Elizabeth Ann Seton, was the founder and first
Superior of the Sisters of Charity in the United States. According to
Daughters of Charity and the Civil War an article written by S. Helms,
the author wrote; “On September 17, 1862 the Maryland authorities
petitioned the help of the Sisters at St. Joseph's of Emmitsburg,
Maryland after the Battle of Antietam. When the Sisters went to the
battlefield, they found wounded of both armies on the ground; many
were moved to hospitals. "For six days, the Sisters went from farm to
farm, seeking wounded and sick and risking their own lives because of
unexploded bombshells". Courage and commitment to duty were a few of
the solid characteristics of the Sisters. "Their mission was to serve
persons marginalized by poverty, illness, ignorance, disability and
injustice". The "black caps" as they were called by the soldiers,
lived out their mission to its fullest during the Civil War. The
superiority of the Sisters of Charity as nurses is known wherever the
name Florence Nightingale is repeated ... the soldiers feel encouraged
by their kindness and care"
In a letter Lieutenant William Ballentine of the 82nd Ohio
Infantry describes the grounds of Saint Josephs and the Sisters of
Charity. He wrote on June 30th: “Well at 4 o'clock that morning (the
29th), we began our march to this place and arrived here last night
about 6 o'clock and stayed in that place until this morning when we
moved to this place, a Shady Grove, near a Nunnery or rather on the
farm and near the buildings belonging to the Sisters of Charity.”
“This institution of the Sisters of Charity (whose grounds we are
now on) farm and buildings (especially the latter) is the finest I
ever saw. Nothing in Ohio will compare with it; I was astonished to
find such magnificence in such a place, a place I have never heard of
before. The buildings cover about a square of ground, the same as a
square in a town, built entirely of brick and ornamented with marble
carvings. The main buildings are 4 stories high, built in splendid
style, Before the war began, there were 500 Sisters of Charity of this
institution. But all but about 60 are with the army in the various
hospitals, taking care of the sick and wounded, and they are said to
be very good nurses and very kind.”
General (then Colonel) Philippe Regis de
Trobriand, commander of the 3rd Brigade of Birney’s Division wrote
about his experience with the Sisters of Charity during his encampment
near Saint Joseph's on June 30th. "When I arrived at a gallop in front
of the principal door, the doorkeeper, who had ventured a few steps
outside, completely lost her head. In her fright, she came near being
trampled under foot by the horses of my staff, which she must have
taken for the horses of the Apocalypse, if, indeed, there are any
horses in the Apocalypse, of which I am not sure. The superior, on the
contrary, with whom I asked to speak in the parlor, came down calm and
dignified. Her conversation betrayed neither fear nor even inquietude.
When I asked her to send me up to the belfry, from which the whole
surrounding country was visible, she sent for the chaplain, and
ordered him to act as my guide.”
“The chaplain was an Italian priest, who did not sacrifice to the
graces, and whose sermons would never have set the Hudson on fire. He
led us through the dormitories and the class-room of the
boarding-school, at that moment deserted, the superior having very
wisely sent all the scholars to their relatives. There remained but
five or six, belonging to Southern families, who had not heard from
their friends in a long time.”
“We reached the belfry by a narrow and winding staircase. I went
first. At the noise of my boots sounding on the steps, a rustling of
dresses and murmuring of voices were heard above my head. There were
eight or ten young nuns, who had mounted up there to enjoy the
extraordinary spectacle of guns in battery, of stacked muskets, of
sentinels walking back and forth with their arms in hand, of soldiers
making coffee in the gardens, of horses ready saddled eating their
oats under the apple trees. We had cut off their retreat, and they
were crowded against the windows, like frightened birds, asking Heaven
to send them wings with which to fly away."
"Ah! Sisters," I said to them, "I catch you in the very act of
curiosity. After all, it is a very venial sin, and I am sure that the
very reverend father here present will freely give you absolution
therefore. The poor girls, much embarrassed, looked at each other, not
knowing what to reply. The least timid ventured a smile. In their
hearts, they were thinking of but one thing: to escape as soon as the
officers accompanying me left the way clear. They immediately
disappeared, crowding each other along the staircase. I have never
returned to Emmittsburg; but it would astonish me very little to hear
that the two armies had gone to Gettysburg to fight, on account of the
miracle performed by St. Joseph, interceding in favor of these pious
damsels.”
In a letter Father Francis Burlando, the director of the Sisters of
Charity, described conditions after the battle of Gettysburg. “On July
first the battle commenced about nine miles from Emmitsburg; it
continued three days. Two hundred thousand men were in the field and
on each side there were from one hundred to one hundred-thirty pieces
of cannon. The roar of these agents of death and destruction was
fearful in the extreme, and their smoke rising to heaven formed dense
clouds as during a frightful tempest. The Army of the South was
defeated and in their retreat left their dead and wounded on the
battlefield. What number of victims perished during this bloody
engagement? No one yet knows but it is estimated that the figures rise
to 50,000!”
After the battle ended, several Sisters and Father Burlando set out
for Gettysburg. Once there they began to care for those who had been
moved to the churches and hotels within Gettysburg. The Sisters were
assigned in pairs to attend the wounded at various locations
throughout town. The next day more Sisters arrived from St. Joseph’s.
As long as there were wounded, the Sisters nursed and comforted them
on both sides of the army, caring for one group of nearly 200 men in
the field for three weeks until they could be taken to hospitals in
New York and Philadelphia.
