Lest We Forget: The Civil War Service of the Sisters of Providence

Less than a month after the April 12, 1861, attack on Fort Sumter, Indiana Gov. Oliver Perry Morton requested that the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., provide assistance in the administration of City Hospital in Indianapolis, which had been turned over to the federal government for the care of soldiers. This hospital soon became known as Military Hospital and the Sisters of Providence became “Angels of Mercy” to Union and Confederate soldiers alike.

On Thursday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. (CDT) at the Marshall Public Library, 612 Archer Avenue, Marshall, Ill., Connie McCammon, a communications staff member in the Office of Congregational Advancement of the Sisters of Providence, will present “Lest We Forget: The Civil War Service of the Sisters of Providence.” The event is free and open to the public. Connie will share the story of Mother Mary Cecilia Bailly and the courageous sisters who answered a call to service during a turbulent time in the nation’s history.

With the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War this year, the Sisters of Providence are proud to be a part of the Vigo County Indiana Civil War Sesquicentennial Project, a special collection of Wabash Valley Visions & Voices (WV3), a digital memory project. Other partners include Indiana State University’s Cunningham Memorial Library, the Vigo County Public Library and the Vigo County Historical Society. All digitized items are fully searchable online. A Library Services and Technology Act Mini-Digitization Grant from the Indiana State Library provided funding for this project.

To learn more about the Congregation’s service during the Civil War, visit the history section of our children’s website.