Produced by ellinora, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: AN INNOCENT VICTIM. S. SEYMOUR THOMAS’ MASTERPIECE.] SECOND EDITION--REVISED AND ENLARGED. ANGELS OF THE○ BATTLEFIELD. A History of the Labors of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the Late Civil War. BY GEORGE BARTON. ... 1898 ... THE CATHOLIC ART PUBLISHING COMPANY. PHILADELPHIA, PA. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897 By George Barton, Philadelphia, Pa., In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. AUTHOR’S PREFACE. The object of this volume is to present in as consecutive and comprehensive form as possible the history of the Catholic Sisterhoods in the late Civil War. Many books have been written on the work of other women in this war, but, aside from fugitive newspaper paragraphs, nothing has ever been published concerning the self-sacrificing labors of these Sisterhoods. Whatever may have been the cause of this neglect or indifference, it is evident that the time has arrived to fill this important gap in the literature of the war. “The Sisters,” to quote an army chaplain, “do not have reunions or camp-fires to keep alive the memories of the most bloody lustrum in our history, but their war stories are as heroic, and far more edifying, than many the veterans tell.” That genuine humility so characteristic of the Sisters has made the collection of the necessary data for this work very difficult. Most of the stories embodied in the pages that follow have been gathered by personal interviews, through examinations of various archives and records, and by an extensive correspondence with Government officials, veterans of the war and the superiors of convents and communities. It is impossible to enumerate all those who have aided in the work, but the writer desires to thank especially the Sisters to whom he is indebted for the chapters relating to the Sisters of Mercy who were with the Irish Brigade in the West, and to the Sisters of St. Joseph who were at Camp Curtin, in Harrisburg, Pa.