Arsinoe Martin Civil War Memorial
On the evening of her death she was asked by her mother if she was not sorry she had persisted in her efforts to relieve the suffering wounded soldiers. She whispered back, "No Mother! I fulfilled my mission and am ready to die."
Though not as famous as Clara Barton, school teacher Arsinoe E. Martin also served as a nurse during the Civil War with the Indiana Sanitary Commission. When the war broke out, she gave a passionate speech at a recruitment rally encouraging the local Indiana men to enlist and made the promise to go south with them serving as a nurse. Thirty young men then enlisted.
Arsinoe Martin later served at Union Army hospitals in Memphis, Tennessee and Cornith, Mississippi helping to relieve the suffering wounded soldiers. After contracting Typhoid fever while serving in a Union army hospital near Cornith, Mississippi, Arsinoe returned to her family home near Goshen, Indiana in November 1863 where she died on November 18, 1863.
Arsinoe Martin was 25 years old at the time of her death and made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of her country. She was buried in the Pine Creek Cemetery near Goshen, Indiana.
For many decades after the war she was considered a Civil War heroine in Indiana and her sacrifice did not go unnoticed by the Indiana newspapers, Indiana Sanitary Commission, and the Indiana State Government.
However, by the 1930s her headstone fell over, broke and was never repaired. As a result, her headstone and history were somewhat lost to the ravages of time. Recently, however, her headstone in the Pine Creek Cemetery, Jefferson Township, was rediscovered after the years of soil and debris were removed from it. The headstone was found to be in pretty rough shape.
Circle# 78 of the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (LGAR) has recently named their Circle after Arsinoe Martin. It is the desire of Arsinoe Martin's family descendants and the Arsinoe Martin Circle #78 of the LGAR to purchase a new replacement headstone for Arsinoe Martin (est. $700) and obtain an Indiana Historical Marker ($2,500) to be installed near the Pine Creek cemetery detailing the history of the Indiana Sanitary Commission and Arsinoe Martin's service as a nurse during the Civil War.
Please donate whatever you to can to help honor and remember this unsung Civil War heroine. Every little bit helps. Thank You.
To learn more about Arsinoe Martin please visit the following sites:
Arsinoe Martin page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Arsinoe-Martin-2125763954102215
Arsinoe Martin's Findagrave Memorial page:
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=71841417
(Replacement headstone design. Credit to LaGrange Monument Works, Goshen, Indiana .)
(Original broken headstone. Beth Thurston founder of the Arsinoe Martin Circle #78, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic posing next to Arsinoe's existing headstone.)
(Proposed Indiana State Historical marker.)
