School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Civil War
By Sister Carol Marie Wildt, SSND

April 12, 2011, marks the 150th observance of the beginning of the Civil War in the United States with the firing on Fort Sumter by the Confederate soldiers. The School Sisters of Notre Dame had been in the country almost 14 years when the war began. At the outbreak of the war, there were more than 40 missions in 12 states.

In April 1862, Mother Caroline wrote in her report to the Louis Mission Society: “I have still to express my sorrow on account of the Civil War…It is very painful to be entirely separated from our Sisters in the south because all channels of communication have been closed.” [#28]

In December 1862, she and Rev. F.X. Krautbauer came to St. Louis to prepare 11 novices for profession of first vows. They professed vows at St. Joseph, St. Louis, Mo., on December 28, 1862. [The next group professing first vows in St. Louis was on August 10, 1898, at the newly erected motherhouse].

The annual report to the generalate in Munich for 1863 contained the entry: “The war unrest still continues, and although the Sisters visibly under God’s protection hitherto had been preserved from afflictions, nevertheless, the communication of our houses in the South and North is as yet interrupted, the scarcity of provisions great, the horror of devastation even in the churches unheard of...” No new schools were opened in the United States during this year.

The annual report for 1864 again addressed the challenges created by the war. “In the Orphan Asylums of the Sisters, contagious diseases are raging almost un-interruptedly – sad consequences of the so long war. The harvest, failing everywhere, which was caused by aridity, occasioned such a high price of all provisions, that the Sisters only with the greatest saving can spare their life. The poverty of the people is now so great that they scarcely have enough bread to appease their hunger. In addition to that come yet the burdens and hardship of a war as hardly have ever been seen; because it has until now, fruitlessly devoured 1 ½ million people and 2 billion dollars. Our missions New Orleans and Richmond are still separated from the Motherhouse in the North and the raging dearth there is so great…and still the good “Germans” take care that the Sisters do not suffer any special want.”

One SSND community that was directly touched by the war was St. Francis Borgia in Washington, Mo. The six SSNDs experienced the fright, devastation and protection of God when the city was captured on October 2, 1864. Although the soldiers plundered and devastated the city, they assured the sisters and their boarders that they would not be harmed. One of the sisters described the response of the Confederate soldiers to the sisters in their mission chronicle:

“…A Catholic commander in all haste brought us from six to eight hundred dollars worth of materials of all sorts as a gift. He declared almost under oath that he had paid $300 from his own purse for the goods; he had been an orphan boy, Joseph Moore by name, educated by Sisters, and had long wished to repay them to some extent. He begged us to pray for him; he had not been to confession for three and one half years, and had not seen a priest since then. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he looked towards heaven saying, ‘There is not a heart on earth that beats for me. I am an orphan!’ The gifts were later returned to their rightful owners.”

The chronicle continued, “One company of soldiers remained in town far into the night. Before they left, they burned down the depot…the captain commanded his men, who were leisurely observing the progress of the flames…to get the fire apparatus and to prevent at any cost the destruction of the convent…When at last, the raging flames had been checked, this last company of soldiers also left. We continued to watch all through the night, even during the following eight days not venturing to change our clothing.”

Almost four years to the date of the beginning of the Civil War, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865. Five days later, the Stars and Stripes were once more raised over Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C. That evening, President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance in Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C. By the end of May, all remaining Confederate forces had surrendered and the Nation was reunited.

During the past 150 years, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, as educators, have played an active role in the struggle for unity within the country.

[Chronological Sketches, vol.1, SSND Heritage Research publication No.27; Chronicle of St. Francis Borgia, Washington, Mo.; The Letters of Mother Caroline Friess, edited by Barbara Brumleve, SSND; Chronicle of St. Joseph, St. Louis, Mo.]


Back to Stories About Our History