Mary Sophia Hill, unsung nurse for Confederacy; Immigrant from Ireland kept daily diary of field hardships.(TRAVEL)(THE CIVIL WAR)

Byline: Martha M. Boltz, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

One unsung heroine of the War Between the States was not a Southerner, or even an American. Yet she became a beloved figure to Confederate troops. When she died, the veterans accorded her all the rites of an officer of the Confederacy.

Few have heard her name, and even to many scholars of the war, Mary Sophia Hill is an unfamiliar heroine. Until recently, her grave was unmarked. Thanks to a dedicated member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, that omission has been corrected.

Mary Hill was born in Dublin, Ireland, on Nov. 12, 1819. She lived for a while in England and enjoyed the normal privileges of a British subject. When her brother, Samuel William Hill, moved to New Orleans in December 1850, she came with him.

Described as ia teacher and a woman of independent means,i she established herself quickly in the Queen City, teaching English, French and music. All went well until brother and sister had some sort of altercation, and Samuel left in a fit of pique to join the Confederate army.

For her brother

Mary Hill felt that her brother was not cut out to be a soldier. When he enlisted in the 6th Louisiana Infantry, she found a way to come along. When he transferred into the Irish Brigade and was ordered to Richmond, she went there.

As she later stated in a letter to the British High Commission in 1871, iI tried all I could to get him free; went to Mr. Muir, who was then Consul, to see what he could do, but with no good result. It nearly broke my heart to see my only brother and only near male relative leave me and leave the flag we were born under for a stranger, and perhaps get killed for his folly; so I concluded I would follow him to Virginia to care for him .. and that I would, wherever needed, care for the wounded, the sick, and the distressed.i

She went on to explain that she had been with the soldiers at the Battle of Bull Run and had worked in the hospital, and then the battles iof the Valley of Virginia …