The Mother Bickerdyke Memorial in Galesburg, Ill., represents Mary Bickerdyke holding a cup of water for a wounded soldier. This may be the only Civil War memorial dedicated to a woman by sculptor Theo Alice Ruddles Kitson, a woman. (Photo Provided)

MARIETTA – A presentation on Civil War nurse Mother Bickerdyke, portrayed by Carolyn Caskey, will be held at the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 230 Second St.

Mary Ann (Ball) Bickerdyke was a caregiver to U.S. Army soldiers and a lifelong advocate for Civil War veterans.

She was born July 19, 1817, near Mount Vernon, Ohio, and was among the women to enroll at Oberlin College, also one of only a few colleges in the United States open to women at that time.

Bickerdyke did not graduate from Oberlin, but was determined to become a nurse. Her marriage to Robert Bickerdyke in 1847 took her to Galesburg, Ill., where he died 12 years later. There, she continued to work as a nurse to support her two young sons.

At the start of the war, residents of Galesburg purchased medical supplies to donate to the soldiers from Knox County, but no one except for Bickerdyke volunteered to deliver the goods to Cairo, Ill., where the 22nd Illinois Regiment was stationed in the fall of 1861.

Her work received the notice and respect of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. When federal armies moved on to Fort Donelson and deeper into Tennessee, Bickerdyke followed with Grant’s approval. After darkness, she often carried a lantern onto the battlefields to search for wounded in the no-man’s land between the armies.

She attended to the wounded at the Battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, the Atlanta Campaign and Gen. William Sherman’s March to the Sea, among others.

Grant and Sherman admired her for her bravery and devotion for their men. With the assistance of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Bickerdyke used her status with the generals to open more than 300 field hospitals on 19 battlefields.

As chief of nursing, Bickerdyke occasionally short-cut military protocol and when Grant’s staff complained to Gen. Sherman, he reportedly threw up his hands and said “She outranks me.”

Caskey will use her wit and charm, along with books, medicinal herbs and photographs to tell the story of Mother Bickerdyke, round table officials said.

Caskey is a lifelong resident of Stark County, Ohio. She is a student of local history and geneaology and is a founder and officer of local historical societies.

She has published two books, “The History of Freeburg, Ohio” and “The History of the Fairmont Children’s Home.” A third is underway.

The meeting is open to the public and there is no cost to attend. Donations will be accepted to defray a portion of the cost of the event.

The Civil War Round Table meets on the third Thursdays in January, March, May, July, September and November. Membership is free.