerdyke was not a Mainer, but her story exemplifies what many Maine women went through in their own efforts to help the poor, sick soldiers. She was born in July 1817 in Knox County, Ohio. She and her husband, Robert, who was 20 years her senior, moved to Galesburg, Ill. where he died a couple of years before the war began. She turned to medicine to support herself and her two sons.

At a church service at the start of the Civil War, the Reverend Edward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, read a letter from a doctor describing the deplorable conditions in the hospital at Cairo, Illinois. Soldiers were dying of disease before ever entering the fighting due to lack of supplies and care. “What man can we send?” he asked, but he was greeted by silence until a woman suggested Mary Ann Bickerdyke. “If you’re willing to take care of my boys, I will go,” she said.

Thus began an amazing career. She cared for the soldiers in Cairo and went on to care for Union soldiers across the South. She followed General Grant and then General Sherman and his troops and became known as "Mother" Bickerdyke. She was often in conflict with officers and military protocol, but beloved by the common soldiers. Both General Grant and General Sherman supported her to their fullest. When one Union officer complained about her, Sherman told him to take it up with President Lincoln, because, "She outranks me." He was referring to the common belief that her commission came directly from God. November 8, 1901 she died at her home where she was then living in Kansas. Her gravestone has the epitaph, "She outranks me."

A Call to Arms!

On April 12, 1861 Confederates fired upon Union held Fort Sumter. President Lincoln responded by calling for 75,000 troops to protect and preserve the Union. To commemorate the beginning of the sesquicentenial of the American Civil War, the Maine State Archives is hosting a grand event in Augusta this coming Friday, April 15. The event is entitled "Saving the Union; the Call for Volunteers." It will be held at the Augusta Civic Center beginning at 1pm and is free and open to the public. Included will be readings of historical documents, music of the era, Civil War reenactors and much more. This is the first of a series of events being planned that will extend through the 4 year interval that the war lasted and will highlight the wonderful collection of Civil War documents and photos that are included in the Maine State Archives collection.

War is declared!

April 12, 1861: Fort Sumter wass Fired Upon. Thus ends Lincoln's indecision since he took office on March 4, 1861. The blockade of federally held Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. War was declared and President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops.