Louisa Maertz.
Rev. J. G. Forman.
- Her birth and parentage -- her residence in Germany and Switzerland -- her fondness for study -- her extraordinary sympathy and benevolence -- she commences visiting the hospitals in her native city, Quincy, Illinois, in the autumn of 1861 -- she takes some of the wounded home to her father's house and ministers to them there -- she goes to St. Louis -- is commissioned as a nurse -- sent to Helena, then full of wounded from the battles in Arkansas -- her severe labors here -- almost the only woman nurse in the hospitals there -- “God bless you, dear lady” -- the Arkansas Union soldier -- the half-blind widow -- Miss Maertz at Vicksburg -- at New Orleans
During the winter of 1863, while stationed at Helena, Arkansas, the writer was greatly impressed with the heroic devotion to the welfare of the sick soldier, of a lady whom he often met in the hospitals, where she was constantly engaged in services of kindness to the suffering inmates, attending to their wants, and alleviating their distress. He soon learned that her name was Louisa Maertz, of Quincy, Illinois, who had come from her home all the way to Helena-at a time when the navigation of the river was rendered dangerous by the firing of guerrillas from the shore upon the passing steamers — that she might devote herself to the work of a hospital nurse. At a later period, when he learned that she had left a pleasant home for this arduous service, and saw how bravely she endured the discomforts of hospital life in Helena, where there was not a single well-ordered and well-provided hospital; how she went from one building to another through the filthy and muddy town, to carry the delicacies she had obtained from the Sanitary Commission, and dispense them to the sick, with her own hands, he was still more impressed with these evidences of her “good, heroic womanhood,” and her disinterested benevolence. Recently he has procured a few particulars of her history, which will serve for a brief sketch. Miss Maertz was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1838. Her parents were of German birth, and among the early settlers of the place. From infancy she was of a delicate constitution, and
