task she had volunteered to perform, publicly requested all women who offered their services as nurses to report to her.
"Like an angel of mercy," says an historian of the war, "this self-sacrificing woman labored day and night throughout the entire war for the relief of the suffering soldiers,  without expecting or receiving any pecuniary reward. She went from battle-field to battlefield when the carnage was over; from camp to camp, and from hospital to hospital, superintending the operations of the nurses, and administering with her own hands physical comforts to the suffering, and soothing the troubled spirits of the invalid or dying soldier with a voice low, musical and attractive, and always burdened with words of heartfelt sympathy and religious consolation....Yet she was not the only Sister of Mercy engaged in this holy work. She had hundreds of devoted, earnest, self-sacrificing co-workers of the gentler sex all over the land, serving with equal zeal in the camp and hospitals of National and Confederate armies; and no greater heroism was displayed by soldiers in the field than was exhibited by these American women everywhere."
The firemen of Philadelphia also did noble work. When sick and wounded soldiers began to be brought to the Government hospitals in Philadelphia, the Medical Department often found it difficult to provide vehicles to take them from the vessels to their destination, and there was much suffering on account of delays. The sympathetic firemen of the city made arrangements to give a signal when invalid soldiers arrived, when they would turn out with wagons to convey them to the hospitals. Finally, the Northern Liberties Engine Company had a fine ambulance constructed for the purpose. Other fire companies of the city followed the example; and in these ambulances, one hundred and twenty thousand soldiers were conveyed tenderly from vessels to the hospitals, during the war.
CHAPTER XII.
Confederates in Virginia - National Troops in Western Virginia - McClellan's Campaign - Secessionists Repressed in Baltimore - Confederate Privateers - Troops near Washington - Manassas junction - Patterson Crosses the Potomac-Movements of National Troops - Battle at Blackburn's Ford - Battle of Bull Run and Its Effects - War in the West - General Lyon's Campaign - Military Operations in Missouri - Death of Lyon - Union Movement - Movements of a Disloyal Governor.
The gathering of Confederate troops at Manassas, under Beauregard, required prompt and vigorous action on the part of the Government. The main Confederate army was there. Johnston was at Winchester, with a large body, ready to reinforce Beauregard at any moment, unless prevented by General Patterson, who was at Martinsburg early in July, with eighteen thousand Nationals, keenly watching the movements of the Confederates. From their grand encampment at Manassas, the latter had sent out detachments along the line of the Upper Potomac from Georgetown to Leesburg, menacing various points, and foraging. At Vienna they had a severe skirmish (June 17) with an Ohio regiment, and were repulsed; and there the flag of the "Sovereign State of South Carolina" was first seen on a battle-field. The Confederates soon returned and took possession of Vienna and Falls Church Village, and the latter became famous for stirring scenes afterward. It was ten days after this event that Captain Ward, of the Freeborn, was killed at Matthias Point.
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