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Bickerdyke in old age. |
Mary Ann Bickerdyke (1817-1901), also known as "Mother Bickerdyke," was a hospital administrator for Union soldiers during the American Civil War.
She was born in Knox County, Ohio, to Hiram Ball and Annie Rodgers Ball.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, she joined a field hospital at Fort Donelson, and worked on the first hospital boat. During the War she became chief of nursing under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant, and served at the Battle of Vicksburg.
After the war ended, she worked for the Salvation Army in San Francisco, and became an attorney, helping Union veterans with legal issues. She received a special pension from Congress in 1886, and retired to Bunker Hill, Kansas.