Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Fales, Almira L.

FALES, Almira L., philanthropist, b. in New York; d. in Washington, D. C., 8 Nov., 1868. She was for some time a resident of Iowa, but her husband, Joseph T. Fales, having received an appointment as examiner in the patent-office in Washington, she thenceforth made that city her home. As early as 1860, from her extended knowledge of southern feeling and action, she foresaw and predicted the approaching struggle, and, much to the surprise of her friends, began the collection and preparation of articles for hospital use. At the beginning of the war she entered, fully prepared, on the care of sick and wounded soldiers, and at Pittsburg Landing and other battle-fields of the west was busy in ministering to the wants of the sufferers. The government placed an ambulance at her command, and during the war she was unremitting in her visits to the hospitals in the neighborhood of Washington, at Fredericksburg, on the Peninsula, and elsewhere. In the yard of her own house she pitched a large tent, into which she gathered sick and disabled soldiers, and there ministered to their needs until means could be provided to send them to their homes. For some time Mrs. Fales was charged by the government with the superintendence of soldiers sent from the hospitals in and around Washington to the hospitals in New York and elsewhere. Amid all this activity she found time to correspond extensively and obtain pecuniary aid to carry on her work.