Miss Amanda Stokes - Civil War Heroine
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Warren County Local History by Dallas Bogan

Miss Amanda Stokes - Civil War Heroine

Contributor:
Dallas Bogan on 26 August 2004
Source:
original article by Dallas Bogan
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MISS AMANDA STOKES was among the civilians who proved themselves true patriots; did more for the brave boys who gave their blood for the old flag. Before the war had been in progress very long she gave way to her patriotic feelings, and, much against the will of her friends and relations, went into the home hospitals to nurse the sick and wounded. She soon found that a sufficient number of nurses could be procured for these places, and yearned for a broader and more useful field of labor. At that time there was a great demand for medical attendants in the South. Here, then was the place for her to do God's service.
Governor Thomas Corwin was at this time in Washington, and through him a commission as hospital nurse was soon procured from the Surgeon General, together with orders to go South. Armed with these documents, she lost no time in reaching her field of labor, and at once commenced her duties. For months she labored at the Chattanooga hospitals and those of Lookout Mountain. Her midnight vigil at the bedside of a wounded soldier, to perform the last sad rites to a fallen hero, or to be the first object he should look upon when reason was wrought out of delirium, were to her sacred duties. Nothing was too laborious for this heroic woman to perform.
No march was so fatiguing, no duty so hard, but that she performed it cheerfully; and wherever her services were needed most there she was to be found. Her generosity was only equaled by her patriotism. Being possessed of more than one thousand dollars, she spent every cent she had in the world to procure delicacies for those she attended; and not only did she suffer this loss, but while crossing the Couchio River [sic], when the army moved on Atlanta, the horse attached to the ambulance she was in became unmanageable and all were in peril of drowning, and only by breaking through the top with her head was Miss Stokes rescued from a watery grave. The ambulance was lost, and with it all her goods and chattels, including her commission. Upon application being made to the Surgeon-General for copies or duplicates of her papers, it was found that no record had ever been made of them and in consequence, she was never able to get compensation for her services. Her health gone, and her money applied to the comfort of the soldiers, she now finds that rewards for her meritorious devotion to the defenders are not always bestowed on the most worthy. Miss Stokes applied for a benefit through the Congress.
  Source:  Combination Atlas Map of Warren County Ohio compiled, Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations and Surveys by L. H. Everts, 1875, Page 18

 


FOOTNOTES: [a place to add additional information that you might want to submit]

3 Aug 2009 Maribeth Brannen It should say "while crossing the Chattahoochee River"

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This page created 26 August 2004 and last updated 3 December, 2009
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