Bickerdyke, Mary Ann

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Mary Ann Bickerdyke, 1817–1901, Union nurse in the American Civil War, b. Mary Ann Ball in Knox co., Ohio. Generally called Mother Bickerdyke, she served throughout the war in the West and was beloved by the enlisted men, whose rights she championed; she was also a favorite with generals Grant and Sherman. After the war she lobbied in Washington to secure pensions for Civil War nurses and veterans.

See biographies by N. B. Baker (1952) and A. L. DeLeeuw (1973).