Caskey to portray Mother Bickerdyke at next CWRT
The next Wayne County Civil War Round Table program, which is free to attend, will be May 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wayne County Historical Society schoolhouse, located on the Wayne County Historical Society campus at 546 E. Bowman St. in Wooster.
The program will feature Carolyn Becker Caskey as Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke (1817-1901), who studied medicine at Oberlin College, married in 1847 and was widowed in 1859. On behalf of the citizens of Galesburg, Illinois in 1861, she delivered $500 worth of medical supplies to the Union forces stationed at Cairo, Illinois. Seeing the poor conditions of the sick and wounded at the field hospital, she set to work making improvements. She became an agent of the Sanitary Commission and helped approximately 300 hospitals.
Caskey started school at the local two-room school and graduated from Louisville High School. She was always interested in history while in school and discovered ancestors were involved in the Civil War. She began presenting Mother Bickerdyke after seeing another woman present the character.
Research on the Civil War led to three different programs pertaining to the Civil War and also other programs for a total of 10 true stories. Caskey has spoken to many different organizations, grades, middle and high schools, nursing homes, and at different events. She even spoke at a prison. Her favorite is Mother Bickerdyke.