Citizens of Galesburg, Illinois, heard about filthy, ill-epuipped hospitals at a Union camp downstate, so they gathered supplies and asked a forty-year widow to deliever the to Cario. They rarely saw "Mother" Bickerdyke again. She was busy nursing and making "cyclone clean-ups" of dirty field hospitals as close to the fighting as she could get.

Mother Bickerdyke traveled with Ulysses S Grant's troops to Vicksburg, and at William Sherman's request, joined the Atlanta Campaign as a hospital worker. After battles, when strecher bearers reported that all the wounded men were delivered to her, Mother would grab a lantern and walk into the dark, deserted battlefield, checking corpses for a heartbeat in case some living soldiers had been overlooked.

Mother broke regulations, had thieving or incompetent workers fired, and basically did anything for "her boys." During the Battle of Corinth, a hot, tired brigade tramped through the hospital courtyard, and she begged their commanding officer to let the men rest and get a drink. When he said that there was time, Mother decided otherwise. "Halt!" she cried, and proceeded to pass water among the waiting, thirsty men.

A surgeon once complained of a spiteful nurse to General Sherman, and he asked for her name. Told it was Mother Bickerdyke, Sherman said, "Oh, well, in that case I can't help you. She ranks me. You'll have to see President Lincoln."