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November 13th Regular Meeting at the Blossom Cafe
Father Bob Miller on "Angels of the Battlefield: Catholic Nuns in the Civil War"

When the Civil War began, there were virtually no trained nurses in America except Catholic nuns, who already were staffing 28 hospitals. Despite prejudice and resistance from Protestants like Dorothea Dix, nearly 700 nuns became quickly in demand on both sides by doctors and medical officers because of their quiet faithfulness, professional work ethic and nursing skills. They staffed hospital ships on the Mississippi, military hospitals and makeshift field stations across nearly all theaters of the war. These humble spiritual women performed any task asked of them in the horrific wartime medical conditions, all to ease the suffering of the sick and wounded. They labored in dangerous and sometimes hostile territory assisting in surgery, supervising wards, housekeeping, cooking and ministering on the battlefield. Many soldiers experienced a conversion or were baptized because of their quiet but powerful "Faith in action," and countless preconceptions and anti-Catholic prejudices were transformed as well.
From Union hospitals like the massive Satterlee (in Philadelphia), those in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Mound City IL, to Confederate hospitals in places like Richmond, Vicksburg, Atlanta, Jackson – nuns were everywhere, always on the move where needed, quietly giving unmatched service to wounded soldiers desperate for care and comfort. These Catholic women brought a unique female "active spirituality" (discipline, skill, compassion and quiet Faith) at a horrific deadly time of our history when death, disease and despair ravaged so many unfortunate victims. Their amazing story is rarely spoken of in Civil War talks, workshops or displays--and tonight we will give these forgotten women their due place in history, as we tell the story of the women called "God's geese" and the "flying artillery"--the "nuns of the battlefield"!
Rev. Robert J. Miller is a Catholic priest of 50+ years, formerly a full-time preacher with the Redemptorists, now retired from 35 years of inner-city Chicago ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He has Masters Degrees in Religious Education and Divinity, authored 5 books on spirituality and faith, founded an inner-city Chicago housing corporation, and was an adjunct professor of Church History at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. A former President of the Chicago Civil War Round Table, he frequently speaks on topics of spirituality and history, especially on Civil War religion and chaplains.
His 2007 book, Both Prayed to the Same God: Religion and Faith in the Civil War, was the first book-length overview of the topic. His newest book, Faith of the Fathers: A Comprehensive Study of Catholic Civil War Chaplains, was published by Notre Dame Press in April 2025.

For our 2026-2027 program year, we proudly welcome these outstanding speakers:

Sept. 11th: James Marten on "The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long War"
Oct. 9th: Joshua Lindamood on "Black Thursday: the Battle of Sailor's Creek"
Nov. 13th: Bob Miller on "Angels of the Battlefield: Catholic Nuns in the Civil War"
Dec. 11th: Stuart Dempsey on "'So outrageously and so persistently misrepresented': The 11th Corps at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg"
Jan. 8th, 2027: Dan Masters on "Hell By the Half Acre: The Stones River Campaign"
Feb. 12th: Rob Girardi on "Gouverneur K. Warren in the Gettysburg Campaign"
March 12th: Doug Dammann, Nevins-Freeman Address: "Stories from the Kenosha Civil War Museum"
April 9th: Dave Powell on "Who Won the Battle of Chickamauga?"
May 14th: Lucas Wilder on "Longstreet's East Tennessee Campaign"
June 11th: Kevin Donovan, topic TBA

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