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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Angela Gillespie (1824-1887) --
Mother Superior, Sisters of the Holy Cross

Eliza Maria Gillespie was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, on 21 February 1824. After graduation from Visitation Academy in Georgetown, District of Columbia, in 1842, she performed charitable and other work in her parish and taught school in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 1853, she joined the Sisters of the Holy Cross, a French order of Roman Catholic Nuns, taking the name Sister Mary of Saint Angela. During the next several years she directed the U.S. branch of the order and its school, Saint Mary's College, in South Bend, Indiana. Under her leadership, the Sisters of the Holy Cross became one of the Nation's leading teaching orders.

During the American Civil War, Mother Angela and the Sisters of the Holy Cross undertook nursing service in the Mississippi River area. Among other endeavors, they established and ran a large general hospital at Mound City, Illinois, and provided nursing staff for the U.S. Navy's hospital ship Red Rover. Mother Angela continued in the leadership of her order after the conflict. She died at Notre Dame, Indiana, on 4 March 1887.

This page features our only images related to Mother Angela Gillespie.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 85812

Mother Angela Gillespie


Founder of the Holy Cross Nursing Sisters.
She was supervisor of the eighty Holy Cross Sisters who served as military nurses during the Civil War.

Courtesy of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, 1965.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 555 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85813

U.S. General Hospital, Mound City, Illinois


Main building of the hospital, a converted warehouse, while Dr. Horace Warnder was Surgeon in Charge during the Civil War, as sketched by William Groth.
This hospital was staffed by the Nursing Sisters of the Holy Cross, St. Mary's Convent, South Bend, Indiana. It also served as staffing base for the Navy hospital ship USS Red Rover.
In 1963, this building was a warehouse of the Cairo River & Rail Co.

Courtesy of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, 1965.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 550 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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14 March 2000