Sisters of Mercy of Vicksburg
The history of
The Sisters Of Mercy In The United States 1843-1928, by Sr. Mary Eulalia Herron was published in 1929. It gives the history of every community of the order up to that time. A teaching order, their duty to teach, not to nurse. The account of the early years of the community established in Vicksburg, Miss. in 1859, shows just how small come of these communities were, their abject poverty, and also something of how the war affected them:
The first community of the Sisters of Mercy in the Diocese of Natchez came from the mother house in Baltimore, at the request of Rt. Rev. William Henry Elder, to open schools in the city of Vicksburg, October, 1859. The community comprised Sister M. Vincent Brown, Sister M. Ignatius Sumner, Sister M. Stephana, a postulant, Miss Rosa Farmer, a young lady of Baltimore who volunteered for the southern mission, and Sister M. de Sales Brown, superior. The sisters had the privilege of returning to Baltimore if they so desired. Later, Sister Stephana, broken in health, returned to Pittsburgh, the convent of her profession.
The journey from Baltimore to Vicksburg was long and tiresome. For three days after their arrival they were the guests of Mr. Antonio Genella. On October 15, 1859, they took residence in a large brick building which had been converted into a convent.
On October 22, they opened school with sixty children enrolled on the first day. The number continued to increase until the beginning of the Civil War, 1861. The schools were then closed and the convent became a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers. During the bombardment at Vicksburg, the sisters were requested to nurse the sick and wounded soldiers at Mississippi Springs, Oxford, Jackson, and Shelby Springs. As the enemy approached, the sisters moved with the disabled soldiers to places of safety.
The period was one of extreme suffering. The sisters were without the necessaries of life and their clothing was so worn that their nearest friends would not recognize them. About a year before the close of the war, Bishop Elder wished them to return to Vicksburg. Four sisters returned, the others remained with the disabled soldiers. The Confederate general (Polk) very reluctantly gave permission for the sisters to withdraw. When the sisters reached Vicksburg they were not permitted to take possession of their convent as it had become the headquarters of General Slocum and other Federal officials. The sisters were again obliged to accept the hospitality of Mr. Genella, at whose home they had been received on their first coming to Vicksburg in 1859. The following sisters nursed the soldiers during the war: Mother M. de Sales Brown, Sister M. Vincent Brown, Sister M. Ignatius Sumner, Sister M. Agnes Maddigan, Sister M. Philomena Farmer, and Sister M. Xavier Poursine.
The convent property was later restored to the sisters through the influence of Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, at the request of Rev. Michael O'Connor, formerly Bishop of Pittsburgh, then a member of the Society of Jesus. On the sisters' return to Vicksburg they were penniless. Confederate money was without value. Their property was in need of repairs from neglect and the ravages of war. Martin Keary, a generous benefactor, lent them several thousand dollars, without interest, with which to build, and, assisted by Mr. Casey, collected six hundred dollars to repair the convent so as to make it habitable until the new convent was erected.