ice and milk, for delicacies of every sort, and for all the comforts and
conveniences that tend to make hospital work pleasant and effective.
Early in the history of the Second Division hospital, the Red Cross paid
the bills for a bath house and a kitchen. It furnished also the large
circular wall tent for convalescents. It gave over a hundred cots and
mattresses, and nearly a thousand pillows. Of sheets and pillow-cases,
nightshirts and pajamas, it gave many thousands. We not only distributed
a large number sent from New York; boxes were sent us from St.
Augustine, from Augusta, Ga., from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and the
District of Columbia. Few people have any conception of the quantity of
such articles required to keep a hospital with five hundred to seven
hundred patients in good running order. So often are these things soiled
that there must be at least three or four sets to every cot. When there
are three or four hospitals, with an aggregate sick list ranging from
fifteen hundred to two thousand, the number of sheets and pillow-cases,
nightshirts and pajamas necessary to keep the beds and the patients
presentable is surprisingly large. Of course the government has supplied
the greater number of sheets and pillow-cases, but the Red Cross has
furnished probably the greater number of pillows, nightshirts and
pajamas. In none of these things has the supply ever quite equaled the
demand. Even at the present time the cry of need is almost as loud as
ever. When the recuperating hospital was established at Pablo Beach, the
Red Cross, at the request of the chief-surgeon, supplied two hundred and
fifty sets of dishes with a complete outfit of pitchers, trays, buckets
and many other things. Even the business of the chief-surgeon's office
and that of the surgeon at Pablo Beach is transacted on desks furnished
by the Red Cross at the request of these parties. It has contributed to
furnish the diet kitchens with stoves, utensils and dishes, and has
supplied the hospitals themselves with many articles of convenience and
comfort. It provided four dozen large clothes hampers, printed many
thousands of patient records and other papers. It had fifty large ice
chests manufactured and placed one in each ward of the principal
hospitals. It gave over seven hundred buckets for the carrying of offal,
and furnished screens for the use of the nurses. It gave bed-pans and
urinals in large numbers, over a thousand tumblers, medicine glasses,
graduated glasses, a sterilizing apparatus, hypodermic syringes and
needles. Of the latter we learned that there was not a single whole one
in the hospital at the time we were called on. Scores of men had been
obliged to receive their hypodermic injections from a broken point,
suffering greatly from the operation and subsequent results. The Red
Cross has furnished over one thousand dollars worth of medicines not on
the government list, besides malted milk, peptonoids, pepto mangan,
peptogenic milk powder, maltine and a large shipment of medicines sent
from New York. It has given over a thousand bath and surgical sponges
and towels in immense quantities. In short, with the exception of tents,
cots, blankets, and, to a considerable extent, sheets, furnished by the
government, the Red Cross, up to September 1st, furnished the greater
part of the hospital equipment. As the several heads of divisions have
said to me again and again. "The hospitals never could have equipped
themselves from their ration fund. They would have broken down utterly
without the aid of the Red Cross."
We have spent here over thirteen thousand dollars in cash for hospital
equipment and supplies of various kinds, including ice and milk, in
addition to the large quantities of goods sent from New York the cost of
which we do not know. And with all this, the need has not been met as
fully or as promptly as it should have been. The number of the sick
increased so greatly beyond the expectations of the officers in charge
that the supply has never, for any considerable time, been equal to the
demand. Even now, when the government has allowed sixty cents a day for
each patient in the hospital, and has recently so extended the order as
to include regimental as well as division hospitals, there is still
continuous appeal to the Red Cross for a variety of things, which those
in charge of the hospital fund do not feel warranted in buying, and as
yet few of the regiments have gotten their hospitals into shape to ask
for anything. As they move to Savannah in a few days, they will not be
in condition to draw any money for weeks to come. It is very fortunate
therefore, that your committee has seen fit to grant our last
requisition, for the goods you have shipped will be of great benefit to
the soldiers on their way to Cuba.
I have omitted to state that a most important part of the work of the
Red Cross has been the supplying of ice for the purpose of cooling the
drinking water of the camps. Our ice bills for camp and hospitals, at an
average of thirty-five cents per hundred pounds have been over six
thousand dollars, the Second Division hospital alone often consuming
from four to five tons a day. Our milk bills were also large, averaging
for some time over five hundred dollars a week, at a cost of forty cents
a gallon.
Our relations with both army and medical officials have been, on the
whole, harmonious and pleasant. Perhaps the best evidence of this is the
fact that the government teams and men have always been at our service
whether to haul the goods from the wharf to the store or from the store
to the camp. Some little feeling arose over my attitude in regard to the
necessity for female nurses, but as the outcome has abundantly shown the
soundness of my contention, that has pretty much passed away. Our
hospitals have been far from ideal but I believe they are generally
regarded as the best in the country, and perhaps none have realized
their shortcomings and defects more than the men charged with their
administration. It is not an easy matter to select, even from an
American army, a sufficient number of capable and reliable men for so
large and complex an institution, and incapacity or infidelity at any
point is liable not only to bring most serious results, but to throw
discredit upon the entire management. Doubtless many things have been
done that should never have been permitted, and many left undone that
constitute a record of what ought to be criminal neglect, yet these
things can be wholly avoided only by men of the highest ability and
largest experience, working with trained subordinates, and with every
facility for successful endeavor. It has not been possible to secure
such conditions in any of the hospitals. The men in charge have been
obliged to use such material as they could get, and often the commanding
officers of regiments, when asked for a detail for hospital work, have
given the very poorest material they had. I am disposed, therefore, to
have pretty large charity always for the surgeon-in-charge. He has a
most difficult task, and at the very best, can only hope for moderate
success. Ideal results he can never secure.
I have said nothing of our work at Miami or Fernandina, for there is
little to say. The troops were moved from Miami so soon after we were
made acquainted with their needs, that we did little more than supply
the hospital with ice, during the weeks in which the sick were
convalescing. We were not permitted to do even this at Fernandina. Those
in charge of the hospitals, division and regimental, disclaimed all need
of aid. The government supplied them with all that they required. We
have had many testimonies from officers and privates, showing the
profound appreciation everywhere felt for the work of the Red Cross.
Perhaps no other part of its work was so highly prized by the soldiers
at large as that which furnished them cool drinking water.
Had the chief-surgeon, Colonel Maus, not been so deeply prejudiced
against female nurses in general, and Red Cross nurses in particular, we
might have done a much greater work in the hospitals than was permitted
to us. While the Second Division hospital was still young, the Red Cross
offered its nurses freely and gratuitously. It offered to shelter and
feed them at its own expense, but the offer was spurned indignantly and
with scarcely disguised contempt. We were told that female nurses were
not needed, that the hospital had already more skilled nurses that it
could use, and that the female nurses were a nuisance round a camp
anyway. Most of them, the chief-surgeon affirmed, were drawn to the work
by a morbid sentimentality or by motives of even a more questionable
character. He would have none of them. But the time came when even this
officer had to change his attitude if not his opinions, and women nurses
were sought for and welcomed to the hospital by hundreds. That they have
proven a great blessing to the boys, no one now questions; many most
pronounced in their opposition are now loudest in their praise, and the
Red Cross rejoices that the good work is being done, though itself
denied the privilege of doing.
[Illustration: "ALMIRANTE OQUENDO" AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT.]
FORT MCPHERSON, GA.
Early in August Mr. D.L. Cobb, on a tour of inspection, arrived at Fort
McPherson, Georgia, to see if any assistance was required at the post,
and if an agency could be established. It was found that Mrs. Anna E.
Nave, wife of Rev. Orville J. Nave, chaplain of the post, and their
daughter, Miss Hermione Nave, had established a small dietary kitchen
and were supporting a table for convalescents. The object of the kitchen
was to provide light and nutritive diet for the soldiers in the barracks
who were suffering from stomach troubles, dysentery and kindred
digestive disorders, and to care for the convalescents from typhoid
fever and other serious sickness, until they were sufficiently recovered
to be again returned to the company mess.
As this kitchen was performing an important part in the care of the men,
and the demands upon it were daily increasing, it was proposed that it
be continued, and its work extended as the demands increased, and that
the Red Cross would pay all expenses and furnish all the supplies
required. Rev. Orville J. Nave was accordingly appointed as the field
agent at Fort McPherson, the kitchen remaining under the immediate care
and supervision of Mrs. Nave and her daughter, assisted by a committee
of representative women of the city of Atlanta, including Mrs. Governor
Atkinson, Miss Mary L. Gordon-Huntley, Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon, Miss Junia
McKinley, Mrs. E.H. Barnes, and others.
Under the auspices of the Red Cross the capacity of the kitchen was soon
doubled, and the table was maintained until the first of October, when
assistance was no longer necessary. At the table about 20,000 meals were
served. By this means doubtless many lives were saved, for the
percentage of relapses among the typhoid fever cases, ordinarily quite
large, was very small at this post. In addition to the supplies of food,
medicines and clothing sent to this field, in response to the
requisitions, some $1400 in cash were expended in support of the table
and in furnishing those things which were at times needed quickly, and
which could be purchased in the local markets at Atlanta.
A stenographer was also furnished, so that Dr. Nave might be able to
answer the many inquiries from parents and relatives of men in the
hospitals, and attend to the ordinary correspondence connected with the
work. Seven nurses were supplied to assist in the hospital work. Dr.
Nave in his report says:
The importance of this work, as a supplement to that done by the
government for the relief of the sick, cannot be overstated. An
institution, such as an army hospital, deals with the sick by
masses. Much must be left to subordinates, many of whom have little
or no experience in caring for the sick. The system is devised for
the many. But, where many are sick, a percentage of the patients
cannot regain health without special care. The work done by the Red
Cross at Fort McPherson was that which could not be done effectually
by institutional methods. Furthermore, those who assisted in the
work were actuated solely by philanthropic motives. They therefore
brought elements to their work that employes too often lack,
elements of gentleness and love. Two thousand soldiers in as many
homes, nursed back to health, live to love and honor the Red Cross
in memory of the helping hand sent to them and administered through
the hospital at Fort McPherson. The total cash expenditures,
including the cost of maintaining the kitchen, was $2242.
To Dr. Nave, his wife and daughter, and to the Atlanta Committee of the
Red Cross, great credit is due for the efficient manner in which the
auxiliary work at this point was carried on. Acting with discretion, and
with loyalty to the principles of the Red Cross, they have carried their
work to a successful conclusion without a complaint from any source.
[Illustration: U.S. WAR SHIPS BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO SANTIAGO HARBOR.]
CAMP HOBSON, GA.
At Camp Hobson, Lithia Springs, Ga., a diet kitchen was also maintained,
under the direction of Miss Junia McKinley, assisted by the Atlanta
Committee of the Red Cross, of which the following account is received:
The diet kitchen was opened here on Monday, August 9, and remained in
operation three weeks, at the expiration of which time the camp broke
up. During the first week after the kitchen was established, when
detachments from the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Twenty-first and
Twenty-fifth regiments were in camp, 1176 meals were served. The next
week orders were received for the removal of the Eighth and part of the
other regiments to Montauk Point, consequently the number of
convalescents was reduced, but during the second and third week 2066
meals were served, making a total of 3242 meals served at the table and
in the hospital during the time the kitchen was in operation. The meals
were furnished to convalescents in the hospital, men relieved from duty
but not sick enough to be in the hospital, and to the hospital corps.
The table meals consisted of the following: For breakfast, cereals,
coffee, tea, fresh milk, eggs, toast, bread and butter. For dinner,
soups, bouillons, rice and milk, eggs, crackers, bread and fresh milk,
coffee, California fruits (canned), wine, jelly or simple dessert.
Supper was the same as breakfast, with the addition of stewed fruit. To
patients in hospital, beef tea (made from fresh beef as well as
extracts), soft-boiled eggs, cream toast and fresh milk was served at
regular hours.
The only paid help were two men and one woman, the latter lived near the
camp and reported for duty at first meal call and remained until dining
tent and kitchen were in order. The other work in kitchen was
gratuitously done by Atlanta members of Red Cross Society, assisted by
Mrs. Edward H. Barnes, Miss Loulie Gordon Roper (niece of General J.B.
Gordon), Miss Emmie McDonnell, Miss Estelle Whelan, Mrs. George Boykin
Saunders, all of Atlanta, and the ladies from Sweetwater Park Hotel, who
came over daily from the hotel, about half a mile distant from camp, and
assisted in serving table meals, also in carrying delicacies to
hospitals and distributed flowers among the patients.
It affords us pleasure to acknowledge the uniform courtesy of the army
officials, especially the commandant, Major Thomas Wilhelm, Chief
Surgeon Major E.L. Swift, Assistant Surgeons Street, Bak and Johnson and
Lieutenant Norman, quartermaster. Major Wilhelm had our kitchen built
and fly tent for dining hall put up in a few hours after our arrival,
detailed men to help whenever needed in kitchen, and with finest
courtesy assured us of his appreciation of what was being done to add to
the comfort of his sick and convalescent men.
Besides the regular kitchen work at Camp Hobson, the Red Cross furnished
for a short time to the hospitals one special nurse (Miss McKinley) and
one trained nurse (Miss McLain), who remained until our last patients
were sent to Fort McPherson General Hospital and went with them in the
hospital train, ministering to their wants until they were transferred
to their respective wards there. In this connection we think proper to
state that many of our Camp Hobson patients now in Fort McPherson
Hospital, one of the best equipped and best managed hospitals in the
country, assure us that they can never forget the unfailing kindness of
Chief Surgeon Swift and assistants, the faithful care of their Red Cross
nurses, nor the delicacies furnished by the diet kitchen at Camp Hobson.
The Red Cross having authorized Miss McKinley to furnish anything
necessary for the sick, medicines, fine whiskey and hospital supplies
were ordered by telephone from Atlanta, as there was some delay in
shipment of government supplies, the orders were promptly filled and
proved important factors in improving hospital wards. Clothing was
furnished to some of the Camp Hobson men who were left behind and could
not draw needed articles of clothing as their "descriptive lists" had
not been furnished. When the Twenty-first Regiment left for the North
coffee was served on the train to the entire regiment in second section.
Most of the ice used after the diet kitchen was established was
furnished through Mr. Percy R. Pyne, of New York, who kindly supplied
what was needed. Thanks are due G.F. Matthews & Co., of New York, who
wrote that they would furnish all the tea needed in the kitchen, but as
the camp was about to break up, their kind offer was not accepted.
Special thanks are due to H.W. Blake, manager of Sweetwater Park Hotel
at Lithia Springs, for many courtesies extended, when our milkman was
late, or our groceries (ordered from Atlanta) were delayed, he furnished
fresh milk and eggs for the patients until our supplies arrived. Mrs.
Blake sent daily from the beautiful hotel gardens, flowers for
hospitals and dining table, also for distribution in hospital trains
before leaving Camp Hobson.
In conclusion, we can venture to assure you that while the time of our
work at Camp Hobson was short, great good was accomplished, the
improvement of convalescents who took meals at the kitchen was very
rapid, owing to the well prepared and nourishing food furnished them.
The surgeons, as well as hospital stewards, were much gratified at
marked improvement in hospital wards after the arrival of Red Cross
nurses.
Upon the departure of every hospital train, we served iced milk to fever
patients, milk toast to those not restricted to liquid diet, and
supplied milk and stimulants for their journey. We thank the Red Cross
for the privilege of assisting in their relief work for our soldiers at
Camp Hobson, whose appreciation for all that was done for them was
unbounded and their gratitude a delight for those who ministered to
their wants.
[Illustration: "MARIE TERESA" AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT.]
ST. PAUL, MINN.
The story of the Red Cross of St. Paul, Minn., is briefly told in the
report by Miss Caroline M. Beaumont, the recording secretary:
The St. Paul Red Cross Aid Society was organized on the ninth of
May, 1898, shortly after the beginning of the war, pursuant to a
general call for aid, with Mr. A.S. Tallmadge as president, and a
full board of officers. It was at first intended to form a regular
auxiliary of the Red Cross, directly tributary to the National
Organization, and distribute supplies through headquarters only. But
the fact that the State volunteer regiments were actually in need of
immediate aid to equip them to leave for points of mobilization,
induced the society to turn their attention to local needs first.
The Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Minnesota Volunteers were
first furnished with hospital supplies, delicacies for the sick, and
all those necessary articles which the government does not supply,
or furnishes only in meagre quantities. Working headquarters were
established, requests for donations were published which met with
immediate response, which testified to the generosity of the
citizens of St. Paul and surrounding towns. Successful
entertainments were also given, sewing and packing committees were
appointed, and women from all over the city gave freely of their
means, their time and their efforts, as they thought of a husband, a
son or a dear one in far away Cuba or Manila. The patriotism and
loyalty of the men of Minnesota was shared and often inspired by the
women who gave so freely. The women of St. Paul with willing hands
and loving hearts, have shared in the glories of the war, and the
sorrows of personal loss has been mitigated by pride of race, and
the love of a country that has borne such soldiers and sailors as
our brave boys.
Not in Minnesota alone, but in all the States, the willing hands and
loving hearts of the women of America have been among the foremost in
affording relief to the sick and wounded. At home in the auxiliaries, in
the hospitals, on the transports and at the front, wherever sickness and
suffering called.
Early in the campaign they seemed to awaken to the true meaning and the
great mission of the Red Cross, and, setting before them the standard,
they have followed it from one field of suffering to another. True
soldiers of humanity, they have labored earnestly and incessantly, and
have proven themselves worthy to wear the emblem of their loving,
faithful service--the Red Cross of Geneva.
MONTAUK POINT, L.I.
At the request of the New York Relief Committee, the executive committee
of the Red Cross appointed Mr. Howard Townsend as the field agent at
Montauk Point, Long Island, under whose supervision the work of the Red
Cross at this important station was admirably conducted. Mr. Townsend in
his report says:
The Red Cross appeared on the ground on Sunday, August 7, 1898, and its
representative remained there permanently after August 10. The first,
and in some respects the most important work, was the delivery of a
daily supply of pure water to the government officials at the camp. For
the first ten days the most serious problem was how to obtain good
water, and until the great well was dug, the hospitals were supplied by
the Red Cross. Ten thousand gallons of Hygeia water were delivered at
the camp, and four tank cars brought daily from Jamaica sufficient
spring water to prevent a water famine.
There was important work to be done also in connection with the general
hospital, furnishing to it such supplies as were rendered necessary by
the hurry and confusion of the first two weeks of the camp's existence.
Cots, clothing, bed-clothing, household appliances and cooking utensils,
refrigerators and other articles, in short a large part of the things
necessary for a hospital. All of these things were promptly supplied,
through the quick communication established with the Red Cross supply
depot in New York City, and the system of placing orders by telegraph,
by which supplies most needed were often on hand within a few hours
after the need was discovered.
Delicacies, fruits and milk were furnished to the hospitals until the
government itself was able to meet the demand in this direction.
Although the quarantine regulations prevented the Red Cross from being
in constant attendance at the detention hospital, yet we kept it
abundantly supplied with delicacies, and quite often with necessities.
Many tons of supplies were furnished, including food, clothing and
stimulants.
[Illustration: CHICKAMAUGA CAMP.]
[Illustration: CAMP THOMAS, HEADQUARTERS AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.]
The necessity arising for trained nurses at the general hospital, the
services of twenty trained women nurses were offered about August 16,
their salaries and all expenses to be paid by the Red Cross. The
Secretary of War promptly directed the acceptance of the offer,
although insisting that the government should pay all expenses. Since
that time there have been as many as one hundred and forty nurses in the
hospital at one time, in addition to about one hundred and ten Sisters
of Charity. These women nurses uniformly conducted themselves with
decorum in the camp, and their services undoubtedly saved the lives of
many patients. All the nurses, except the Sisters of Charity, were
furnished through the instrumentality of the Red Cross. The division
hospitals were established later in the history of the camp, and these
were also supplied with suitable provisions, delicacies, medical stores
and instruments, and Red Cross nurses.