-Was a school teacher at the Pine Creek Sunday School.
-Served as a nurse with the Indiana Sanitary Commission in the Civil War.
CIVIL WAR NURSE WAS DAUGHTER OF A CONDUCTOR ON UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Near the Center of Pine Creek Cemetery on C. R. 20 lies the fallen tombstone of an Elkhart County martyr, all but forgotten today.
County historian H. S. K. Bartholomew noted the stone had fallen before 1936. It never has been repaired.
Arsinoe Martin, daughter of William Martin, a farmer and Underground Railroad conductor, was a popular young school teacher when the War of the Rebellion began in in 1861.
In her father's grove, half a mile south of Pleasant View Church, a mass meeting and picnic were held to recruit for a local regiment.
Despite entertainment, good food and a stirring speech by Michael Sherey, an Elkhart lawyer, enlistment was slow. Arsinoe climbed the podium and volunteered to go to the front as a nurse. Thirty young men then joined the Union Army.
Arsinoe Martin returned to her home on what is now C. R. 23 in 1864 and died of typhoid contracted in camp. Another county nurse who saw active service, Hannah Powell, also gave her life for her country the same year.
Arsinoe's autograph album, a sentimental collection of drawings and notations from friends is on file in the Elkhart County Historical Society Museum at Rush memorial Center, Bristol.
The first entry, under a calligraphic bird, is a quotation from "Home, Sweet Home" signed by J. W. Elliott and dated May 8, 1858.
"Your country's supremacy. . . her women may determine her history yet. Give aid to her soldiers, Give praise to her cause." wrote D. B. Davis, of the 30th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers in 1862.
The last entry, a posthumous tribute, was made by F. H. Davis, who had previously promised Arsinoe to sign her treasured album.
It was contributed to the historical society by Mrs. Clarence Gilmore.
Source: Elkhart Truth January 6, 1979
OBITUARY OF ARSINOE MARTIN:
The following article was taken from the Goshen Times, 26 November 1863.
In Jefferson Township, on Wednesday evening 18th inst. of Typhoid fever, Miss Arsinoe E. Martin, age 25 years, daughter of Wm P. and Mary Martin.
There are martyred Heroines as well as Heroes in this war, over whose sacred ashes the holiest tears of affection are shed; and the young lady whose death is above recorded is entitled to a place among the brightest. Her life was passed in the seclusion of a happy country home, the pride of her family and the ornament of the community in which she moved - but even here the sufferings of our brave volunteers penetrated, stuing her sympathy and awakening every latent energy of her nature. While the writer of this was with the 48th Ind. Vol at Puducah, Ky, he received a letter from this patriotic girl under date of March 28th 1862, of which the following are extracts.
"You are aware that I have long been willing, yes anxious, to participate in this great national struggle. I cannot luxurate at home thinking that my sex shields me from all responsibility! No, I have been deeply impressed from the beginning of this war, that there was a work for me to do and I shall never feel that I have done my duty unless I am instrumental in allevating the suffering of some of the many brave soldiers that fill our numerous hospitals. I have heard of the suffering at Puducah, and of the necessity of more nurses. And it is with a view of soliciting your aid in procuring me a situation in the hospital at Puducah that I am thus engaged this evening."
I endeavored to dissuade her from her purpose, letting forth the risks of impairing her health if not sacrificing her life; but as it appears, all to no effect. After the battle of Stone River the Governor called for nurses to attend the sick and wounded accumulating in the Southern hospitals, and with several patriotic ladies of Goshen, she went to Memphis, Tenn. Miss Martin was in of the hospitals but a short time when the impure air produced a disease of her lungs and she was forced to return home, but with the expressed determination to return to her post as soon as her health would permit.
Last month she went again South and was sent to attend the sick in hospital in Cornith, Miss. She remained there but a few weeks when she contracted the fatal disease which terminated her usefulness. --Knowing the malignanty of the complaint her greatest anxiety was to reach home which she accomplished after untold sufferings on Monday last, though the devoted, assistance of Miss Margaret Miller, of Goshen who attended her all the way through from Memphis.
On the evening of her death she was asked if she was not sorry she had persisted in these efforts to relieve the suffering soldiers, when the heroine christian's response was a whispered back as from the portals of death - "No Mother! I fulfilled my mission and am ready to die" Noble, generous-hearted, self sacrificing girl! May the richest enjoyments of Heaven be yours.
C.L.M
THE DIARY OF ARSINOE E. MARTIN:
(Transcribed by David S. McLaughlin from her original diary pages.)
Corinth, Mississippi October 26, 1863
Away down in Dixie, faraway from home! Well I've started out for the good of
the soldier. I am contented, yes happy with the surroundings. I have been among the
poor sick boys assigned to my charge and my heart goes forth in thankfulness to God that
he has permitted me to come to them; may he give me health and strength to do my duty is
my prayer. How sad it makes my heart to see those poor sufferers faraway from home and
loved ones; how they long to hear those familiar voices once more, to have the tender care
wife or sister; but many will never again have the privilege. May God support those at
home when the sad intelligence reaches them that their loved one has gone to the country
from where none has ever returned to tell of the happiness in store for those that have
in the love of God. I thought that I could realize the horrors of civil war in
imagination while I am amid in my quiet home at the North; but how little we know of the
realities until we visit our soldiers upon the devastation of human suffering. 8-26xx.
How pleasantly time passes, how time,-"That we are never as happy as when
usefully employed. How large the field of usefulness opened before me,-for all that can
leave their homes and enter upon the field of action. I certainly never was happier. -Some
may think it strange, so far from home and loved ones, a stranger to home, loved ones,
and comforts; but I am happy, because I know I am doing good. My only regrets are that
I have not strength to do more for those poor sufferers that surround me. But my faith is
strong that God will give me health to yet be of much service to suffering humanity? Last
evening as I rode on horseback over the Battlefield of Corinth and see the logs and stumps
marred, and scarred by the missiles of war on their errand of death, my heart is sickened as
I thought of the brave and noble men that had lane suffering in their gore; my heart went
forth in prayer, that the hand of rebellion might be staid.
What a beautiful country, all nature seems to smile upon us. The sun shines forth
from a cloudless sky in all its splendor. A little soldier boy just presented me with a
bouquet of roses fresh and blooming, and at this season of the year. I highly appreciate
them; just from the North where all nature was disobeying its self of its beauty, such are
rare treasures.
Sabbath day spent in camp, how different from home, all the duties the same; we
had preaching in the evening. I like the chaplain, I think him a very good man. When we
have confidence in the minister, how much more we can appreciate what he has to say. Well I took a horseback ride yesterday, Sabbath as it was, some might think it wrong, but I believe I had no conscientious scruples; as we visited the graves of the brave boys that fell in defense of their country, -our country. 26th 1863
-Arsinoe E. Martin's last writings done in October before she died in 1863.
-Was a school teacher at the Pine Creek Sunday School.
-Served as a nurse with the Indiana Sanitary Commission in the Civil War.
CIVIL WAR NURSE WAS DAUGHTER OF A CONDUCTOR ON UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Near the Center of Pine Creek Cemetery on C. R. 20 lies the fallen tombstone of an Elkhart County martyr, all but forgotten today.
County historian H. S. K. Bartholomew noted the stone had fallen before 1936. It never has been repaired.
Arsinoe Martin, daughter of William Martin, a farmer and Underground Railroad conductor, was a popular young school teacher when the War of the Rebellion began in in 1861.
In her father's grove, half a mile south of Pleasant View Church, a mass meeting and picnic were held to recruit for a local regiment.
Despite entertainment, good food and a stirring speech by Michael Sherey, an Elkhart lawyer, enlistment was slow. Arsinoe climbed the podium and volunteered to go to the front as a nurse. Thirty young men then joined the Union Army.
Arsinoe Martin returned to her home on what is now C. R. 23 in 1864 and died of typhoid contracted in camp. Another county nurse who saw active service, Hannah Powell, also gave her life for her country the same year.
Arsinoe's autograph album, a sentimental collection of drawings and notations from friends is on file in the Elkhart County Historical Society Museum at Rush memorial Center, Bristol.
The first entry, under a calligraphic bird, is a quotation from "Home, Sweet Home" signed by J. W. Elliott and dated May 8, 1858.
"Your country's supremacy. . . her women may determine her history yet. Give aid to her soldiers, Give praise to her cause." wrote D. B. Davis, of the 30th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers in 1862.
The last entry, a posthumous tribute, was made by F. H. Davis, who had previously promised Arsinoe to sign her treasured album.
It was contributed to the historical society by Mrs. Clarence Gilmore.
Source: Elkhart Truth January 6, 1979
OBITUARY OF ARSINOE MARTIN:
The following article was taken from the Goshen Times, 26 November 1863.
In Jefferson Township, on Wednesday evening 18th inst. of Typhoid fever, Miss Arsinoe E. Martin, age 25 years, daughter of Wm P. and Mary Martin.
There are martyred Heroines as well as Heroes in this war, over whose sacred ashes the holiest tears of affection are shed; and the young lady whose death is above recorded is entitled to a place among the brightest. Her life was passed in the seclusion of a happy country home, the pride of her family and the ornament of the community in which she moved - but even here the sufferings of our brave volunteers penetrated, stuing her sympathy and awakening every latent energy of her nature. While the writer of this was with the 48th Ind. Vol at Puducah, Ky, he received a letter from this patriotic girl under date of March 28th 1862, of which the following are extracts.
"You are aware that I have long been willing, yes anxious, to participate in this great national struggle. I cannot luxurate at home thinking that my sex shields me from all responsibility! No, I have been deeply impressed from the beginning of this war, that there was a work for me to do and I shall never feel that I have done my duty unless I am instrumental in allevating the suffering of some of the many brave soldiers that fill our numerous hospitals. I have heard of the suffering at Puducah, and of the necessity of more nurses. And it is with a view of soliciting your aid in procuring me a situation in the hospital at Puducah that I am thus engaged this evening."
I endeavored to dissuade her from her purpose, letting forth the risks of impairing her health if not sacrificing her life; but as it appears, all to no effect. After the battle of Stone River the Governor called for nurses to attend the sick and wounded accumulating in the Southern hospitals, and with several patriotic ladies of Goshen, she went to Memphis, Tenn. Miss Martin was in of the hospitals but a short time when the impure air produced a disease of her lungs and she was forced to return home, but with the expressed determination to return to her post as soon as her health would permit.
Last month she went again South and was sent to attend the sick in hospital in Cornith, Miss. She remained there but a few weeks when she contracted the fatal disease which terminated her usefulness. --Knowing the malignanty of the complaint her greatest anxiety was to reach home which she accomplished after untold sufferings on Monday last, though the devoted, assistance of Miss Margaret Miller, of Goshen who attended her all the way through from Memphis.
On the evening of her death she was asked if she was not sorry she had persisted in these efforts to relieve the suffering soldiers, when the heroine christian's response was a whispered back as from the portals of death - "No Mother! I fulfilled my mission and am ready to die" Noble, generous-hearted, self sacrificing girl! May the richest enjoyments of Heaven be yours.
C.L.M
THE DIARY OF ARSINOE E. MARTIN:
(Transcribed by David S. McLaughlin from her original diary pages.)
Corinth, Mississippi October 26, 1863
Away down in Dixie, faraway from home! Well I've started out for the good of
the soldier. I am contented, yes happy with the surroundings. I have been among the
poor sick boys assigned to my charge and my heart goes forth in thankfulness to God that
he has permitted me to come to them; may he give me health and strength to do my duty is
my prayer. How sad it makes my heart to see those poor sufferers faraway from home and
loved ones; how they long to hear those familiar voices once more, to have the tender care
wife or sister; but many will never again have the privilege. May God support those at
home when the sad intelligence reaches them that their loved one has gone to the country
from where none has ever returned to tell of the happiness in store for those that have
in the love of God. I thought that I could realize the horrors of civil war in
imagination while I am amid in my quiet home at the North; but how little we know of the
realities until we visit our soldiers upon the devastation of human suffering. 8-26xx.
How pleasantly time passes, how time,-"That we are never as happy as when
usefully employed. How large the field of usefulness opened before me,-for all that can
leave their homes and enter upon the field of action. I certainly never was happier. -Some
may think it strange, so far from home and loved ones, a stranger to home, loved ones,
and comforts; but I am happy, because I know I am doing good. My only regrets are that
I have not strength to do more for those poor sufferers that surround me. But my faith is
strong that God will give me health to yet be of much service to suffering humanity? Last
evening as I rode on horseback over the Battlefield of Corinth and see the logs and stumps
marred, and scarred by the missiles of war on their errand of death, my heart is sickened as
I thought of the brave and noble men that had lane suffering in their gore; my heart went
forth in prayer, that the hand of rebellion might be staid.
What a beautiful country, all nature seems to smile upon us. The sun shines forth
from a cloudless sky in all its splendor. A little soldier boy just presented me with a
bouquet of roses fresh and blooming, and at this season of the year. I highly appreciate
them; just from the North where all nature was disobeying its self of its beauty, such are
rare treasures.
Sabbath day spent in camp, how different from home, all the duties the same; we
had preaching in the evening. I like the chaplain, I think him a very good man. When we
have confidence in the minister, how much more we can appreciate what he has to say. Well I took a horseback ride yesterday, Sabbath as it was, some might think it wrong, but I believe I had no conscientious scruples; as we visited the graves of the brave boys that fell in defense of their country, -our country. 26th 1863
-Arsinoe E. Martin's last writings done in October before she died in 1863.
Inscription
ARSINOE
DAU OF
Wm. P. & Mary Martin
DIED
Nov 18, 1863
age 25 yrs and 6 mo.
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