The Women of the ConfederacyUnderwood, J. L. (John Levi)
History
The Women of the Confederacy
Underwood, J. L. (John Levi)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Anecdotes; Women -- Confederate States of America
Sallie Chapman Gordon was married to Dr. John S. Law, near Eatonton,
Georgia, on the 28th day of June, 1825. A few years later she became a
member of the Presbyterian Church, in Forsyth, Georgia, and her name
was afterward transferred to the rolls of the Second Presbyterian
Church in Memphis, of which church she remained a member as long as
she lived.
She became an active worker in hospitals, and when nothing more could
be done in Memphis she went through the lines and rendered substantial
aid and comfort to the soldiers in the field. Her services, if fully
recorded, would make a book. She was so recognized that upon one
occasion General Joseph E. Johnston had 30,000 of his bronzed and
tattered soldiers to pass in review in her honor at Dalton. Such a
distinction was, perhaps, never accorded to any other woman in the
South--not even Mrs. Jefferson Davis or the wives of great generals.
Yet, so earnest and sincere in her work was she that she commanded the
respect and reverence of men wherever she was known. After the war she
strove to comfort the vanquished and encourage the down-hearted, and
continued in her way to do much good work.
"THE GREAT EASTERN"
[In Christ in Camp, pages 94-98; J. William Jones, D. D.]
Here is another sketch of a soldier's friend who labored in some of
our largest hospitals.
"She is a character," writes a soldier. "A Napoleon of her department,
with the firmness and courage of Andrew, she possesses all the energy
and independence of Stonewall Jackson. The officials hate her; the
soldiers adore her. The former name her 'The Great Eastern,' and steer
wide of her track, the latter go to her in all their wants and
troubles, and know her by the name of 'Miss Sally.' She joined the
army in one of the regiments from Alabama, about the time of the
battle of Manassas, and never shrunk from the stern privations of the
soldier's life from the moment of leaving camp to follow her wounded
and sick Alabamians to the hospitals of Richmond. Her services are not
confined, however, to the sick and wounded from Alabama. Every sick
soldier has now a claim on her sympathy. Why, but yesterday, my system
having succumbed to the prevailing malaria of the hospital, she came
to my room, though a stranger, with my ward nurse, and in the kindest
manner offered me her pillow of feathers, with case as tidy as the
driven snow. The very sight of it was soothing to an aching brow, and
I blessed her from heart and lips as well. I must not omit to tell why
'Miss Sally' is so disliked by many of the officials. Like all women
of energy, she has eyes whose penetration few things escape, and a
sagacity fearful or admirable, as the case may be, to all interested.
If any abuse is pending, or in progress in the hospital, she is
quickly on the track, and if not abated, off 'The Great Eastern' sails
to headquarters. A few days ago one of the officials of the division
sent a soldier to inform her that she must vacate her room instantly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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