April 12, 1863, Mobile Register And Advertiser
Grand Gulf, Miss.,. March 17th, 1863.
Editors Register and Advertiser:
In a late number of your paper I find, in a communication from your correspondent “N’Importe,” an article in which special mention is made of the meritorious and self-sacrificing labors of the “Florence Nightingale of the South,” Miss Hattie Foster, of Alabama, in behalf of those of our gallant soldiers who were so unfortunate as to be left–torn and mangled, at the mercy of the foe–upon the bloody and disastrous field of Corinth.
Having been a recipient of many favors at the hand of this ministering angel, a witness of her zealous labors in the holy cause of humanity, and fully endorsing all that your correspondent says concerning her conduct, it cannot be inferred from this that I desire to distract, in the least, from Miss Hattie’s justly merited good name. On the contrary, if it were possible, I would be delighted to be instrumental in adding more to the celebrity of one whose exalted virtues entitle her to the respect, gratitude and admiration of every defender of Southern independence; and for whose welfare and prosperity prayers should ascend to Heaven daily from every soldier’s mother, sister, wife and daughter throughout the land. But, “let honor be awarded to all to whom honor is due.” The language of your correspondent seems to convey the idea that none save Miss Hattie were engaged in this laudable, though laborious enterprise. But there were many others, who did not (as your correspondent says) mechanically attend and wait upon the wounded as a part of their duty,” but were fully as zealous, as devoted to the cause of suffering humanity as she. Others who, leaving behind them the comforts and luxuries of home, came to Iuka–the scene of the revolting realities of a disastrous battlefield–and remained for days, weeks, and even months, among strangers, devoting their entire attention to the patriotic work in which they were so earnestly engaged; spending the long and tedious days of autumn from early dawn until late at night among the sufferers; striving by every means in their power to render their condition more comfortable; and by their aid many a gallant soldier, who yet lives to testify of their kindness, and to assist in beating back our merciless invader, was restored to health and vigor; who, had this attention been withheld, would now doubtless be slumbering in an untimely grave. Oft have I seen the eye bedimmed with the tear of sympathy, and heard the voice falter while they were standing around the rude cot of the dying soldiers; ministering to his last earthly want, and striving to fasten his mind, in his last moments, upon “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” And when the last struggle was o’er, with gentle touch they would close his sightless eyes, and when arrangements were made for his interment, they would provide garments white and clean in which to enshrine his mangled and lifeless body; and then would follow him in his rude coffin to his final resting place, and would with sisterly affection insist that this last solemn rite be performed with care.
That Miss Hattie was always among the foremost of them, I most freely admit; but I feel assured that her utter lack of vanity forever excludes from her mind all desire to deprive others of their due share of public esteem; and I feel that she would be delighted to see the names of her colaborers brought be brought before the public, that they, too, may receive the just tribute of respect from a grateful people. Among the many who deserve public mention, unfortunately, I can give the names of comparatively few–only of those who were attendants in the ward in which I was confined. But the names of such ladies as Mrs. Cassidy, Mrs. Inman, Mrs. Pettus, Mrs. Maguire, the Misses Dias, the Misses Vaughan, Miss […..]empson, Miss Nugem, Miss McKnight, Miss Reynolds, and a number with whom I am not familiar, deserve not only a place in the memory of those who were actually benefited by kindness, but the gratitude of an entire nation is due them; and their names deserve a place in the history of this struggle–as example to the be admired and emulated by the daughters of our Confederacy in coming generations.
One of the Wounded.