First of all my mules and carts were started with search parties for
drowned people. Before night there were nine such laid out in my coal
shed. To those we gave Christian burial, but to twelve others found
during the next forty-eight hours, guided by the buzzards that had begun
their feasts, we for sanitary reasons had to treat them as we did the
many carcasses of animals, bury them at once where we found them. On the
second day I captured a passing sailboat, one of the very few left, and
obtained from Port Royal a big load of provisions, with which I started
a store, paying the big gang of laborers that I had employed with checks
on the store, where food was furnished at cost.
RED CROSS TO THE RESCUE.
On the fifth there came to us a great blessing. The Red Cross
Association had been appealed to and had responded. Miss Barton, its
president with her staff of physicians, nurses and other trained people,
came, investigated and took charge of us, and under their systematic,
business-like methods, taught them by much experience in many great
calamities, are now keeping, and will keep, as long as the good people
of the country will furnish the means, starvation away from this
miserable mass of humanity.
It may be that in this favored part of the country, where cyclones and
earthquakes do not occur, many of your readers know little of this
organization. I will tell them a little and close. During our war, in
1863, a congress composed of representatives of the leading nations of
Europe met at Geneva, Switzerland, its object being to make such
international rules as would tend to lessen the horrors of war and
alleviate the suffering. The United States was invited to participate,
and Miss Clara Barton, a woman even then well known for her career of
charitable deeds, and for her abilities, was afterward selected to bring
in the United States to the treaty. Miss Barton secured for the United
States the privilege of adding to its war relief that of sufferings from
storms, earthquakes, floods and other calamities due to natural causes.
This addition is known as the American amendment. An American branch was
formed, of which Miss Barton was elected president. She has a large and
able corps of experienced assistants scattered throughout the Union,
ready to respond at once to her call and hurry to place their services,
free of cost, at her disposal. This corps of helpers take nothing for
granted; they investigate for themselves and learn accurately just who
need help, and how much, and what kind. Books are kept, and every penny
or penny's worth accounted for. The Red Cross does not, as a body, give
charity--it dispenses intelligently that of others. The body is your and
my agent to see that what we choose to give shall be honestly and
intelligently put where it will do the most good. Its members, from
principle, do not beg. It is their business to present facts to the
public and let every man, woman and child act on his or her unbiased
judgment. She has done me the honor to accept my service as an amateur.
I am not quite so strictly bound by the rules as are the members,
therefore if anyone detects a little tendency to beg in this article it
is my fault, not that of the Red Cross.
PRESENT HEADQUARTERS.
At this present time Miss Barton has her headquarters in Beaufort, where
she has chartered a large warehouse, over which she and her staff camp
out, living, although I am told she is well off, in the plainest of
styles. Her desk is a dry goods box, with a home-made drawer; her bed, a
cot. Her agents are distributed on the various islands, living in negro
cabins and tents. The Red Cross flag floats in their midst, and the
food, clothing and other articles are served to the crowds of negroes,
and trained nurses and physicians are caring for the sick and wounded.
Hundreds of men are laboring digging drains to get clear of the brackish
swamp water left by the mingling of sea water and rain, building houses
and boats for the helpless, and the colored women, made beggars by the
storm, have been organized into sewing societies, which repair all
ragged garments sent, turn ticking into mattress covers, homespun into
garments.
DETAIL OF THE WORK.
There is now being served out, once a week, the following rations, which
is all that her stock of stores allows: To a family of seven persons
for one week, one peck of hominy, one pound of pork. To those who work
for the community, double the above. To sick people, a small portion of
tea or coffee, sugar and bread. She would gladly double or quadruple
this allowance, but she has not the material.
Thus it stands. There are 30,000 American citizens who must be almost
entirely supported by charity until they get a spring crop in April or
May. Unless they are furnished with food they will starve, without
bedding they will die from exposure; without medicines, of fever.
Everything not perishable is needed, especially money to buy lumber,
nails, bricks and hardware to rebuild the houses, cast-off and warm
clothing, cooking utensils, pans, pots, spoons, etc. Most of the express
companies send free all articles directed to:
MISS CLARA BARTON,
_President Red Cross Association, Beaufort, S.C._
For storm sufferers.
WHITE SUFFERERS.
In response to further inquiries Admiral Beardslee furnishes us the
following:
There is a very small population of whites living on the Sea Islands,
and of them the greater number are storekeepers, supplying the negroes
and taking mortgages on their growing crops, principally the cotton. As
nearly all of the crops, including the cotton, which was nearly ready
for picking, were ruined, these storekeepers, in addition to great
direct loss by the flood, which swept away their storehouses, have lost
largely by unrecoverable debts, thus they are not able to do much toward
the relief of the sufferers. * * * Among the sufferers there are a few
white families, generally descendants of the old-time planters, who,
having recovered by purchase small portions of their family property,
have made their living by hard work as farmers and truck growers. They
are, in some cases, reduced to abject poverty.
The merchants of the city of Beaufort lost heavily. Most of the
principal stores were on Bay street, their storehouses stretching out on
the wharf. All of these with the back buildings on them were swept away,
and the merchants are not in position to give much help. Nearly all of
the old Southern families were impoverished by the war and can do
little, and that little is to a great extent very naturally bestowed
upon the negroes and their descendants, who were at one time their
slaves.
WHAT IS NEEDED.
The State of South Carolina is poor, one of its greatest sources of
revenue, the phosphate business, which paid in royalties nearly $600 per
day into its treasury, and expended thousands of dollars weekly, in
payment of labor, was badly crippled and temporarily, at least, ruined.
All of the dredges, lighters and most of the tugs and many of the
"mines," the great establishments where the phosphate rock is dried,
crushed and prepared for export, were destroyed. * * * *
While anything or everything eatable, wearable or usable in any shape
will do good, I would suggest as most valuable, money with which to buy
lumber and hardware to rebuild houses, and food, hard bread, hominy,
pork and cheap groceries, warm cast-off clothing, thick underclothing,
cooking utensils, such as frying pans, tea kettles, pots, pans, etc.,
second hand as good as any, and children's clothing, of which but a
limited supply has been received.
There will be no necessity to mend up clothing, the sewing societies
will do that and prepare for use bedticking, homespun and cloth of all
kinds.
RELIEF WORK SOUTH OF BROAD RIVER.
Next to the account of Admiral Beardslee, I desire to place that of Mr.
John MacDonald, who, from having faced death in the rigging of the
ill-fated "Savannah" for three days, enduring every privation and danger
that could be endured, still lived to come to us, and to generously
volunteer his services to the Red Cross as one knowing how to feel for
those with whom he had suffered in common. After a visit to the northern
end of the islands, and a full verbal report to us of their conditions
and needs, he went in a like capacity to the southern end, and finding
less likelihood of other assistance there, decided to take this as his
field and accordingly made headquarters at Hilton Head, where he did
most efficient and praiseworthy work, drawing from the supplies at
Beaufort such as could be spared from the needs of the other hundreds of
distributing points.
The work of Mr. MacDonald and his capable wife (for he married while
there Miss Ida Battell, a charming trained nurse from Milwaukee) was
intelligent and comprehensive to an uncommon degree, not only relieving
the colored population of the entire island, but raising them to a
higher degree of industrial intelligence and self-help than they had
ever dreamed of. I desire to tender in behalf of friendless humanity my
grateful tribute of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald for faithful and
efficient service.
REPORT BY MR. MCDONALD.
On the night of August 27, 1893, while en route from Boston to Savannah
on the steamer "City of Savannah," the terrible devastating cyclone,
which swept over the Sea Island Coast of South Carolina, was experienced
by me in all its awfulness, terminating in the wreck and complete break
up of that magnificent ship, and the terrible suffering and endurance of
three days lashed to the rigging, without food or water and facing and
hourly expecting death. Where could help come from? All the boats and
ships in these waters had probably met the same fate as ours. All hope
of help from nearby was abandoned, and our eyes were fastened on the
North with anxious watchfulness. On the third night, when all hope had
died out, in the darkness shot up a bright signal light--the last we
had on board--and in a few moments another light shot out into the sky
about two miles away; our cry for help was answered! Out of the North
came help to us, and after the perilous work of rowing from one ship to
the other, trip after trip, through breakers and high-running seas, we
were saved and carried into port.
On arriving in Savannah and seeing from the papers, as the reports
slowly came in, the awful wreckage which had been wrought on the
islands, my sympathies were naturally aroused, for who could better know
what these people must have passed through? When, a few days later, the
call was issued for the Red Cross to assume control of the relief work,
I abandoned the plans which had brought me South and joined Miss
Barton's forces.
A first inspection of the devastated district was appalling, and even as
the scenes of distress, sickness and destitution became more familiar,
its sadness did not wear away. Here were pretty islands, where, a few
days before, cotton had been in its full luxuriance, corn almost ready
for harvesting waving in the breeze, a bounteous harvest smiling in the
faces of a contented people, their little homes intact and comfortable
and each one congratulating himself and each other on a prosperous
season as the fruits of their labors. Yes, prosperous, for to these
colored people, whose needs are small, whose ambition receives no
stimulus, fifty or sixty bushels of corn is a bounteous harvest. But the
storm came!
In a few hours neat cottages were a heap of ruins, scattered perhaps
miles away; giant trees lay across the roads, twisted and knotted into
almost impossible shapes; corn and cotton gone, and human
beings--missing. Roads flooded with water, almost impassable, but still
alive with people--here a mother looking for her children, a husband for
his wife, children for their parents. There in the marsh, a dark object
is seen lying prostrate. Onward they push, waist deep in water and mud,
till they grasp the inanimate object, and after a moment's silence a
piercing wail announces another loved one found, dead. Go with them as
they carry their dead home. Home! where is it? Gone!
A few boards or branches of trees have been put together, tent fashion,
covered with corn stalks and mud, and into this the family crowd, wet
(for it rained incessantly nearly two weeks after the storm), hungry,
sick, ragged and helpless, unable to think or act for themselves, dazed
by the calamity which had befallen them; they looked around for some
hand to lead them out of their pitiable condition, but everywhere the
same wreckage and destitution faced them. But where should they look?
As we on the wreck amidst the breakers looked northward, so these people
cast their eyes thither and sent out a plea for help. Hoping against
hope, they lingered on, until, when everything seemed darkest, a gleam
of light shot out of the Northern sky and help came quickly; they were
saved from starvation. They grasped at the finger of help extended to
them, as a drowning man at a straw, and with a supreme effort dragged
themselves out of a listless, apathetic condition and endeavored out of
chaos to bring order. With such a vast territory, and so many thousands
of destitute people to care for, the task of systematizing the work was
a heavy one. It was, however, divided into districts, and each willing
helper entered on his labor with very little to encourage him, but with
obstacles innumerable. How to get from island to island--boats all
wrecked; how to get supplies to them; how to pick out the most needy
cases to serve first when all were needy and the supplies scanty. The
steam launch from the United States navy-yard was placed at my service
and provisioned for a week.
I started out to the district assigned me, comprising the following
named islands: Hilton Head, Pinkney, Harry Young, Savage, Hunting,
Bull's, Spring, Barataria and Dawfuskie, with Bluffton on the mainland
south of Broad River, a treacherous stream, four miles wide, which
received the full fury of the Atlantic and renders navigation by small
craft hazardous. To prevent as far as possible any imposition on the
part of applicants for relief, who were not in absolute necessity, I
made my inspection from house to house, going into their corn cribs and
estimating from their supply on hand how long they could _exist_ without
assistance. The condition of their houses, clothing and sickness in
their families was also carefully noted. The stagnant water lying on the
land, with no outlet, the hot sun, beating down on decaying animal and
vegetable matter, the drinking water all polluted, had caused malaria in
its worst form to be general amongst the people. With my medicine case
constantly with me, scantily provided with quinine and other simple
remedies, I relieved the cases as I met them, sending the worst cases to
Beaufort, where they could be attended to by one of the doctors on the
staff of the Red Cross located at headquarters.
After examining some three hundred families on Hilton Head Island, after
driving from one end of the island to the other--fifteen miles--and
being met on every hand with appeals for aid of every description, from
young and old, from strong, healthy, able-bodied men to weak, tottering
old uncles and aunties, I concluded that issuance of relief, without
requiring some work from those able to work, would be demoralizing, and
act as an incentive to people outside to flock to the islands, claiming
assistance. What work should be organized was the next question. There
were no ditches on the islands. Those which had been dug in ante-bellum
times had become filled up. Had there been any outlet or drainage of any
description, so that the waters could have run off the land, the loss of
crops consequent on the heavy rains which followed the storm would not
have been so serious. I therefore put those who were able to work
digging ditches, those refusing to work I refused assistance. The result
of this was that a total length of about thirty-seven miles of ditches,
varying from two to four feet wide and from two to six feet deep, were
dug. The benefit of this work was apparent during the summer and fall
following, which was an unusually wet season, and in the bottom lands,
but for these ditches, the crops would have been inundated. As it was,
exceptionally good crops were produced, the health of the island was
improved and a large area of otherwise waste land was reclaimed and
rendered tillable.
After visiting my district I concluded to make Hilton Head my
headquarters. There was no building available so tents had to be brought
over for our use as storage, hospital, sewing and living accommodations.
What willing hands to help make our camp comfortable! Some making
cupboards, desks, stools, benches, bedsteads, out of old packing boxes,
some gathering moss to lay on the floor as a carpet, and finally
unfurling the Red Cross flag to the breeze and we were established. To
simplify the work of issuing supplies weekly, I gave each family a card.
On this I marked everything to be issued and each issue was crossed off,
preventing it being presented twice in one week. It also enabled the old
and sick to send by children or any one else, and receive the supplies
without coming themselves.
How shall I describe our daily work? No regular hours, no routine, no
system apparently, and yet everything went along in the twenty-four
hours of duty as smoothly as possible. No regular hours? No; unless from
sunrise to sunrise may be counted regular. No routine--no system? No;
unless attending to everything as soon as it presented itself may be
called system. At daylight the applicants would be around the tents
waiting to see "Mr. Red Cross," and from then on a steady stream of
people, some sick, wanting medicine; some hungry, wanting food; some
ragged, wanting clothes; some loafers, wanting anything they could get.
As soon as this stream could be stemmed, and a little breakfast eaten
hastily, came visits to the sick who were unable to come to us; and in
all sorts and conditions of vehicles, from a shaky cart with an ox as
motive power, to a roadcart behind a mule, we went wherever we were
called. On returning to camp, deputations of applicants from other
islands would be in waiting, and while eating dinner, these would be
attended to. After this the men working on the ditches would be visited.
When it became dark and everyone had gone home, we would visit our
hospital tents, make patients comfortable for the night, and retire to
our own tents, hoping to sleep, hoping against hope, for "the poor ye
have always with you:" and this case was no exception, for at all hours
of the night we were called out to go anywhere from one to six or seven
miles, to attend someone who was sick or dying. In the midst of this
work visits had to be paid periodically to the other islands in my
district (where I had local committees to look after the distribution of
supplies) often taking up two or three days. And what a scene of bustle
our camp presented every Friday when the supplies came! Thirty or forty
carts in line at the landing--the boat arrives--all hands help unload,
and then load the carts, the number of sacks or boxes in each cart being
marked down against the driver, and away they go to the camp, three
miles away. As soon as they arrive, the crowd of waiting recipients hand
in their cards, and as they are called in one by one, their bags ready
opened, the "weekly ration" is quickly measured, dropped in, the card
returned marked, and away they go. While all this is being done, a
flotilla of small boats from the other islands in the district, is at
the landing, and as each "captain" presents his order issued by me, my
storekeeper gives him the supply for his island, and away he goes home,
to enact the same scene with cards and empty bags and hungry people. Nor
was this all. Houses must be built, lumber and nails measured and
distributed (tents being provided for the houseless temporarily). Those
whose houses were not damaged were required to help others rebuild.
Their clothing had to be brought over, repaired and distributed. How
this was done is shown in Mrs. Macdonald's report.
This seems very simple to write about now after a year's lapse of time,
but it does not convey to the mind of the reader the constant anxiety
resting on the mind of the Red Cross officer, with, as I had, 2,554
people in absolute need of all the necessaries of life; separated from
Beaufort, the source from which I had to draw all my supplies, by Broad
River, with the majority of the boats in this district rendered helpless
by the storm--it was a matter of constant anxiety how I should get my
weekly supplies for this large number of people, scattered over so large
a territory, with so many rivers to cross. If the supplies were not here
on time, think of these people having to tramp home empty-handed to
hungry children, who could not understand that "it was too rough to
cross Broad River." With this difficulty constantly before me, it is a
satisfaction now to put on record the self-sacrificing zeal of one
colored man on Hilton Head Island--Ben Green--who placed his boat and
the services of himself and men at my disposal and, without fee or
reward of any kind, for several months, during good and bad weather,
brought over the large amount of supplies required for this district.
Another anxiety was, whether, when the boat went to Beaufort, sufficient
supplies would be on hand to satisfy the demands of all the districts,
or whether I should be put on "half rations." Amid all this anxiety,
there were occasional gleams of sunshine to cheer us in our arduous
work, as, when I received from Miss Sarah S. Monroe, of 13 W. Ninth
street, New York, two boxes of delicacies for the sick, and, after Mrs.
Macdonald had cooked beef tea, corn starch, etc., and sent it round by
little girls to the old and sick, how they would "tank de good Lawd fer
sendin' de buckra to look after us po' cull'd folks;" how the name of
"Miss Cla' Ba'ton" was on everybody's tongue, the infant girls named
Clara Barton and the boys "Red Cross." The self-appointed "Red Cross
Deacons," with an enormous Red Cross stitched on a piece of white cotton
and worn on the left arm, were conspicuous in showing their gratitude
for the bounty received. Then, when planting time came and seeds of
every description and in large quantities were distributed to them, how
eagerly they worked in their gardens, planting garden "yarbs" (herbs)
and then their corn, cotton, etc. Our thanks are due to the J.C. Vaughan
Seed Store of New York and Chicago (through Mr. Burt Eddy, their
Southern Agent), for a large supply of potatoes and other seeds sent
direct to me.
A brief summary of food supplies issued in my district shows:
Meat 7,440 lbs.
Grits 16,410 pecks.
Beef 395 lbs. }
Milk 192 cans } For the sick.
Coffee 143 lbs. }
Sugar 120 lbs. }
[Illustration: TESTIMONIAL FROM RUSSIAN WORKMEN FOR AMERICAN HELP AND
SYMPATHY IN THE FAMINE OF 1892.]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1898, by Clara Barton.
A RUSSIAN PEASANT VILLAGE
_Scene taken during the famine_]
There were 454 cases of sickness treated at the camp and 75 visits made
to the sick at home. In May, with the vegetables and wild fruits in good
supply and marketable, their crops all growing well, I asked the people,
"Can you manage to get along now without further help?" They answered
"Yes; we are thankful for what has been done for us, and will try to
pull through till harvest, alone." On the twentieth of May I issued a
month's supply to each family, took down the Red Cross flag and closed
the relief work for this district. A year has passed since then. I am
now a permanent resident on Hilton Head Island. I watched the crops
grow, saw a good harvest gathered in, the people resumed their old-time
cheerful tone, and the storm became a memory. With the exception of a
very few old people who are hardly able to totter, and have no one to
plant or work for them, the people of this island are again prosperous
and happy. Occasionally some kind friend enables me still to make some
old uncle or auntie happy with a little help, and so they totter down to
"where the storms shall cease to roll."
CLOTHING BRANCH, HILTON HEAD DISTRICT.
REPORT BY MRS. MACDONALD.