She was the first woman to preform any work for the comfort of the soldiers. In 1860, when So. Carolina had seceeded, and she saw that war was very probable, she began preparing hospital supplies. Her husband was employed by the government and her sons were in the Army.
During the war, she personally used up 7,000 boxes of hospital supplies, and distributed to sick and wounded soldiers "comforts and delicacies" to the value of $150,000.
She spent several months at sea, attending to the wounded on hospital ships and was under fire during the Seven Days Battle of the Peninsula Campaign, then one of her sons was killed at Chancellorsville.
It was said that she never failed to awaken smiles and bring about a general air of cheerfulness.
"Campfires and Battlefields" by Rossiter Johnson, page 325
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