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Nurse Mary tells her Civil War stories

“As a small child, I remember looking up at her and thinking that she was as tall as a tree, especially since she wore long dresses.”

This comment by her great-granddaughter, Joyce Hamilton, added to the aura of Mary Wren Sharp, who chose to be with her husband during the Civil War, and joined the Seventh Illinois Cavalry as a nurse.

Mary saw hardships, and ended up behind enemy lines when she refused to leave her boys, who were too sick to move. She met generals (Union and Confederate) and even a president, whom she described as “the homliest man I had ever saw, but the kindliest.”

This is Mary’s story.

“It was hard work. There was but one doctor to a regiment, and I was the only nurse.” At the time of her death in October 1936, Mary was one of eight living former Civil War nurses.

Mary Catherine Wren was born near Vera on Aug. 12, 1841, the daughter of John and Maria Buckmaster Wren. Both the Buckmaster and Wren families are counted among the earliest settlers of our county.

Mary and Thomas Upton were married on Nov. 14, 1861, in Marion County, Ill., while Thomas was on a short furlough, after mustering into Co. F of the Seventh Illinois Cavalry.

Shortly after their marriage, Mary traveled to Cape Girardeau and joined the same unit as her husband. She was paid $12 a month, and had to furnish her own horse and equipment.

Her great-granddaughter, Joyce, said that “she bore the hardships of a cavalry unit the same as the men.” Working under gunfire became common for Mary, as she cared for the wounded in battles in Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi. For months at a time, she was the only woman in the unit.

The Seventh Cavalry, under Gen. Grant, was in northern Mississippi during the months of September and October 1862, fighting what history books say amounted to a tie. The administration replaced Buell with William S. Rosecrans, and it was under his leadership that the Seventh swept through Iuka and the hard-fought battle at Corinth.

“Gen. Grant sat outside our tent on a stump and directed the battle. I remember his white horse that was shot out from under him. We served a long time under Gen. Pope, but came in contact with Gen. Grant more often. I did some laundry work for Gen. Pope a few times. You know, the general had to be dressed cleaner than the men.”

Mary refused to run for her life as advised by a colonel when the Confederate attack cut off the unit from its source of supply. There were injured and sick men to care for.

Confederate officers visited the hospital and ordered her to make them coffee – she refused. They ordered her to help burn the tents of the Union soldiers, and, again, she refused. They left without harming the 6-foot, 180-pound nurse who treated both Union and Confederate soldiers with care and compassion.

Mary remembered ordering a new dress from Missouri. About the time it arrived, she was taken prisoner in the Southern victory at Cornersville, Miss.

After her release and return to her unit, the men told her they had seen fragments of that dress as bandages on the Southern soldiers.

“Abraham Lincoln visited us after the Battle of Corinth,” she said. “He came to the hospital and shook hands with all the boys; he seemed so sad over the war.”

Throughout Mary’s term of service, her husband, Thomas, was not far from her side. He served as cook for the hospital unit, and his military file indicates that he turned down several promotions so he could stay with the hospital unit…and Mary.

The pair survived the war together, and were parents of four children: Thomas, Samuel, Wren and Jennie Upton. Thomas died in 1878, and Mary remained a widow for 20 years before marrying James Sharp from near Vera. He preceded her in death in 1928.

Mary stayed healthy and robust into her later years. Several years before her death in 1936, she broke her hip and moved to Clinton to live with her daughter, Gladys Doyle.

Her great-granddaughter, Joyce Hamilton, said that Mary “never lost her sense of humor; she could always find something to laugh about. Her sight was good enough that she never had to wear glasses. When we went to visit, she always had to kiss all the children.”

Mary served in the Seventh Cavalry for two years and seven months. At the end of her service, her fellow soldiers presented her with the regimental flag, a well-deserved honor for this brave woman.

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