In our first installment on the adventures of this brave Irish Nurse, we left her at the beginning of the war just after the battle of Bull Run.
Mary Sophia Hill
She was horrified by the conditions the wounded soldiers had to endure long after the battle had ended, and describes her efforts to heal and comfort them. She was still at a camp hospital a month after the battle and describes the situation:
"Moved a mile further; ground for camping better, but water scarce and bad. General Ewell very much censured for not bringing up the reserve force into the battle at twelve o'clock, Sunday. Many lives would have been spared and many more prisoners taken; and if Beauregard had had cavalry to pursue to Washington, the war would have been ended, as the Northern troops were completely demoralised. The smell of the dead is awful in this camping-ground."
As she aided the wounded and sick of both sides things occasionally got out of hand - as she describes one occasion where the soldiers got their whiskey ration:
"As the men were so wet, an order was given for rations of whiskey. Consequences, nearly all were drunk and fighting. Ward-master and a little corporal went at it with bowie-knives, until I went in and separated them. Drunk as they were, they paid me the compliment of each giving up his knife when I demanded it. I had the doctor to put them under arrest until the whiskey evaporated. "
Just under three months in service and she had earned the respect of the men she was treating as evidenced by that and also the kindness they showed her (which almost killed her!!)
"Men put a pretty arbor fence around my tent, which they shaded over; it looked very nice, and made the tent cool. And it was so kind of them to do it for me. But their kindness nearly killed me, as the structure was top-heavy; broke down while I was in bed, and nearly knocked the breath out of me. It was a fine moonlight night, and when I was able to scramble out, a good laugh set me all right, and my brother straightened up the tent. Next day my good friends made the structure less romantic but more substantial."
A strong woman who expressed strong opinions in her diary on who was most fit to fight:
"Men raised in the country do not make hardy soldiers; those who knock round cities and towns are best, and can stand more fatigue and hardship, and the palm may be given for toughness to the Irish".
She encountered many of the famous personalities of the war, though left few thoughts other than the notations - "saw Stonewall Jackson riding through camp". But one of the more detailed ones sticks out and gives another side to a famous Confederate Cavalryman:
"Gen. Stuart, what an indefatigable officer, nearly ubiquitous. I have met him everywhere, seen him with his command, travelling in the cars, amusing himself with children he seemed to love; I have also seen him in Richmond carrying a little school-girl's bag."
After nearly a year serving as a nurse she began to long to return to her homes - her adopted home of New Orleans and her home in Ireland.
We'll conclude her story next month as she takes her journey, her arrest as a spy, and her strong opinions on the Irish involvement in the Civil War.
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