Mother Bickerdyke and the army of the west, 1861 to 1865 - the war years, sad years. But Mary Anne Bickerdyke strode out of the smoke and misery somewhat larger than life. She herself said only of her work "I was in nineteen hard-fought battles in the of Departments of Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland Armies. I did the work of one, and I tried to do it well." She joined the army at Cairo, Illinois on June 9, 1861, quite unofficially, since the Army hadn't invited her!