Before the Confederate recapture of Galveston on January 1, 1863, the nuns of this monastary declined an evacuation offer. During and after the battle the east wing was used as a hospital for treatment of wounded from both sides. Young Lieutenant Sidney Sherman, mortally wounded, died here in the arms of Mother St. Pierre Harrington. The Confederate medical director's report said , "all our exertions would have failed but for the noble conduct of the ladies of the Ursuline Convent." A Memorial to Texans Who Served the ConfederacyErected by the State of Texas, 1963