undertaken, systematic efforts were made to reach subscribers, associate
members were enlisted, circulars were sent out, and personal appeals
were made. From Paris alone, by the generosity of French and American
friends, more than $21,000 was received. Suburban branches were also
established, which, under the direction of separate committees, labored
earnestly and contributed largely, both in money and in supplies. The
chief of these branches were at Seabright, Elberon, Navesink, Orange,
New Hamburg, Tuxedo, Tarrytown, Northern Westchester County, Riverdale,
Rye and Harrison, White Plains, Lake George, St. Hubert's Inn, Lenox,
Wakefield and Narragansett and Bar Harbor. The Executive Committee met
frequently to consider this question of ways and means, and the
assistant treasurer, Mrs. Edmund L. Baylies, was soon able to report a
generous response. As shown by her account, the sum of $107,785.12 has
in all been collected, of which $72,101.64 has already been expended.
Without this hearty support from the friends of the cause, the good
accomplished by the auxiliary would have been sadly restricted. Indeed,
when the critical time of arranging coöperation with the government
came, we might never have felt justified in undertaking such a
responsibility, had our actual contributions not been so large, and the
assurance of further financial support so definite.
On June 30 the first call for nurses came in the shape of a telegraphic
dispatch from Santiago, sent by Dr. A. Monae Lesser, chief surgeon of
the American National Red Cross Society. Two days later, in compliance
with this dispatch, a party consisting of twelve trained nurses, one
immune nurse, and one assistant, was sent from New York to Tampa in
charge of Miss Laura D. Gill, with orders to proceed to Santiago at the
first opportunity. This party was reinforced by a second, consisting of
three physicians and eleven nurses, who left New York on July 4 in
charge of Miss Isabel Rutty. A third party of two physicians, thirty-two
nurses, and six orderlies was sent forward the same week, and reached
Tampa on the evening of July 9. The first available steamer for Santiago
was the U.S. transport "Lampasas," which was taking out Col. Black and
his engineering corps, and through the kindness of General Coppinger and
Col. Edmond Rice, five physicians, twenty-nine nurses, and two orderlies
were given transportation upon that ship.
The "Lampasas" reached Santiago just after its surrender, but owing to
the recent outbreak of yellow fever in the city, a strict quarantine had
been established, and none but immunes were permitted to go ashore. The
steamer thereupon proceeded to Porto Rico, and on reaching the harbor of
Guanica was converted into a hospital ship. The plan of landing the
nurses was abandoned, and they immediately devoted themselves to the
care of the 112 soldiers, most of them typhoid fever patients, for whom
accommodation was provided on the vessel. Two of these patients died at
Guanica, two at Ponce, and four on the homeward voyage. The remaining
104 were safely landed at Fort Monroe early in August. Miss Mary E.
Gladwin, who was with the party, spoke for all the nurses when she said
that this "Lampasas" trip was the opportunity of a lifetime, and that
the two weeks of absorbing work "were worth years of ordinary living."
In the meantime the rest of our party at Tampa had embarked on another
government transport, the "Nueces," also bound for Santiago. But within
a few hours after the "Lampasas" left the dock at Tampa, and before the
"Nueces" could get away, a telegram was received telling of the outbreak
of yellow fever in Cuba. By direction of the government, all of our
party, except one trained nurse and four assistants, were thereupon
removed from the "Nueces," and left in Tampa to await further
developments. The five excepted members of the party proceeded to Cuba,
and some time afterwards returned to New York in attendance upon the
patients who were brought home on the steamer "Concho."
It was in Tampa, while these nurses were impatiently awaiting
transportation to the front, that the sudden outbreak of typhoid fever
in the camp there gave the first important occasion for their services.
Four nurses, under the charge of Mrs. E.B. Freer, were assigned to the
Division Hospital at Picnic Island, and continued their work until about
July 27, when the sick men were removed and the island abandoned as a
camp. The services of Mrs. Freer's party were then desired by Colonel
O'Reilly, chief surgeon of the Fourth Army Corps, and she was asked on
Saturday, July 30, to superintend the opening of a new military hospital
in West Tampa. Authority and funds were, on application to the auxiliary
in New York, telegraphed her accordingly, and the effectiveness of the
compliance with the chief surgeon's request will appear when it is said
that by evening of the next day (Sunday) a three-story brick building
was selected for the hospital, thoroughly cleaned, equipped with cots
and other necessary hospital appliances, and the cots themselves
occupied by fifty soldiers suffering from typhoid and malarial fevers.
The spirit of this auspicious beginning guided the conduct of the
hospital until its last patient had been discharged on October 14. Five
hundred soldiers, chiefly typhoid patients, were treated during those
ten weeks, and only eleven deaths occurred. Even a modern city hospital
might be proud of such a record.
Meanwhile the constant efforts of the auxiliary to send nurses to Cuba
were thwarted by the appearance of yellow fever in Santiago.
Notwithstanding our repeated offers, the government adhered to its
determination to permit none but immune nurses at the front, and the
extension of the auxiliary's work seemed to be hopelessly checked. The
situation with which we were confronted was most serious. We had sought
and collected over $60,000 in money, and notwithstanding the great
amount of suffering, and our conviction that if only permitted to do so
we might relieve so much of it, we were nearly helpless. Happily, a
speedy and most gratifying solution of the problem was found in the
following manner: The Executive Board of the Relief Committee decided to
send a committee representing itself and this auxiliary to Washington,
to reach some positive understanding with the President and the
surgeon-general of the army regarding the regular employment of our
nurses.
On the evening of July 15, this committee, consisting of Mr. Howard
Townsend, Mrs. Whitelaw Reid and Mrs. Winthrop Cowdin, was accorded a
private interview at the White House by President McKinley, who listened
with kindly attention to a brief explanation of the aims and purposes of
the auxiliary, and expressed himself as entirely in sympathy with them.
At his request, a conference at the White House between the committee,
the Secretary of War and the surgeon-general was arranged for the
following morning. That same evening the committee called also upon the
adjutant-general, and was assured of his co-operation in their efforts.
Owing doubtless to the limited time at the disposal of the
surgeon-general, who was on his way to meet the hospital ship "Olivette"
on its first journey North with a load of wounded from Santiago, no
definite results were reached at the conference the next morning. The
Secretary of War, however, said he would aid us to the extent of his
power, and the surgeon-general promised another interview with the same
committee at Mrs. Reid's house in New York, Sunday afternoon, July 17.
The result of this interview is thus stated in a letter from General
Sternberg to Mrs. Reid:
I take pleasure in confirming by letter the arrangements made at our
interview in New York on the 17th instant.
I am quite willing to employ female nurses vouched for by yourself
as secretary of the Red Cross Society for Maintenance of Trained
Nurses. I had previously made very satisfactory arrangements for the
employment of trained female nurses through a committee of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. As I said to you during our
interview, I recognize the value of trained female nurses in
general hospitals, and we expect to make use of their services to
such an extent as seems to be desirable. But I do not approve of
sending female nurses with troops in the field or to camps of
instruction. It is the intention to transfer the seriously sick men
from our field hospitals to the general hospitals as soon as
practicable; and we wish our enlisted men of the Hospital Corps to
take care of the sick in the Division Field hospitals and in camps
of instruction, so that they may be fully prepared to perform the
same duties when the troops are in active operations.
Among these privates of the Hospital Corps who constitute the Red
Cross organization of the regular military service, and who are
non-combatants in accordance with the terms of the Geneva
Convention, we have many medical students and even graduates in
medicine.
I have made an exception with reference to sending female nurses to
Cuba in view of the outbreak of yellow fever in Santiago, and am now
sending immune nurses, both male and female, for duty at the yellow
fever hospitals. In accordance with our agreement, you are
authorized to send ten female trained nurses, selected by yourself,
to the Leiter Hospital at Camp Thomas, Ga.; ten to the U.S. General
Hospital at Fort Monroe, Va.; and two to the hospital at Fort
Wadsworth, N.Y., the understanding being that those at Fort Monroe
and at Fort Wadsworth shall be boarded and lodged outside of the
hospital.
Thanking you very sincerely for your earnest efforts in behalf of
our sick and wounded soldiers, I am, etc.
This letter was accompanied by an order for twenty nurses to be sent at
once to the hospitals in the city of Charleston.
As a result of this permission of the government, three men nurses were
sent on July 21 to the Marine Hospital at Staten Island, and Miss
Marjorie Henshall went with three women nurses to the Post Hospital at
Fort Wadsworth, where a number of sick and wounded officers had just
been landed from the "Olivette." An example of the immediate benefit
resulting from the increased powers of the auxiliary may be found in the
case of one of the lieutenants in the regular army, who had been ill
with fever for weeks in Santiago without proper care, and who had
reached New York in an almost dying condition. The surgeons in charge
attributed his recovery to the timely arrival of the nurses under Miss
Henshall.
In further accordance with the surgeon-general's permission, the nurses
who were on waiting orders at Tampa were sent to the Leiter Hospital
near Chattanooga, where ten were immediately placed on duty by the chief
surgeon, Major Carter; and as they could not be provided for in the
hospital building, Miss Gill went to Chattanooga to arrange for their
maintenance in quarters near by. The service at the Leiter Hospital was
peculiarly hard, and one of the nurses, Miss Phinney, died there as a
result of the great mental and physical strain to which she was
subjected.
Ten nurses were sent on July 22 to the General Hospital, Fort Monroe, in
charge of Miss Lida G. Starr. As this hospital consisted largely of
tents, it was necessary for the nurses to be maintained in hotels, in
the neighborhood. Later, other nurses came, and soon the entire force,
with two exceptions, had signed contracts with the government, but were
maintained at the expense of the auxiliary. The total number of nurses
maintained by the auxiliary in service at this place was at times as
large as forty-five. Ten other nurses, maintained by the Woman's War
Relief Association, shared in the work there. In all seventeen hundred
patients were treated at this hospital, of whom only thirty-four died.
To Miss Starr is due much credit for the admirable management of the
funds intrusted to her by the auxiliary, and for the sedulous care she
bestowed upon the welfare of the nurses. Only this, as they themselves
realized, made it possible for them to perform so remarkable a work,--a
work of which Major De Witt, the surgeon in charge, said: "I am
satisfied that whatever success we may have had in the treatment of our
sick and wounded has been in great measure due to the skill and devotion
of the female nurses."
Our labor at Charleston involved somewhat different necessities. The
city hospitals were crowded with soldiers who had been taken ill on
their way from the camps to the transports. Additional nurses were thus
greatly needed, and on July 24 twenty, in charge of Miss Martha L.
Draper, were sent to meet the emergency. That their services were
valuable and appreciated is shown by the testimonials granted them by
the Board of Commissioners of the City Hospital of Charleston.
When, in early August, the steamship "Missouri" was bought by the
government for a hospital ship, Mrs. Reid offered women nurses to the
officer in charge, Major Arthur. As the construction of the ship did not
afford accommodations which permitted the presence of women on board,
this offer was changed. The department had allowed Major Arthur ten male
nurses, but the government salary did not command the quality of service
which the special work of superintendence required. It was therefore
proposed to choose, under the advice of Dr. Fisher, of the Presbyterian
Hospital, a small supplementary corps of exceptionally able nurses, who
could assume the responsibility of the wards. When these men had been
chosen, they impressed Major Arthur so favorably that he decided to
dispense with the ten nurses allowed him by the government, take these
selected men under contract, pay them the regulation salary, and leave
upon the auxiliary the expense only of the additional salary necessary
to command this superior nursing ability. The men retained the position
of Red Cross nurses, and wore the special uniform provided by the
auxiliary. Ten men made the trip to Santiago, but for the second and
third trips the staff was increased to fourteen. The spirit and capacity
of these men were severely tested on the first voyage by the unprepared
state in which the emergency required that the "Missouri" be sent South,
but they met their labors and hardships in a way which brought forth
Major Arthur's warmest praise.
Forty-two nurses have in the course of the summer been sent to Fort
Wadsworth, Staten Island, where, under the able management of Miss
Marjorie Henshall, effective service has been rendered, giving absolute
satisfaction to the surgeons in charge.
At Governor's Island Miss Alice Marie Wyckoff and Miss Barker have
represented the auxiliary. Early in July they were occupied on Swinburn
Island in caring for the many patients who arrived on the "Concho;" and
when those patients were transferred to Governor's Island, Major
Kimball, the surgeon in charge, asked that the nurses be sent there to
assist his hospital corps. This request was granted, and additional
nurses have since been supplied. He speaks in high terms of what these
nurses have done to aid him, and of their conspicuous success in rousing
apathetic patients to assist in their own recovery.
The situation of these two harbor hospitals, and of the hospital at Fort
Hamilton, was especially favorable for the treatment of the very sick
patients received from the transports directly from Santiago, or from
the general hospital at Camp Wikoff. The remarkably small death-rate is
directly attributable to the skill and devotion of the surgeons and
nurses, to the carefully prepared food, and to the sea air blowing
through the tents. "It has been most wonderful," remarked Miss Ellen M.
Wood, who was in charge of the nurses at Fort Hamilton, "to watch the
soldiers grow young again" amid such surroundings. The part which Miss
Wood and her assistants played in this beneficial change may be
indicated by a quotation from a recent letter to the acting president of
the auxiliary from Major and Brigade Surgeon Rafferty, commanding the
General Hospital at Fort Hamilton:
Miss E.M. Wood, with five nurses, will report to you on Saturday,
October 15, 1898. They have been on duty with me in the camp and
wards of the United States General Hospital at this place for the
past six or eight weeks, and have rendered me noble, efficient and
conscientious work.
I wish you would express to your auxiliary for me my great
appreciation of their efforts to ameliorate the suffering and
sickness of our soldiers returning from the seat of war. Were I to
choose the most worthy and successful body of workers from among all
the generous people who have been rendering such beautiful aid to
our sick and wounded, I should unhesitatingly point to your
Auxiliary for the Maintenance of Trained Nurses.
Much has been accomplished by the mission of the special committee to
the surgeon-general in July; but later in the month it became
increasingly apparent that some simpler routine of co-operation with the
government must be established in order to secure the more rapid placing
of the nurses. Under the existing conditions, all nurses ordered to army
hospitals were selected by the Daughters of the American Revolution
Hospital Corps, consisting of Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee, director; Miss
Mary Desha and Mrs. Francis G. Nash, assistant directors; and Mrs. Amos
G. Draper, treasurer. This hospital corps did noble work for the cause,
and its co-operation was highly appreciated by the auxiliary. Dr. McGee,
on whose advice in these matters the surgeon-general greatly relied, was
indefatigable in her efforts, working day and night and month after
month.
But since Congress had provided no special fund for the transportation
of nurses, considerable delay had always occurred before the nurses
could reach the army hospitals; and as these hospitals were rapidly
filling up with patients in consequence of the outbreak of typhoid and
malarial fevers in the different camps, the effects of such delay became
daily more dangerous. The acting president went again to Washington, and
after conference with Dr. McGee and other members of this hospital
corps, placed a fund of five hundred dollars in the hands of Mrs.
Draper, as acting treasurer, to meet transportation expenses originating
at Washington. This fund was most efficiently managed by Mrs. Draper,
and was replenished from time to time until September 6, when $5425.80
had been so disbursed. Thereafter the government assumed the entire
expense of transportation.
[Illustration: Copyright 1898, by Clara Barton.
A PART OF THE RED CROSS CORPS
_That was working with the Reconcentrados in Cuba before
the declaration of war, waiting at Tampa, Florida, for
the Red Cross Relief Ship "State of Texas," to carry
them back to Cuba to resume their work._]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1898, by _The Christian Herald_.
"I AM WITH THE WOUNDED."--_Clara Barton's cable message from Havana._
"I am with the wounded," flashed along the wire
from the isle of Cuba, swept with sword and fire.
Angel sweet of mercy, may your cross of red
Cheer the wounded living; bless the wounded dead.
"I am with the starving," let the message run
From this stricken island, when this task is done;
Food and money plenty wait at your command.
Give in generous measure; fill each outstretched hand.
"I am with the happy," this we long to hear
From the isle of Cuba, trembling now in fear.
May the great disaster touch the hearts of men,
And, in God's great mercy, bring back peace again.
--JAMES CLARENCE HARVEY.]
This general subject of transportation was one regarding which the
auxiliary was able to render substantial service, and merits a few
descriptive words. The pressure upon the Quartermaster's Department at
Washington during the summer made it impossible to be certain of
immediate transportation for nurses to their posts of duty. Even after
orders were received, the nurses might be delayed several days for the
necessary transportation pass. Under ordinary circumstances this might
have seemed comparatively unimportant; but when a new hospital is opened
and scores of patients lie waiting for the care which can be given only
by the expected nurses, it is a matter of vital importance whether they
come in twelve hours or a week.
When the auxiliary acceded to the suggestion from Washington, and
undertook to relieve this pressure by paying the transportation of
nurses who could not otherwise be put into immediate service, quite a
change in plan was made. A number of nurses were ordered to New York by
Dr. McGee, and were held in readiness to respond to requests from any
part of the country. These nurses, added to the numbers being constantly
enlisted here, made a substantial reserve for sudden calls. In a few
hours after a telegram asking for a given number of nurses was received,
the nurses could meet at the railway station, find an agent of the
auxiliary there, who would distribute the tickets and sleeping-car
accommodations that had already been secured, check their trunks,
provide for the payment of the incidental expenses of the journey, and
see the party off for its destination. It is believed that the money,
labor and thought expended in this way brought a rich return.
As the responsibilities of the auxiliary developed, the need of a
permanent office became apparent. In the absence of the president and
first and second vice-presidents, Mrs. Cowdin became acting-president,
and from July 28 to September 20 headquarters for the auxiliary were
maintained at her residence, No. 15 West Eleventh street. Since
September 20 the office of the auxiliary has been at Mrs. Reid's
residence, No. 451 Madison avenue. The scope and interest of the work
increased daily, and its details required the entire attention of the
executive officer, her assistants, Miss Gill and Miss Wadley, a
stenographer and a bookkeeper. In addition, Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting, Mrs.
W. Lanman Bull and Mrs. Geo. F. Shrady, Jr., of the executive committee,
though compelled to be out of town, were in frequent communication with
the New York office, and, in town and out, labored constantly to render
the auxiliary more effective.
On August 10, Miss Gill, who from the beginning gave herself completely
to the work, and whose services were of inestimable value, went to
Washington to clear up several points relative to the enlistment of
nurses. Aside from the adjustment of some details, two important
results were obtained. One of these was the appointment by the
surgeon-general of the acting president of the auxiliary as direct
superintendent of the nurses at Fort Wadsworth, Fort Hamilton and
Governor's Island, with full power to appoint, transfer and recall them;
the other, to which fuller reference will be hereafter made, was
permission for Miss Maxwell, of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, to
go to Chickamauga with a party of nurses chosen by her. The Red Cross
Hospital in New York, from which the nurses had theretofore been
enlisted, being temporarily closed, Miss Maxwell offered her office at
the Presbyterian Hospital for the registration of nurses sent out by the
auxiliary; and at her urgent request, Miss K.M. Pierce, superintendent
of the Samaritan Hospital at Troy, who was then in New York, devoted her
vacation to making arrangements for the registration and transportation
of the large number of nurses called into the city. After September 1
this work devolved upon Miss Wadley, and was transferred to a separate
bureau at No. 6 East Forty-second street, where, under her direction, it
has reached a high degree of efficiency.