Chickamauga. The typhoid epidemic which broke out in all the camps of
instruction where our troops were stationed severely taxed the resources
of the division hospitals. The surgeons had to rely mainly on the
services of untrained men, and while the great need for the services of
women was apparent, their employment in military camps had not then been
attempted. Nowhere were the conditions more threatening than at
Chickamauga; and toward the end of July, Miss Maud Cromelien, an agent
of the auxiliary, visited the Division Hospitals at Camp Thomas. The
need for prompt relief there manifested was imperative; and, acting
under authority from New York, she made the following offer on behalf of
the auxiliary to Lieutenant-Colonel Hoff, surgeon-in-chief at the camp,
namely: to supply at least one division hospital with nurses; to meet
all expenses of maintaining the nurses; and to erect, equip, and supply
tents for their occupation; to supply a competent supervising nurse, and
to make the entire party subject to the orders of the chief surgeon.
This offer was reported to the surgeon-general at Washington, and by his
direction accepted. Through the kindness of the managers of the
Presbyterian Hospital, the auxiliary had the great good fortune to
secure the consent of the superintendent of their training school, Miss
Maxwell, to take charge of this relief party.
Miss Maxwell at once threw herself into the arduous task, and having
obtained twenty most capable nurses, with promises of many more to
follow, selected Miss Frances A. Stone as assistant superintendent, and
started from New York with the party August 7. In the meantime, under
the supervision of Miss Cromelien, dormitories and other accommodations
had been provided at Camp Thomas, not only for this party, but for the
large number of additional nurses that were expected. Upon reaching the
camp, Miss Maxwell inspected the division hospitals, and then, by
arrangement with the government authorities, took charge of the nursing
at the Sternberg United States Field Hospital, which had just been
opened to receive the overflow of patients from the crowded division
hospitals. The suffering of the patients, and the pitiable lack of
almost everything necessary to their proper care, are described by Miss
Maxwell as among the saddest sights in her long experience. Yet out of
all this misery and chaos much alleviation of pain and admirable order
were soon brought. Beginning with 136 patients, 900 were received during
the four weeks of Miss Maxwell's superintendence. Of these 470 were
furloughed and 68 died. In all the auxiliary expended at Chickamauga,
for buildings, equipment, nurses, supplies and maintenance, more than
$9000. In concluding her report of the work to the managers of the
Presbyterian Hospital, Miss Maxwell wrote among other things:
I cannot say enough in praise of the liberality and thoughtfulness
of the auxiliary of the Red Cross in supplying us with eight
dormitories, a bath-house, store-rooms, kitchen, dining-room,
house-keeper, servants, and not only the necessities, but many of
the luxuries of life.
This proposition of organizing a large field hospital with women nurses
was at first generally looked upon as impracticable. It was urged that
it had never been done, that women could not endure the hardships of
field life, and that they would be an embarrassment in the camps, and so
it was altogether as an experiment that the nurses were allowed to begin
their work at the Sternberg Hospital. Something of the success of the
experiment in changing the attitude of the surgeons toward the idea of
women nurses in the field is shown by the following letter from
Lieutenant-Colonel Hoff to Miss Cromelien, in which he says:
I desire to express my sense of obligation to you and the society
you represent for the generous offer made on the 2d of August to
supply Sternberg Hospital with trained nurses and meet all their
natural wants, which offer, with the approval of the surgeon-general
of the army, I accepted on the 3d instant.
A very short time after this you established a nursing service in
this field hospital, which I venture to say is not surpassed in any
hospital, and is equaled in few,--a service which already has
brought to our sick soldiers untold comfort, and is aiding
materially in their restoration to health and strength. Certainly no
nobler undertaking could be inaugurated and carried out by the women
of our country, and none deserving of greater appreciation.
The following tribute from Major Giffen, the surgeon in command at the
Sternberg Hospital, is equally significant:
The Red Cross Society for the Maintenance of Trained Nurses can
truly say, _Veni, Vidi, Vici_, for without their helping hand I
would have been unable to have stayed the dread disease that has
been raging in our camp. Their helping hand came in the hour of
need, and the history of the future shall record each and every
member of the Red Cross Society as the guardian angels of the
Sternberg Hospital. My experience of years of hospital work has
enabled me to judge of the abilities of nurses, and I am proud to
say that this corps of nurses, under the excellent supervision of
Miss Maxwell, has never before been equaled.
About the first of August the arrival of the transports from Santiago,
and the opening of Camp Wikoff, at Montauk Point, afforded another great
opportunity. The call, however, was sudden, and no chance was given to
the auxiliary to provide tents specially fitted for the comfort of the
nurses, as was done at the Sternberg Hospital. By special arrangement
with the surgeon-general, the nurses ordered by him to Montauk reported
to the acting president of the auxiliary and were sent forward
immediately, or, as the occasion demanded, were cared for over night.
Much has been said in criticism of the hospital conditions at Montauk,
and too little of the fine service of the surgeons and nurses, who,
under trying conditions, worked day and night to save the lives of their
patients. Under the efficient management of Mrs. L.W. Quintard, of St.
Luke's Hospital, the nurses took up their labors with enthusiasm and
with a determination to make the best of existing circumstances. By
personal visits to the camp the acting president was enabled to
ameliorate in many ways the hard conditions under which the nurses were
so bravely working. Supplies of all sorts were sent down with the least
possible delay.
In the Detention Hospital, at Camp Wikoff, the fifty nurses to whose
special needs Miss Virginia C. Young devoted herself on behalf of the
auxiliary, cared for nearly eighteen hundred seriously ill soldiers,
many of whom had had yellow fever in Cuba, and were suffering, when
brought to the hospital, from typhoid fever, pernicious malarial fever
and dysentery. A few had measles or diphtheria. Sixty-two, or rather
less than 4 per cent, of these patients died, a result which is believed
to bear striking testimony to the quality and success of the care they
received. In a graphic account of her experience at this hospital Miss
Young writes:
I wish I could make the women of the auxiliary fully understand what
their splendid generosity meant to us who had the joy of ministering
in their name. For the fifty women who fought day by day that grim
battle with disease and death could but have wrung their hands in
hopeless impotence had it not been for the hundreds of other women
by whose aid we were able to carry on our work. One could have no
more eloquent testimony to this than that furnished by a walk
through one of the fever wards of Detention Hospital, where the men
lay on Red Cross cots, in Red Cross pajamas, covered by Red Cross
sheets and blankets, and taking their Red Cross medicines or broth
or delicacies from Red Cross cups and glasses at the hands of Red
Cross nurses.
Through the energy of Mrs. M.H. Willard, agent for the auxiliary, and
with the permission of Colonel Forwood, a diet kitchen was opened at the
General Hospital, at Camp Wikoff, for the sick and convalescent
soldiers. The expense of maintaining this kitchen was shortly afterwards
entirely assumed by the government and by the Massachusetts Volunteer
Aid Association. So successful was its operation under Mrs. Willard's
administration that four additional kitchens were opened. It is
estimated that more than twenty thousand specially prepared meals for
the sick and the convalescent have been served from these five kitchens.
When the rooms of the Long Island City Relief Station were opened, near
the railroad station, this auxiliary offered to supply the services of a
physician and nurses, and continued to do so until, by reason of the
removal of the troops, the need for the relief station ceased. One does
not soon forget the first days when the soldiers began to arrive, the
kindly interest felt by every one in and about the railroad station, the
eagerness of the small newsboy to show the soldiers where the "Red
Cross" was. To the soldier himself, weakened by illness and the fatigue
of the journey, the place seemed a veritable haven of rest. Arrangements
were made by the ladies in charge to send the very sick men immediately
to the hospitals in Brooklyn and New York. The others were given proper
food and cared for until morning, or for the several days that sometimes
elapsed until the soldier was able to continue his journey.
Through the efforts of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, and by the kindness of the
president of the Wagner Car Company, the cars "Franconia" and "Wayne"
were placed at the service of the auxiliary, and under its direction
were fitted up and maintained as hospital cars. Surgeons and nurses
accompanied these cars on the trips from Montauk, and ministered to
those among the returning soldiers who needed special care. At Montauk
itself the tents erected by the Red Cross Relief Committee at the
railway station, a distance of two or three miles from the hospital and
camp, were supplied with nurses by the auxiliary.
Some excellent emergency work was accomplished by the auxiliary at the
time of the outbreak of typhoid fever at Camp Black. Twelve nurses were
selected, and at the urgent request of the acting president, Miss Irene
Sutliffe of the New York Hospital, consented to take them to the camp on
September 4, and organize a hospital under conditions which would have
daunted the courage of most women. Nothing but tents and beds were
provided for the reception of the one hundred and fifty patients, most
of whom were very ill. Supplies of all kinds, including a complete diet
kitchen outfit, were sent to the camp by the auxiliary. Additional
nurses were furnished, and every effort was made to aid Miss Sutliffe
and her staff in their arduous labors. It is gratifying to learn that in
this way much suffering, and perhaps loss of life, was averted. On
September 20 the patients then remaining were transferred to the Nassau
Hospital, Hempstead.
The destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet, and the landing of the
Spanish prisoners at Seavey's Island, Portsmouth, N.H., gave the
auxiliary another opportunity for service. Learning that it was
impossible for the government surgeons to obtain nurses in the
neighborhood of Portsmouth, the acting president made a personal request
to the surgeon-general of the navy to authorize the sending of six men
nurses. This application was granted. In the two pavilions temporarily
erected for the patients the nurses went to work with enthusiasm. They
found the patients easily managed and always grateful for what was done
for them. The nurses were able to excite feelings of such trust and
confidence that these same patients, when placed upon the "City of Rome"
for their homeward journey, asked that the Red Cross nurses should go
with them to Spain. This request was granted, and Mr. Brayman, who was
in charge of the party, reports that the nurses were treated with much
courtesy and cordiality, and that the voyage was accomplished without
the loss of a single patient. It will be remembered that at the time of
the sailing of the "City of Rome" many of the Spanish prisoners were not
expected to live to reach their native land. At Santander the nurses
were warmly welcomed by the Spanish representatives of the Red Cross
Society. Mr. Brayman speaks of meeting one of his former patients in the
streets of Santander, still wearing the United States uniform. On
inquiry, the man replied, "This blouse was given me with three stripes
and two stars. I shall wear them all." At Bilboa the nurses received an
especially cordial reception, and the American and Spanish
representatives of the society which bears for its emblem, "Neutrality,
Humanity," exchanged brassards. Mr. Brayman afterward sent the brassard
which was received by such exchange to a representative of the auxiliary
in New York, with a letter from which the following extract is taken:
"It gives me great pleasure to tell you that I do not believe any
country can boast of a truer or nobler son than the young Spanish
gentleman who formerly wore this emblem. His mother expressed a wish
that one of the nurses might become ill there, that she might show how
an American would be cared for by her."
Nurses were also sent by the auxiliary to the Eighth Regiment Home at
Hunter's Island, and to the Home for Soldiers opened by the citizens of
Sag Harbor, Long Island.
Supplementing these various branches of hospital service, two homes for
convalescent soldiers were established under the direction of the
auxiliary. One of these, Eunice Home of Chapel Hill, beautifully
situated at Atlantic Highlands, N.J., was offered to the auxiliary by
the trustees of the Chapel Hill Fresh Air Mission. Miss M.E. Melville
and Dr. G.R. Winder were placed in charge, with a staff of nurses and
servants, and several hundred soldiers have been cared for. Through the
liberality of the Church of the Incarnation, our other home, the Summer
Home Rest at Peekskill, was opened September 19, and has, aided by the
untiring efforts of Mrs. W. Lanman Bull, cared for forty-two
convalescent men. Every effort has been made in these homes to make the
men happy, and they have returned to their regiments greatly improved in
health, and in many cases quite recovered.
But it was not the soldiers alone who demanded the aid of the auxiliary.
The nurses themselves have also been objects of anxious care. Unless
their capacity for efficient service had been maintained, all our
efforts would have been paralyzed. While in New York awaiting orders,
they were placed in excellent boarding houses, through a satisfactory
arrangement made by the auxiliary with the Home Bureau of No. 15 West
Forty-second street. At every camp and hospital where they were
stationed we undertook to supply them with pure water and milk, with
nourishing food, and such other comforts as would increase their
efficiency and remind them of the support and sympathy they were
receiving at home. When any nurse has succumbed to the strain and fallen
ill, every effort has been made to relieve her suffering and to restore
her speedily to health. And to aid that happy result, a home for
convalescent nurses, through the generosity of Mrs. Alice Dean Ward, was
opened early in November at Rowayton, Conn.
THE WOMEN WHO WENT TO THE FIELD.
The following poem is here inserted because of its prophetic application
to those women who, during the Spanish-American War, went bravely to
field and camp to minister to the sick and the wounded. The poem was
read by Clara Barton at the farewell Reception and Banquet by the Ladies
of the Potomac Corps, at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Friday
evening, November 18, 1892, in response to the toast:
"THE WOMEN WHO WENT TO THE FIELD."
The women who went to the field,
you say,
The _women_ who went to the field;
and pray
What did they go for?--just to be
in the way?
They'd not know the difference
betwixt work and play.
And what did they know about _war_,
anyway?
What could they _do_?--of what _use_
could they be?
They would scream at the sight of a gun,
don't you see?
Just fancy them round where the
bugle-notes play,
And the long roll is bidding us on
to the fray.
Imagine their skirts 'mong
artillery wheels,
And watch for their flutter as they
flee 'cross the fields
When the charge is rammed home
and the fire belches hot;
They never will wait for the
answering shot
They would faint at the first drop of blood
in their sight.
What fun for us boys,--(ere we enter
the fight);
They might pick some lint, and tear up
some sheets,
And make us some jellies, and send on
their sweets,
And knit some soft socks for Uncle's Sam's
shoes.
And write us some letters, and tell us
the news.
And thus it was settled, by common
consent,
That husbands, or brothers, or whoever
went,
That the place for the women was in
their own homes,
There to patiently wait until victory
comes.
But later it chanced--just how,
no one knew--
That the lines slipped a bit, and some
'gan to crowd through;
And they went,--where did they go?--Ah! where
did they not?
Show us the battle,--the field,--or the
spot
Where the groans of the wounded rang out
on the air
That her ear caught it not, and her hand
was not there;
Who wiped the death sweat from the cold,
clammy brow,
And sent home the message:--"'Tis well
with him now;"
Who watched in the tents whilst the fever
fires burned,
And the pain-tossing limbs in agony
turned,
And wet the parched tongue, calmed
delirium's strife
Till the dying lips murmured, "My mother"
"My wife?"
And who were they all?--They were many,
my men;
Their records were kept by no tabular
pen;
They exist in traditions from father
to son,
Who recalls, in dim memory, now here
and there one.
A few names were writ, and by chance
live to-day;
But 's perishing record, fast fading
away.
Of those we recall, there are scarcely
a score,
Dix, Dame, Bickerdyke,--Edson, Harvey
and Moore,
Fales, Wittemeyer, Gilson, Safford
and Lee,
And poor Cutter dead in the sands of
the sea;
And Francis D. Gage, our "Aunt Fanny"
of old,
Whose voice rang for freedom when
freedom was sold.
And Husband, and Etheridge, and
Harlan and Case,
Livermore, Alcott, Hancock and
Chase,
And Turner, and Hawley, and Potter
and Hall.
Ah! the list grows apace, as they come
at the call:
Did these women quail at the sight
of a gun?
Will some soldier tell us of one
he saw run?
Will he glance at the boats on the great
western flood,
At Pittsburg and Shiloh, did they faint
at the blood?
And the brave wife of Grant stood there
with them then,
And her calm stately presence gave strength
to his men.
And _Marie of Logan_; she went with them
too;
A bride, scarcely more than a sweetheart,
'tis true.
Her young cheek grows pale when the
bold troopers ride.
Where the "Black Eagle" soars, she is close
at his side,
She staunches his blood, cools the fever-burnt
breath,
And the wave of her hand stays the
Angel of Death;
She nurses him back, and restores
once again
To both army and state the great
leader of men.
She has smoothed his black plumes
and laid them to sleep
Whilst the angels above them their high
vigils keep;
And she sits here _alone_, with the snow
on her brow--
Your cheers for her, Comrades! Three cheers
for her now.
[At this point, as by one impulse, every man in the room sprang to his
feet and, led by General W.W. Dudley, gave three rousing cheers, while
Mrs. Logan, with her beautiful white head bent low, vainly sought to
staunch the fast-falling tears; the air was white with the sympathetic
'kerchiefs of the ladies, and the imposing figure of Clara Barton
standing with uplifted arm, as if in signal for the cheers, so grandly
given, completed the historic and never-to-be-forgotten scene.]
And these were the women who went
to the war:
The women of question; what _did_ they
go for?
Because in their hearts God had planted
the seed
Of pity for woe, and help for
its need;
They saw, in high purpose, a duty
to do,
And the armor of right broke the
barriers through.
Uninvited, unaided, unsanctioned
ofttimes,
With pass, or without it, they pressed
on the lines;
They pressed, they implored, 'till they ran the
lines through,
And _that_ was the "running" the men saw
them do.
'Twas a hampered work, its worth largely
lost;
'Twas hindrance, and pain, and effort, and
cost:
But through these came knowledge,--
knowledge is power,--
And never again in the deadliest
hour
Of war or of peace shall we be
so beset
To accomplish the purpose our spirits
have met.
And what would they do if war
came again?
The _scarlet cross floats_ where all was
blank then.
They would bind on their "_brassards_"[F]
and march to the fray.
And the man liveth not who could
say to them nay;
They would stand with you now, as they
stood with you then,--
The nurses, consolers, and saviors
of men.
[F] The insignia and arm-band of the Red Cross worn on the field.
NOTE.--Returning home from a journey, Miss Barton was notified in the
afternoon that she would be expected to attend the banquet and respond
to the toast, "The Women Who Went to the Field." As there was little or
no time for preparation, the foregoing poem was hastily written, and may
almost be considered as impromptu.
CUBA AND THE CUBAN CAMPAIGN.
We had scarcely returned from Armenia when paragraphs began to appear in
the press from all sections of the country, connecting the Red Cross
with some undefined method of relief for Cuba. These intimations were
both ominous and portentous for the future, something from which we
instinctively shrunk and remained perfectly quiet. "The murmurs grew to
clamors loud," and, I regret to say, not always quite kind. There were
evidently two Richmonds in the field, the one ardently craving food
alone, simply food for the dying. The other wanting food and arms. They
might have properly been classed under two distinct heads. The one,
merely the friends of humanity in its simple sense; the other, friends
of humanity also, but what seemed to them a broader and deeper sense,
far more complex. They sought to remove a cause as well as an effect,
and the muffled cry of "Cuba Libre" became their watchword. Naturally,
any general movement by the people in favor of the former must have the
effect to diminish the contributions of the latter, too small at best
for their purpose, and must be wisely discouraged. Thus, whenever an
unsuspecting movement was set on foot by some good-hearted,
unsophisticated body of people, and began to gain favor with the public
and the press, immediately would appear most convincing counter
paragraphs to the effect that it would be useless to send relief,
especially by the Red Cross:
First, it would not be permitted to land.
Next, whatever it took would be either seized outright, or "wheedled"
out of hand by the Spanish authorities in Havana.
That the Spaniards would be only too glad to have the United States send
food and money for the use of Havana.
Again, that the Red Cross being international, would affiliate with
Spain, and ignore the "Cuban Red Cross" already working there and here.
As if poor Cuba, with no national government or treaty-making power,
could have a legitimate Red Cross that other nations could recognize or
work with.
That doubtless the American Red Cross, flushed with victory in Armenia,
would be only too glad to enter on another campaign, direct another
field, and handle its donations. Tired, heart-sore and needing rest, we
were compelled to read columns of such reports, and understanding that
it was not without its political side and might increase to proportions
dangerous to the good name of the Red Cross, we felt compelled to take
steps in self-protection. Accordingly through the proper official
authorities of both nations, we addressed to the government of Spain at
Madrid a request for royal permission for the American Red Cross to
enter Cuba and distribute, unmolested, among its starving reconcentrado
population such relief as the people of America desired to send.
This communication brought back from Spain perhaps the most courteous
assent and permission ever vouchsafed by a proud government to an
individual request, especially when that request was in its very nature
a rebuke to the methods of the government receiving it. Not only was
permission granted by the crown, the government, the Captain-General at
Cuba, and the Queen Regent, but to the assent of the latter were added
her majesty's gracious thanks for the kindly thought.
This cablegram was published broadcast through the Associated and United
Presses in its exact text, with all official signatures duly appended,
and over my signature the statement that the American Red Cross was
ready to enter upon the relief of the starving Cubans whenever the
people of the United States should place at its disposal a sum in money
or material sufficient to warrant a commencement of the work.