Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/615

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
464
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND


the fundamental laws of our order. In fact, it is one of the strongest planks in the Woman's Relief Corps platform. Our success- ful work along that line for the last four years has been even greater than the most enthusi- astic workers ever anticipated."

She made an extended Southern tour during her year as National President, visiting the colored corps, and also going to Andersonville, in order to find out something definite about the place and its surroundings.

It being decided at this convention to assume control of the Andersonville Prison property, a board of directors was chosen, of which Mrs. Turner was elected chairman. Two years later, in reporting the work accomplished, Mrs. Turner said: "We now own all the stockade as well as all the earthworks and forts surrounding it. Suitable gates have been erected in all places needed except at the main entrance. A wide driveway has been cut around the grounds, just inside the fence, and wide gates erected at the north-east corner, that open out to a plantation road leading to the National Cemetery, one quarter of a mile away, where our heroes lie buried. Two bridges have been built over the creek, so that now one can drive the entire circuit of our land, two and three-fifths miles.

"The forts all remain intact, and are covered with a growth of fine forest trees. . . . We have built a nine-room house, at a cost of over seven- teen hundred dollars, and put up a wire fence with gates, at a cost of five hundred and sixty- seven dollars; planted the prison pen with Bermuda grass roots at an expense of one hundred and seventeen dollars; paid out in small sums, for extra help, tools, and sundries, about five hundred more; also paid salary of care-taker for seven months, and built two bridges."

After referring to the presentation of a flag- pole worth one hundred and forty dollars by Colony Corps and Comrades of Fitzgerald, Ga., the gift of a flag from the Ex-prisoners of War Association of Connecticut, the furnishing in oak of the guest chamber at the cottage by members of corps in Massachusetts, and a do- nation of one hundred dollars raised through the efforts of Mrs. Emma R. Wallace, of Illinois, a member of the board, Mrs. Turner stated that not one cent had been taken from the national treasury for all the work accomplished at Andersonville. She recommended that one thousand dollars be donated from the general fund and placed in the Andersonville Prison Fund for the use of the board in completing the work mentioned in the report. Previous to the adoption of this recommendation, all the work had been conducted by voluntary contribution.

Mrs. Turner entered into this work with great enthusiasm. In her report at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1901, she said: "Within the last two years over two hundred pecan trees have been set out, and they are growing finely. The pecan industry of Georgia will be a close rival to the orange trade of Florida and, I believe, with better results, as we have no fear of frosts. I firmly believe the place can be made more than self-supporting by planting the ground with pecan trees. Ohio and Massachusetts will this fall put up hand- some monuments of granite inside the stockade grounds, in honor of their loyal sons who died as prisoners of war. Pennsylvania has made an appropriation for a monument, and other States are agitating the matter.

"The most important work of the past year has been the erection of the pavilion over Provi- dence Spring and its dedication."

In addition to her efforts for the improvements at Andersonville, Mrs. Turner performed the duties of National Counsellor from September, 1900, to September, 1901.

The movement in behalf of a Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts enlisted her sympathies, and she was one of the leaders in the bazaar held for that object in Mechanics' Building, Boston, in December, 1881. One of the attractions of the bazaar was a military album, containing autographs of President Lincoln and the orig- inal war Cabinet, besides the signatures of prominent generals and other leaders in the civil conflict and in the Revolution. It netted one thousand dollars to the fund, and is now treasured in the library of the Loyal Legion of Massachu,setts. The autographs were collected and arranged by Mrs. Turner.

She is one of the founders of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Soldiers' Home, auxiliary to the Board of Trustees, and is a regu-