JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Harpers certainly noted our women at work during the war. This double page spread featured the Sisters of Charity, by name. How lovely.
" Of all the forms of charity and benevolence seen in the crowded wards of the hospitals, those of some Catholic Sisters were among the most efficient, more lovely than anything I had ever seen in art ... are the pictures that remain of these modest Sisters going on their errands of mercy among the suffering and the dying.”
A. Lincoln
Emmittsburg, Maryland, late June 1863. What looked like the entire Union Army camped on the grounds of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Sisters of Charity convent and earthly home. Father Francis Burlando, Seton priest, had little to do but work shoulder to shoulder with the Sisters, feeding 8,000 troops- climbing into a wagon scant days later , following them to Gettysburg where the Sisters continued their legendary work.
" Impossible to describe the condition of those poor wounded men. Generally the case where there is so much powder used, that they were covered with vermin … we could hardly bear this part of the filth.
”Sister Camilla O’Keefe
It was their calling and fame, although ' fame ' followed them in the form of grace, wounded and healers alike carrying the word. The Sister of Charity brought grace to a mankind stripped down, to core ugliness and more vulnerable than at birth- meeting death.
This habit is not Setons although may be that of a novice?
Then came Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia. Bumped into Satterlee by accident years and years ago, a family connection is here. Already pulling out all the stops, a war time respite for exhausted and wounded men, Seton's Sisters and Satterlee Hospital together conspired to pull men back from death. Now the " Daughters of Charity ", 22 arrived at newly named Satterlee, a refurbished city hospital. Famed doctor Richard Satterlee had a huge hand in the conception of a
" a self-contained city when a tent city was built on the grounds in 1863. The hospital increased its capacity to accommodate 4,500 wounded soldiers. A 14-foot high fence surrounded the property, which now sprawled south to Baltimore Avenue and west to 46th Street. On the grounds there was a post office, clothing store, laundry facility, carpenter shop, printing shop, dispensary, library, and three kitchens referred to as restaurants. "
This is the Sisters while at Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia
"After Gettysburg, they arrived by the thousands, swelling the hospital population to more than 6,000. During Gettysburg greatest number of wounded were admitted to the hospital in a month. August saw the greatest number of deaths , one per day. In one year, patients consumed 800,000 pounds of bread, 16,000 of butter and 334,000 quarts of milk."
You never hear of him,; Father McCrane was the priest who had the honor od keeping up with the Sisters while in Philadelphia. These men also put themselves in harm's way- in a big way. Immigrants composed huge percentage of Sisters and Priests. Reading post-Gettysburg accounts of the hospital where priest, Sisters of Charity and Union and Confederate surgeons all worked together, St. Francis Xavier, no one cared who was what denomination.
"During the war, more than 100 Daughters of Charity passed through the doors of Satterlee, ministering to the wounded soldiers’ spiritual and medical needs. The tiny chapel was expanded to seat 400 . Many soldiers arrived hours before mass to obtain a seat. Several wounded soldiers contributed to outfit the chapel , purchasing a set of stations of the cross, taking g pains to decorate the chapel for feasts and special occasions. "
http://www.pahrc.net/tag/sisters-of-charity/
I'll bet there are photos of Satterlee, misidentified as another hospital. It was huge, in the middle of a major city and cared for countless wounded. Somewhere exists a photograph.
Will refrain from my bad habit of being too wordy. . Besides, it is impossible to convey the importance and effectiveness of our Sisters. To this day the Catholic Church says little, typically, of their gifts to wounded men 150 years ago. There are some excellent articles, old and new, and links. Newspaper articles of the era are terrific not to mention journals from Gettysburg citizens and those who were cared for at Satterlee.
Links, info not included here.
http://www.friendsofclarkpark.org/about-clark-park/satterlee-hospital/
http://www.phillyhistory.org/blog/index.php/2016/11/west-philadelphias-satterlee-hospital-part-i/
http://catholicphilly.com/2014/10/n...-daughters-of-charity-mark-200-years-in-city/