Just over 20 years after the founding of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., the country was torn apart by the Civil War (1861-1865). Sisters of Providence answered a call to duty by Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton.
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Sister Athanasius Fogarty, directress of the hospital, was well-known as a sister nurse. Risking infection from various war-time diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and measles, Sister Anthanasius tirelessly comforted and cared for sick and dying soldiers. At the end of the war, she served as directress of St. John's Infirmary, a convalescent facility for soldiers that closed in 1871.
The Sisters of Providence are one of several congregations honored in a memorial called "The Nuns of the Battlefield" in Washington, D.C. The monument stands on the corner of Rhode Island Avenue and M Street.