????????????????? No book on the war, that has been published in recent years, has met with a more generous reception than has been accorded by the reading public to the “Angels of the Battlefield.” Congratulations and expressions of good-will have come from all classes of persons. Following will be found brief comments from letters and from notices of the secular and religious press. These references are in most cases mere excerpts from lengthy reviews of the book. Of course it has been impracticable to publish quotations from all of the newspapers, but those that are given are of a representative character. Archbishop Ryan’s Eloquent and Earnest Letter of Recommendation.I beg to thank you for the copy of your book, “Angels of the Battlefield,” which you were kind enough to send to me. I have read it with great satisfaction and beg to congratulate you on your success in presenting the touching and edifying scenes in which Charity sent her Angels into both camps alike, to heal the sick and console the dying, to chasten triumph and comfort defeat. The mission of these “Angels of the Battlefield” was to remove the strong prejudices that impeded the progress of the Church. It was like the mission of Saints Peter and John to the poor lame man at the porch that was called beautiful of Solomon’s temple. The nation, wounded and crippled by the war, was sent in through the beautiful gate of Catholic charity to view the true temple of God. And of those who never belonged to the fold of the Catholic Church how many can cry out with honest Captain Jack Crawford, quoted by you. “My friends, I am not a Catholic, but I stand ready at any and all times to defend these noble women, even with my life, for I owe that life to them.” I earnestly recommend your excellent book to all with whom my opinion may have any influence.—Most Rev. P. J. Ryan, D. D., LL. D., Archbishop of Philadelphia. A Very Flattering Tribute from the Governor of Pennsylvania.I am more than pleased with the work. It is a valuable addition to our war literature. I cannot but recommend your subject matter and approve of your literary style. I congratulate you heartily on the graceful and deserved tribute to the women who served so faithfully and loyally the cause of humanity during the dark days of our nation’s struggle.—Gen. Daniel H. Hastings, Governor of Pennsylvania. High Praise from the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.General J. P. S. Gobin, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, writes:— “I have at length had an opportunity to carefully read your volume, “Angels of the Battlefield,” and wish to thank you for the pleasure you have given me. Your book is a valuable addition to the literature of the War. You have depicted those scenes with rare fidelity and without exaggeration, which so frequently justified the title you have selected.—Very truly yours, J. P. S. Gobin, Commander-in-Chief. Particularly Happy in Avoiding Sectional, Political or Religious Controversies.There is a praiseworthy attempt to give plain facts without comment or unnecessary coloring. The author has been particularly happy in avoiding sectional, political or religious controversies. Although many volumes have been written concerning the work of women in the war, this book is said to be the first connected and consecutive history of the self-sacrificing labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods during that great conflict.—The Washington (D. C.) Post. Comment from the Official Organ of the Historical Society of Quebec, Canada.As might be expected, the work is full of interest, and is an eloquent tribute to the faith that produces such heroines. There was difficulty in collecting the data for the genuine humility so characteristic of the Sisters would move them to hide, rather than publish, the deeds, in themselves so heroic, but in their eyes only what their duty, enlightened by faith and enkindled by charity, demanded of them. In order to make the narrative as consecutive as the scattered notes permitted, a sketchy account of the war is introduced.—Le Courrier Du Livre, Quebec, Canada, official organ of the Quebec Historical Society. Cordial Words from Right Rev. Edmond F. Prendergast, D. D., Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia.“I have read your beautiful work, ‘Angels of the Battlefield,’ from beginning to end, with the greatest pleasure. It is certainly a most delightful book, and I trust and hope that it will have readers everywhere.”—Right Rev. Edmond F. Prendergast, D. D., Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia. General Miles, the Head of the Army, and the “Angels of the Battlefield.”“Recently I had occasion to call on General Miles, the ranking officer of the army, the Miles who gained such distinction as one of Hancock’s fighting commanders. When I entered his office, at the War Department, I found him reading a book in which he appeared to be deeply interested. Having the curiosity which comes to newspaper men, both by nature and from training, I could not restrain myself from asking the General the name of the book. It proved to be “Angels of the Battlefield: A History of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the War of the Rebellion,” a work by a near friend and professional colleague of mine, Mr. George Barton.—“S. M.” in Philadelphia Evening Star. The work possesses “the Light and Interest Which Belongs to Incidents from Life.”The author has been able to gather from personal interviews with Sisters many narratives which give to his pages the light and interest which belong to incidents from life. He possesses the vivid sympathy with action and suffering, without which a history of this kind would be no better than dry bones. The author is rightly touched by the heroism that surrounded those cots, where enemies lay side by side in an agony, which, for many, could only obtain surcease in the grave. Some incidental descriptions of battles are animated, and we are sure our readers will find themselves moved for the better by this narrative of heroic charity on the part of the nuns, and soldierly heroism on that of the men to whom they ministered.—The Catholic World Magazine, New York. Record of Blameless Lives, “Strung Like Golden Beads on a Silver Thread.”It is a sweet, and clean, and healthy book. The sketches are delightful reading. The writer has poetic touch and a felicity of phrase. Nothing is overdrawn. Mr. Barton writes without rhetoric, but with wholesome sentiment, and rescues from the convents the story of the part these Sisters took in the great drama of our Civil war. It has been a labor of love, and the author has strung like golden beads on a silver thread the record of the blameless lives of the Sisters and their absolute devotion to duty. Literature and libraries are enriched by this contribution to impartial history.—The Monongahela (Pa.) Daily Republican. “Magnificent Contribution to the Best Literature of Our Day.”It was a beautiful thought to collect in one splendidly illustrated volume the touching records of so many noble lives; to snatch from oblivion, as it were, the names of those heroic Sisters whose deeds of mercy and valor in our hospitals and on our battlefields have hitherto been known, in some instances, to God and themselves alone. Your book is a unique and magnificent contribution to the best literature of our day, and I wish it the success it so richly deserves.—Eleanor C. Donnelly, of Philadelphia. “Supplies a Chapter Essential to the History of the War.”It supplies a chapter essential to the history of our Civil War. The Christian religion claims that its teachings have mitigated the horrors of war; and the conduct of the Catholic Sisterhoods, North and South, furnished a striking evidence of the truth of such claims, in the particular instance of our domestic conflict. It is such books as yours that accomplish the end which the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, most ardently desires, in the relations of Church and State—the perfect accord of the love of our faith with the love of country.—Rev. Joseph V. O’Connor, of the diocese of Philadelphia. “The Whole Book Clean and Written in an Easy, Practical Style.”I offer you my sincere congratulations for having given us a volume that illustrates heroic charity, in a manner calculated to command the admiration of all men. Men may differ about politics, economics, creed, the relative merits of men of letters and affairs; they will be one, however, in recognizing the “Angels of the Battlefield” as the grandest types of all the Christian virtues—charity—the bond of the true brotherhood of man. The whole book is so clean, and written in such an easy, practical style that it is more fascinating than a classical novel—even than a well-written sensational one. After reading it through one feels like reading it to some friend, and calling his attention to its many beautiful passages and the thrilling episodes in which it abounds. It is a volume that all can read with ease and interest—not alone in clubs and homes, but in the refectories and community-rooms of our convents. From cover to cover it is, in every chapter, calculated to edify all and inspire thoughts and aspirations that are good, sweet and elevating.—Rev. William Walsh, of the diocese of Nashville, Tenn. “Embodies the Work of Several Years of Research and Correspondence.”This large volume embodies the work of several years of research and correspondence on the part of the author. The war itself is the merest thread upon which are strung these tales of womanly heroism which have naught to do with political or sectional feeling. The brave Sisters find in this volume their appreciative historian. The Catholic Columbian “veterans should see that it finds a place in post libraries.” The author has been at pains to collect all the data he could find—anecdotes, thrilling incidents and statistics concerning the good nuns. His book is very entertaining. We can well believe that it will delight many an old soldier who knew the tender ministrations of the angels of the battlefield. Veterans should see that it finds a place in the post libraries, where such useful adjuncts are found.—Providence (R. I.) Visitor. “Will Take Its Place With Standard Histories of the War.”This work is one of much more than usual interest. It will take its place with the standard books concerning the history of the great Civil War.—Camden (N. J.) Review. “Vivid Pictures of Sisters Who Have Gone to Their Reward.”This interesting history gives especially vivid pictures of three Sisters who became conspicuous by reason of their superior attainments—Sister Anthony, Sister Gonzago and Sister Angela—all now gone to their reward.—Taggarts’ Times, Phila. The Data is “Presented in a Very Attractive and Pleasing Form.”This interesting book is handsomely bound and beautifully and profusely illustrated. It fills a gap in the history of the Rebellion. Mr. Barton, who is a trained and able writer, has expended considerable time in gathering the data about these noble women and he presents it in a very attractive and pleasing form. The volume abounds with the personal experience of the Sisters. The narrative is replete with thrilling and pathetic incidents.—Pittsburg Dispatch. The Writer “Presents a Book With Not a Dull Page in it.”The author of the book has succeeded in investing his work with an absorbing interest. While he fully accomplishes his motive in setting forth the numerous heroic acts and deeds of mercy of members of the Sisterhoods, he has so interwoven them with stirring incidents of the strife as to create a history that has an enduring value apart from its personal interest. He has made his selections with a judgment of what is most interesting and only acquired by a long experience in newspaper work. He has, therefore, succeeded in making a book of over three hundred pages with not a dull page in it. It is safe to say that no one who reads the introductory chapter will willingly lay the book aside until the whole work has been absorbed.—Major John W. Finney, in the Pottsville Miners’ Journal. “The Story of the Sisters Well Told in This Charming Book.”Many books have been written about the faithful work of women during the war, in hospitals and on the battlefields, but these books, at least those we have seen of them, are strangely silent about the work of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the same good cause. Some years ago we called the attention of Mr. George Barton, of Philadelphia, to this fact and suggested that a work of the Sisters in field and post hospitals during the war would afford ample material for a most interesting and edifying book. He saw the matter in the same light we did and set himself to the task. The result is this admirable work. The labors of all the Sisters are given in this charming book in detail and in chronological order.—Rev. L. A. Lambert, LL. D., in New York Freeman’s Journal. “Illustrations in Perfect Taste from the Beginning to the End.”Typographically the work is a masterpiece. The seventeen half-tone illustrations are beautifully executed; besides they are in perfect taste from the frontispiece, Thomas’ “Innocent Victim,” to the closing scene, “Lincoln at Gettysburg.” The volume is bound in red, with green trimmings, and the lettering is tastefully brought out in gilt, giving an artistic effect of coloring, pleasing to the eye and in keeping with the interior exquisiteness of finish. As a holiday book the publishers could not have improved on the “Angels of the Battlefield.”—The Connecticut Catholic. “It Should Appeal Especially to Veterans of the War.”All sorts of books have been written about the late war, enough to fill a good-sized library and, I think, I have read them all, but Mr. Barton’s book is a new thing in that class of literature. The author has ventured on untrodden paths, with the result that he has given to the public a vast amount of interesting history that has not hitherto seen the light of day. “Angels of the Battlefield” should meet with a generous welcome from all classes and conditions of people, irrespective of locality or religious belief; it should appeal especially to the veterans of the war, many of whom now living have experienced the practical charity and kindness of the gentle members of the various Sisterhoods. The general appearance of the book is very attractive and makes it suitable for presentation purposes.—Congressman James Rankin Young (S. M., in the Philadelphia Evening Star). Fills “A Gap in the Chronicle of the Gruesome Years of the War.”This work will fill, we believe, a gap in the chronicle of those gruesome years. The unselfish deeds of other women have been often related, but the incessant and universal help of the Catholic religious of the battlefields has never yet been placed in an orderly fashion before the world.—Catholic Standard and Times, Philadelphia. The Effort “Was Well Worth Making, and the Task is Done Admirably.”In the “Angels of the Battlefield” is given a history of the labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Civil War. Among all the agencies for relief of suffering in that dreadful conflict, none was more beautiful and more self-sacrificing than the work of these untiring Sisters. The effort was well worth making, and Mr. Barton has done his task admirably.—Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. The Reader “Brought Face to Face With the Sterner Realities of War.”The author in this work leads us into an entirely new field of literature. He treats of a subject never before taken up in such pretentious shape. So vivid are his pictures of the great conflict and of the noble and humane work done by these self-sacrificing “angels” that the reader comes face to face with the sterner realities of the war. The book is an altogether readable one, and is a worthy adjunct to the already published literature of the Civil War.—Burlington (N. J.) Democrat. All Will “Welcome This Delightful Volume With Its Sprightly Narrative.”Everyone who took part in the late war, on either side, will welcome this delightful volume of reminiscence of one of the most beautiful and touching aspects of that history so full of misfortune and horrors. The special friends and admirers of the Sisterhoods, whose members participated, will all seek to possess it, and also many Catholic apologists and students of American history. The narrative is sprightly and abounds in anecdotes. This publication well deserves the large sale it is sure to have.—The (St. Louis) Church Progress. The “Clear, Crisp Newspaper English” One of Its Good Points.”The fact that a writer has actually found a field or phase of our national history unrecorded, or as newspaper men would say, uncovered, by a book is sufficient to entitle this volume to mention by the newspapers. The work has been well done, not only as to the amount and systematic presentation of evidence, the authenticity of which is confirmed by numerous authorities of unquestionable standing, both in and out of the Catholic Church, but also in the manner of treatment, the language being the clear, crisp newspaper English, without which no book need be expected to meet with any great degree of popular success.—The Camden (N. J.) Post. Illustrating “The Extent and the Superb Courage” of the Sisters.To the story of the part which our American womanhood played in the war for the Union Mr. Barton has contributed some new data in the field of our war literature which hitherto has been untouched. Moved by a spirit of gentle enthusiasm, Mr. Barton has painstakingly told in a book of several hundred pages how the Sistershoods of the Roman Catholic “A Comprehensive Book That Makes History, and Valuable History.”Mr. Barton has written a book that makes history, and valuable history. It is not one of the kind that, according to the proverb, his enemies (if he has any) need rejoice over, but a tribute to the noble band to which every kindly heart, irrespective of religious faith, will respond. The author gives us a compact presentation of the history of these noble women in the matricidal strike of the 60’s, a subject which has been hitherto sadly neglected. The humility of the Sisters made the collection of data difficult, but stories included in the work have been gathered after much painstaking effort.—Louis N. Megargee in the Philadelphia Times. “The Twenty-Seven Chapters of the Volume Crowded With Stories.”The twenty-seven chapters of the volume are crowded with incidents and stories, some pathetic, some humorous, and others still historical. There are fleeting glimpses of Generals McClellan, Butler, Jefferson Davis and other characters of the time. One chapter is devoted to a collection of non-Catholic tributes to the Sisters. There is a letter in the volume that reveals General Butler in a chivalrous light. Some of the Sisters of a convent at New Orleans had complained that their property was being damaged by the military operations in that vicinity, and in response the General sent a reply couched in language that presents the man in a new light to those not intimately acquainted with him.—Philadelphia Inquirer. “A Fascinating Volume that Perpetuates the Memories of the Sisterhoods in the Civil War.”To the annals of the war George Barton, an historical student of Philadelphia, has just added a fascinating volume entitled “Angels of the Battlefield,” in which he has endeavored to perpetuate the memories of the members of the Roman Catholic Sisterhoods who helped to care for the sick, wounded and dying in the Civil War. It is hard to obtain information from such people, and as military records are proverbially careless in such matters, the Sisters not coming within military jurisdiction, the author was compelled to obtain his material by the slow process of personal application to the witnesses of the many affairs in which these Christian workers were the chief actors. The Sisters received no pay, and the only gifts they accepted were upon the condition that the gift would in turn be given again, in order to do good among those who most needed it. Their services will never be forgotten, and the story of their devotion and sacrifices will ever be one of the prettiest chapters in the annals of the Union.—Margherita Arline Hamm in the New York Mail and Express. “A Book Valuable as a Record and in its Literary Style.”Mr. Barton has presented to the public a valuable book, valuable as a record and valuable in its literary style. It is well described by a historical critic as a tribute to the noble band of women samaritans to which every kindly heart, irrespective of religious faith, will respond. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who so readily and with such self-sacrificing heroism volunteered their humble services to help the sick and administer to the dying in the great Civil conflict receive in “Angels of the Battlefield” a just and due recognition of their moral courage and heroism.—The Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times. “The Descriptions of the More Important Engagements are Really Graphic.”His facts, gathered from letters still extant, from conversations had with many of the surviving nuns, and the testimony of not a few who owed their lives from the ministrations of the Sisters, give a very complete and accurate account of his subject. He traces the work of the Sisters at times with a vividness that is startling. His descriptions of the more important engagements, especially of Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg, are really graphic, and they give us the truest idea of the noble character of the Sisters, who amid such scenes of carnage pursued uninterruptedly their mission of love and mercy. “The Angels of the Battlefield” should be read by everyone who desires to possess a complete knowledge of the war.—The New World, Chicago. “It is Well to Let the World Know of Their Heroic Services.”Although the noble Sisters who for the love of God went forth during the Civil War to nurse the sick and wounded do not desire to have their deeds perpetuated on earth, it is well to let the world know of the heroic services they rendered from 1861-5. The author presents in a compact form the history of the labors of the Sisters during this period in a most readable manner. The volume contains handsome illustrations of some of the more prominent generals and Sisters of the war. Several valuable pictures of battles are also given.—The Church News, Washington. “Praiseworthy Attempt to Give Plain Facts Without Comment.”The “News” compliments the author upon the excellence of his work and commends it to its readers. The labor of four of the most conspicuous Sisterhoods are detailed in a most complete and thorough manner. The book begins with the work of the Sisters of Charity, and then takes up in natural sequence the labors of the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St. Joseph’s and the Sisters of the Holy Cross. There has been a praiseworthy and successful attempt to give plain facts without comment or unnecessary coloring. It is one of the best books of the year.—The Harrisburg News. “Fleeting Glimpses of Many of the Great Characters of the Time.”The twenty-seven chapters of the volume are crowded with incidents and stories, some pathetic, some humorous and others still, historical. There are flitting glimpses of General McClellan, General Butler, Jefferson Davis, and other characters of the time. One chapter is devoted to a collection of non-Catholic tributes to the Sisters; while an appendix furnishes the reader with some interesting and important facts that it was deemed advisable to separate from the text.—The Union and Times, Buffalo. Right Rev. I. F. Horstmann, D. D., Bishop of Cleveland.It was a happy thought for you, even at this late hour, to gather together some of the glorious records of the labors of the noble bands of Sisters on the field and in the hospitals during the war. Gather up the fragments lest they be lost. These victories of charity ought to be at least as memorable as the bloody triumphs of the battlefield.—Ign. F. Horstmann, Bishop of Cleveland. An Indorsement from the Editor of a Well-Known Latin Journal.“Angels of the Battlefield.” A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Civil War. Auctore Georgio Barton. The Catholic Art Publ. Co., Burd Building, 9th and Chestnut str., Philadelphia. Pretium, tela $3.00, corio Russico $4.00; editio elegans, corio Marocanno $5.00. Liber hic iconibus venustissimis illustratus, chartae laevissimae impressus, historiam complectitur rerum gestarum virginum Sanctimonialium, in bello civili Americanorum curam militum sauciorum gerentium. Historia certe modestior vulnera medentium cruoremque abstergentium quam vulnera infligentium & sanguinem profundentium, legendo tamen non minus digna, praesertim siquis humanitatem non e ferocia iudicare cupiat. Opus nobis placet, fortasse & aliis humanitati studiosis placebit.—Arcade Mogyorossy, Editor Praeco Latinus, Menstruum-Gentium-Latinum. Translation.“Angels of the Battlefield.” A history of the labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Civil War, by George Barton, author. The Catholic Art Publishing Company, Burd Building, 9th and Chestnut sts., Philadelphia. The work is illustrated with the finest engravings and printed on very fine paper. It relates to the work of the various Sisterhoods in caring for the wounded soldiers in the late American Civil War. A history of Pleasure Taken “in Complimenting the Author on His Splendid Production.”We are personally acquainted with the author, have read the book carefully, and take great pleasure in complimenting Mr. Barton on his splendid production. While the battle scenes, camp life and other stirring events of the war period from 1861-5 have received attention from the bright minds, and the facts recorded on the pages of history in every civilized country, yet this book by Mr. Barton is the first that treats exclusively on the great work accomplished by the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Civil war.—Clearfield Republican. “Recounts Many Incidents Which Will Be Read With the Deepest Interest.”“Angels of the Battlefield” is a well printed, generously illustrated volume of more than 300 pages, containing no inconsiderable amount of information about the services rendered by Sisters of different religious orders during the Civil war. Mr. Barton writes feelingly of their devotedness and self sacrifices, and recounts many incidents which will be read with the deepest interest. The author has wisely touched upon the leading events of the years 1861-5, and thus rendered the volume more acceptable to general readers than it would otherwise be. He is to be congratulated on the services he has rendered to the cause of religion and truth.—The Ave Maria. “This Comprehensive History of Mercy Reads Almost Like a Romance.”“Angels of the Battlefield” is an elegantly bound volume, in cloth, with gilt back and front, and beautifully illustrated. The book is crowded with incidents and stories, pathetic, humorous and historical, and the story of the self-sacrificing work of the Sisters is told in a compact and comprehensive form. This history of mercy reads almost like a romance.—Boston Daily Globe. “Tribute of Permanent Preservation Well Carried Out and Richly Deserved.”It is a noble record, North, South or West, and the tribute of permanent preservation so well carried out by Mr. Barton is richly deserved. We cannot afford to let the noble deeds of our women in the Civil war, any more than those of our men, die out from our recollection and gratitude. The Catholic Sisterhoods were active in the work of helping and nursing in the Civil war, as they are in all wars and epidemics. Their “The Nobler Literature of the World Gains By This Work.”One of the most beautiful stories of the Civil War has been fittingly told at the end of thirty-two years. The materials were not easily gathered, for, as the author remarks, a genuine humility has stood in the way of the collection of the data, but the work has been done, and the nobler literature of the world gains by its performance. As the self-sacrificing Sisters ministered to all whom they could reach during the war, never asking whether the uniform was blue or gray, so a striking and appropriate characteristic of this book is the fact that the narrative is interwoven without regard to the opposing lines of armies.—St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Author of the Work has Succeeded in Compiling “a Fascinating Volume.”The book fills 300 pages with its accounts of the different Sisterhoods and their leading members. Incidentally it brings in many of the great men of the sixties, such as Archbishop Hughes, whose labors for the Union have made him immortal; Archbishop Kenrich, Archbishop Ryan, General McClellan, General Butler, Abraham Lincoln, Archbishop Elder, General Grant, Archbishop Spaulding, General Anderson, General Wood, General Rosecrans, Governor Morton and Col. Mulligan. The author in his endeavor to perpetuate the memories of the modest members of the Catholic Sisterhoods, who helped the sick and wounded in the Civil War, has compiled a fascinating volume.—Irish-American, New York. “Performed His Task With Excellent Judgment and in a Broad Spirit.”The author of this book has performed his task with excellent judgment and in a broad spirit. Most of the stories given were gathered in personal interviews, by examination of various archives and records, and by an extensive correspondence with Government officials, army veterans and Superioresses of Convents and communities. The gentle ways, the fathomless sympathies of the Sisters soothed and cheered the soldier who lay sick and wounded. The Sister seemed to the sufferer like a link to his mother. He was far more ready to unbosom his thoughts to the Sister than to the doctor. In his last moments he would give the Sister his messages, and asked to hold her hand as his life drifted away.—The Western Chronicle. 1 Greeley’s “American Conflict.” 2 There were 2261 known battles, engagements and skirmishes during the war. 3 It is probable that scattering members from one or two other orders did praiseworthy work during the war, but diligent inquiry has failed to bring forth any specific facts concerning their labors. 4 Life of Archbishop Hughes, by John R. G. Hassard. 5 “The Irish in America.” 6 From “War and Weather,” by Edward Powers (c. e.), Delavan, Wisconsin, 1890. 7 Dr. John Shaw Billings was born in Switzerland County, Ind., April 12, 1839. He received his degree in medicine in 1860, and the following year was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the Medical College of Ohio. The same year he was appointed an assistant surgeon in the United States army, in which position he continued until placed in charge of the hospital at Washington, in 1863. He was later appointed medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac. In 1894 he was appointed surgeon general, and placed in charge of the division of vital statistics. In addition to this he has been medical advisor to trustees of the Johns Hopkins University. 8 Rev. Louis Hippolyte Gache, S. J., was born June 18, 1817, in the department of Ardeche, France. His early studies were pursued at the College of Bourg, St. Andeole. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed chaplain of a Louisiana regiment in the Confederate army. Owing to losses in battle, sickness, etc., the regiment ceased to exist in two years, and Father Gache from then to the close of the war was attached as chaplain to military hospitals. At the end of the conflict he returned to Grand Coteau, remaining there a year. He was then transferred to the new province of Maryland, now that of New York-Baltimore, becoming a professor in Loyola College. He has occupied various posts of responsibility since that time, and only last year (1896) celebrated his golden jubilee or fiftieth year in the Society of Jesus, at the Church of the Gesu, in Philadelphia. 9 One of the nurses who did splendid service in the South was Sister Mary Gabriel. She was the daughter of the late Henry W. and Barbara Kraft, of Philadelphia. When little more than a child she entered the novitiate at Emmittsburg, Md., an action which even then had been delayed a year in deference to her father’s expressed wish. At the end of two years she was professed on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, 1842. Her first mission was the Charity Hospital, New Orleans, where she entered upon what proved to be a long life of devotion to the poor sick. Soon after her arrival she contracted the dreaded yellow fever while nursing stricken patients, and her life was despaired of. She recovered, however, and was again at the post of danger in the plague-stricken city. During the war she labored among the dying soldiers at Mobile and Holly Springs. Twice in later years she visited Philadelphia, the second visit following retirement from active duty. It was during this second visit and while she was staying at St. Joseph’s Hospital that she celebrated her golden jubilee. Her superiors finding her so full of vigor and zeal, again assigned her to active duty, and at her own request she was returned to the Charity Hospital, New Orleans. This devoted Sister passed to her reward about the fall of 1896. 10 The accuracy of this story is vouched for by several persons who were eye-witnesses of the incident. One of these was Major John C. Delaney, now of Harrisburg, Pa. 11 Father Burlando was a notable member of the Congregation of the Missions, commonly knows as Lazarists Fathers. A sketch of his useful career will be found in appendix vii at the end of this volume. 12 The interesting event took place on April 12, 1877. 13 Rev. Hugh J. McManus, December, 1896; Rev. Eugene J. Bardet, March, 1897; Right Rev. Mgr. Toner, September, 1897. 14 For this valuable list of names the author is indebted to an admirable article from the sympathetic pen of Sara Trainor Smith in the Records of the American Catholic Historical Society. 15 In order to preserve the continuity of the narrative as much as possible the most important work done by Sister Anthony and other Mother Seton Sisters has been outlined in Chapter VII. 16 Annals of the Sisters of Mercy. 17 Many of the facts in the foregoing chapter have been gleaned from the annals of the Sisters of Mercy, which have been ably edited by Mother Mary Carroll. 18 The author desires to express his thanks to General James R. O’Beirne, of New York city, who aided him very materially in obtaining the material in question. 19 From the Congressional Globe containing the debates and proceedings of the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, page 158. Vol. 1. 20 In an address delivered in Pittsburg about 1890. 21 The fiftieth anniversary of the foundation in Philadelphia of the Sisters of St. Joseph was celebrated May 5, 1897, at the Mount St. Joseph’s Novitiate, in Chestnut Hill. About ninety priests from Philadelphia and adjacent dioceses were present, and the venerable Monsignor Cantwell, who, with Bishop O’Hara, of Scranton, was the only one then living who extended the hand of welcome to the three Sisters who came from St. Louis fifty years previous, was among the guests. There were present also about two hundred visiting Sisters from the various Catholic institutions in the city and several from Rochester, N. Y., and Flushing. L. I. Archbishop Ryan made a brief address of congratulation to the pupils and the community. He said that forty-five years ago he knew the Sisters of the St. Louis Community, and that he had watched their astounding growth with much interest. He paid a glowing tribute to the beneficence and charity of the community, and prayed that God would cause them to prosper in the future as He had done in the past. 22 Father Lambert is one of the most notable priests in the United States. His ancestors on his mother’s side came over with William Penn and eventually settled in Mt. Holly, N. J. Father Lambert had some very interesting experiences as an army chaplain. He is a writer of some note and has been a worker in Catholic journalism for many years. His best known work is probably his “Notes on Ingersoll,” which had a tremendous sale. 23 From Father Corby’s “Memoirs of Chaplain Life.” 24 A “Story of Courage,” by Rose Hawthorne and George Parsons Lathrop. 25 A “Woman’s Story of the War.” 26 This interesting narrative was originally published in “The Philadelphia Times” and afterwards in Father Corby’s “Memoirs of Chaplain life.” Transcriber’s Note:Obvious printer errors corrected silently. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original. |