Mary Ann Bickerdyke: American Heroine of the Civil War

Saved countless wounded men in 19 battles

Mary is proof that one does not need approval, degrees, official titles or anything at all save one: the will to do what is right. Hearing about the miserable conditions in Union field hospitals while sitting in church one Sunday, she promptly volunteered to serve the Union Army. Under her strict guidance and marching into Army hospitals like she owned the place, she established over 300 hospitals with 19 of them in battlefield conditions. She gained such notoriety with the soldiers that they would cheer when she walked into any situation. Nursing men back to health who were thought beyond fixing, she grew in notoriety to such a point that she was allowed to go anywhere without permission by Union generals. After the war she continued to be a voice for the rights of veterans and later became an attorney. She died in 1901, surely the most loved American woman of the Civil War. Many men owed their lives to Mary and she did not shy away from danger to save them. Valor is in you. Set it free.