SHIPMENTS BY TRANSPORTS.
By the courtesy of the War Department, the Executive Committee were enabled to make several shipments, both to Cuba and to Porto Rico, on the United States transports. With the exception of the first cargo by the “Port Victor,” the larger part of these supplies which should properly have been consigned to the Red Cross at the front, were sent direct to the commanding officers, or to the officers of the medical department of the army, upon request. The consignment of the “Port Victor,” although received by the Red Cross and forwarded to Gibra for distribution, was afterward taken by an officer of the U.S. army without permission. Among the shipments were:
“Port Victor,” July 10, to Santiago, 800 tons general provisions and medical supplies.
“New Hampshire,” July 15, to Santiago, 25 tons groceries and hospital supplies.
“Olivette,” July 18, to Santiago, clothing and delicacies.
“Resolute,” July 19, to Santiago, general supplies and clothing. Value, $2000.
“Missouri,” July 19, to Santiago, clothing, laundry plant, ice plant, cots and delicacies.
“Seneca,” July 21, to Santiago, clothing for 50 men.
“Kanawa,” July 22, to Santiago, 10 cases of supplies.
“Concho,” August 1, to Santiago, supplies for 200 men.
“Breakwater,” August 6, to Santiago, 10 cases general supplies.
“Harvard,” August 5, to Santiago, 16 cases groceries and clothes.
“Altai,” August 5, to Santiago, 96 cases delicacies and clothing.
“Seguranca,” August 20, to Santiago, 113 cases provisions and soups.
“Port Victor,” October 7, to Santiago, 115 tons of ice, 50 equipped cots.
“Concho,” August 13, to Porto Rico, 900 cases general provisions and 50 equipped cots.
“Yucatan,” September 7, to Porto Rico, 545 cases general provisions and medical supplies.
“Obdam,” September 14, to Porto Rico, 387 cases assorted provisions and 2 ambulances.
“Chester,” September 27, to Porto Rico, 406 cases assorted supplies.
“Missouri,” September 19, to Porto Rico, 60 cases general supplies.
“Berlin,” September 20, to Porto Rico, 20 barrels ginger ale.
“Port Victor,” October 7, to Porto Rico, 115 tons of ice and 50 equipped cots, duplicate of shipment to Santiago.
“Panama,” October 12, to Porto Rico, 300 cases of groceries and clothing, 50 equipped cots and 101 cases medicine for General Wood at Santiago.
Since their appointment by the President of the United States, the Central Cuban Relief Committee have been busily engaged in carrying on the great work entrusted to them by the government. In addition to the smaller consignments of materials sent for distribution to the relief stations in Cuba and on the Florida coast, they have expended in the purchase and forwarding of larger shipments of relief, over two hundred thousand dollars, and have collected in money and supplies nearly half a million. The latest important shipment was sent by the steamer “City of San Antonio,” consisting of an assorted cargo of about 700 tons, which was landed at the port of Matanzas, and distributed by the representatives of the Red Cross in charge of the vessel.
THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS RELIEF COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK.
The origin of this great volunteer emergency committee has already been explained in these pages. But the story of their wonderful work can never be fully told. With their co-operation much suffering has been prevented or relieved, and many lives have been saved; through the ministrations made possible by their efforts, the humblest private in the ranks now realizes that “the great heart of the nation will not let the soldier die.” No words can express the gratitude of the Red Cross for their powerful assistance. Faithful, earnest and efficient, they have labored incessantly through the campaign, and now at the close they make the following short but eloquent report:
Report of the Relief Committee.
Organized May 3, 1898.
Officers.—Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., chairman; Alexander E. Orr, vice-chairman; William T. Wardwell, vice-chairman; John P. Faure, Secretary; Frederick D. Tappen, treasurer; Samuel Woolverton, assistant treasurer.
Members.—Dr. Felix Adler, Bishop Edward G. Andrews, August Belmont, Joseph H. Choate, William P. Clyde, John D. Crimmins, Chauncey M. Depew, Cleveland H. Dodge, John P. Faure, Edwin Gould, Clement A. Griscom, Jr., John S. Huyler, Morris K. Jesup, Edwin Langdon, Dr. A.M. Lesser, William G. Low, Rev. Sylvester Malone, J. Pierpont Morgan, Levi P. Morton, Alexander E. Orr, Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., LL.D., Percy R. Pyne, Douglas Robinson, John D. Rockefeller, Jacob H. Schiff, Gustav H. Schwab, Charles Stewart Smith, Dr. George F. Shrady, James Speyer, William R. Stewart, A.S. Solomons, Frederick D. Tappen, Howard Townsend, Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas, William T. Wardwell.
Executive Committee.—William T. Wardwell, chairman; John P. Faure, secretary; Levi P. Morton, Frederick D. Tappen, George F. Shrady, M.D., William G. Low, Gustav H. Schwab, Cleveland H. Dodge, A.S. Solomons, Douglas Robinson, Howard Townsend, A. Monae Lesser, M.D.; Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, D.D., LL.D., ex-officio; Alexander E. Orr, ex-officio.
Finance Committee.—J. Pierpont Morgan, chairman; Frederick D. Tappen, vice-chairman; August Belmont, James Speyer, Gustav H. Schwab, Edwin Langdon, Levi P. Morton.
Committee on Yacht “Red Cross.”—William T. Wardwell, Gustav H. Schwab, Alexander E. Orr.
Supply Committee.—Cleveland H. Dodge, chairman; Mrs. W.S. Cowles, Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, John S. Huyler, Percy R. Pyne, George F. Shrady, M.D., A.S. Solomons, Howard Townsend; Miss Helen Fidelia Hoffman, secretary; F.C. Garmany, purchasing agent.
Medical Advisory Board.—Wm. H. Draper, M.D., chairman; Andrew J. McCosh, M.D., secretary; Francis P. Kinnicutt, M.D., Francis Delafield, M.D., John S. Billings, M.D., Edward G. Janeway, M.D., Charles McBurney, M.D., Richard H. Derby, M.D.
Treasurer’s Report
And Analysis of Expenditures, May 9 to December 1, 1898.
| Total receipts | $305,229 66 | |
| Office supplies | $5,117 89 | |
| Food supplies, groceries, milk, fruit, etc. | 46,067 95 | |
| Cots and equipments | 24,946 09 | |
| Medical supplies, wines, liquors, etc. | 11,357 33 | |
| Clothing and dry goods | 1,413 61 | |
| Miscellaneous supplies | 16,051 14 | |
| Account nurses | 17,718 24 | |
| Ambulances and mules | 7,782 56 | |
| Ice | 27,666 14 | |
| Yacht “Red Cross” and maintenance | 54,057 16 | |
| Cash to General Committee, account of camps | 59,913 02 | |
| Laundry plant | 1,230 10 | |
| Freight, express charges, towing, transportation, etc. | 4,283 05 | 277,604 28 |
| Balance on hand | $27,625 38 |
Woman’s Committee on Auxiliaries.—Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, chairman; Mrs. Paul Dana, secretary; Miss Martha L. Draper, treasurer; Mrs. Butler Duncan, Mrs. James W. Gerard, Mrs. Bettina Hofker Lesser, Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan, Dr. Lucy Hall Brown, Mrs. W.S. Cowles, Mrs. Winthrop Cowdin, Mrs. Levi P. Morton, Mrs. Henry C. Potter, Mrs. G.F. Shrady.
By a resolution of the Executive Committee the above ladies were appointed a Woman’s Committee on Auxiliaries, charged with the duty of organizing auxiliary committees throughout the United States, to assist in Red Cross work. This committee met for the first time on May 12, and it was decided to interest, by personal effort and correspondence, the people of the country in serving the sick and wounded soldiers and sailors during the war without regard to nationality, in accordance with the rules of the Conference of Geneva.
From its inaugural meeting on May 12 until the present date the Woman’s Committee has authorized the organization of ninety-two auxiliaries, many of these with numerous sub-auxiliaries, thus spreading the work throughout the country from Maine to the Rocky Mountains, the western limit of the work of the Relief Committee.
The Following Auxiliaries Were Organized:
Supplies Contributed by Auxiliaries through Supply Committee.
| Cots | 3,601 | Under drawers | 6,937 | |
| Sheets | 13,623 | Comfort bags | 1,188 | |
| Draw sheets | 994 | Palm-leaf fans | 6 | cs. |
| Rubber sheets | 226 | Cot pads | 1,006 | cs. |
| Pillowcases | 13,858 | Mosquito netting | 32 | pcs. |
| Blankets | 586 | Nurses’ caps | 271 | |
| Towels | 36,821 | Nurses’ aprons | 100 | |
| Wash cloths | 10,473 | Brassards | 90 | |
| Nightshirts | 12,388 | Old linen | 10 cs. | |
| Pajamas | 14,264 | Napkins | 466 | |
| Wrappers | 53 | Stationery | 2 cs. | |
| Handkerchiefs | 40,268 | Delicacies | 900 cs. | |
| Socks | 8,484 | Tobacco | 20 cs. | |
| Slippers | 2,342 | Pipes | 5,000 | |
| Abdominal bands | 18,557 | Literature | 120 cs. | |
| Negligee shirts | 5,097 | Miscellaneous articles | 3,394 | |
| Undershirts | 6,937 | Red Cross flags | 70 | |
| Estimated value, $80,000. | ||||
Special Work Done by Auxiliaries.
Auxiliary No. 1 provided eleven equipped ambulances with forty mules. For Hospital Ship “Missouri”: two hundred electric fans, telephones, six rubber beds, disinfecting plant, carbonating plant, twenty-eight foot steam launch, thirty-seven foot steam launch, sent to Chief Surgeon Havard at Santiago. Supplies of clothing and delicacies sent to Colonel Wood at Santiago.
Auxiliary No. 2 opened a work shop on Madison Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street. There women, members of the families of enlisted men, were employed to make the garments supplied by this auxiliary. Employment was given to these women both at their homes and at the shop. Those who took work home were paid by the piece. In all, 142 women were employed, many having steady work for over five months. Up to December 1, 20,842 articles were made by this Auxiliary.
Auxiliary No. 3 has perhaps brought more comfort to the sick and wounded soldiers than any of the others. It was organized for the special work of providing funds for the maintenance of trained nurses, and as will be seen by the following list of nurses sent out by this auxiliary, no opportunity to relieve the suffering of the sick was ever passed by.
Railway transportation was furnished for nearly four hundred nurses sent out from the New York office.
The number of nurses employed may be divided approximately into four classes: (1) Those employed, maintained and paid by the auxiliary. (2) Those whose salaries and maintenance were borne partly by the government, and partly by the auxiliary. (3) Those who signed the government contract and were paid and supplied with army rations by the government, but received additional supplies from the auxiliary. (4) Those who were paid by the auxiliary and maintained by local aid.
The salaries of some and maintenance of all were borne by the auxiliary. Nurses were also supplied on emergency calls to the Eighth and Ninth Regiment Armories.
Auxiliary No. 5 sent equipped cots to the different camps in the United States, Cuba and Porto Rico, supplying in all 3766.
Auxiliary No. 10 undertook to send ice to Cuba and Porto Rico, the blockading fleet, and the different camps. This auxiliary also furnished the ice plant on the Hospital Ship “Missouri,” and expended in all for ice $27,802.20.
The work of this auxiliary appealed especially to every one during the hot weather, and donations poured in upon it, not the least of which was a steady income from the “Nathalie Schenck Ice Chain,” which produced a revenue of $24,000 in three months.
Auxiliary No. 17, enrolled seventy-four sub-auxiliaries, with a total membership of 6173.
To the Supply Committee this auxiliary sent in the largest quantity of supplies.
Auxiliary No. 19 raised funds for a laundry plant, and put same on Hospital Ship “Missouri.”
Auxiliary No. 22 had five sub-auxiliaries, with a total membership of 1018. 14,144 garments, 850 cases and packages of food, and 12,583 books and magazines were sent to the Supply Depot. In September the auxiliary took as its particular work the supplying of clothing to destitute soldiers applying for same, with properly signed orders, at 554 Broadway. Nearly 800 men were given underwear, blue flannel shirts, socks, handkerchiefs, night shirts, etc., etc.
Auxiliary No. 40.—The War Emergency Relief Board of Cleveland became an auxiliary to the Red Cross in June, with 163 sub-auxiliaries. Ten thousand dollars in money, and between thirty and forty thousand dollars worth of supplies, were sent to the front. Two thousand dollars were spent in fitting up unfurnished wards in Cleveland hospitals, where 533 soldiers were cared for. The wives and families of soldiers and sailors were also cared for. Five thousand four hundred and fifty hot breakfasts and dinners were served at the Union Depot to soldiers passing through Cleveland. Four hundred cases of clothing and delicacies were shipped by this auxiliary.
Requisitions Filled by Supply Committee.
June 22 to December 1.
Total Number, 427.
A CUBAN “BLOCK HOUSE,” GARRISONED.
A VIEW OF EASTERN CUBA.
EXTRACTS OF REPORTS FROM CAMPS.
Jacksonville, Fla.
Field Agent, Rev. Alexander Kent.
Headquarters opened June 16, 1898. The hospital was found in a very distressing and unhealthful condition. Most of the patients were indeed on cots, but few had either sheets or night shirts to cover them! It was also found that the sick had no suitable food, and when the suitable food was provided it was found that there was no provision for preparing it!
The government provided many sheets, many cots, many pillows, but the demand ever outran the supply, and the Red Cross was called on continually to supply the lack.
The government made no provision for ice, milk, eggs, lemons, malted milk, peptonoids, clam bouillon, beef extracts and delicacies of all kinds until after the first of September, when each patient was allowed sixty cents a day. All supplies of this sort were furnished by the Red Cross, or by the beneficient agencies.
At the Second Division Hospital the Red Cross paid for a bath house, kitchen and large circular tent for convalescents—100 cots, mattresses and 1000 pillows. Sheets, pillow cases, night shirts, pajamas and towels were sent by the thousand.
The Red Cross furnished over $1000 worth of medicines not on the government list, over 1000 bath and surgical sponges, 50 ice chests, over 700 buckets, tumblers by the barrel, medicine glasses, ice bags, hypodermic syringes, etc.
Over $1300 was spent for hospital equipment and supplies of various kinds; in addition to this, large shipments were received from New York.
An important part of the work in this camp was the supplying of ice for the purpose of cooling the drinking water. The cost of this ice, $6000, was met by Auxiliary No. 10.
The milk bills averaged $500 a week.
When the Recuperating Hospital was opened at Pablo Beach, the Red Cross, at the request of the chief surgeon, supplied 250 sets of dishes, with a complete outfit of pitchers, trays, buckets, etc.
The several heads of divisional hospitals have said to the agent again and again, “The hospitals never could have equipped themselves. They would have broken down utterly without the aid of the Red Cross.”
Camp Thomas, Chickamauga, Ga.
Field Agent, E.C. Smith.
“No array of mere numerals written to express dollars, or tables of figures standing for quantities, could, in comprehensive sense, tell the story of the Red Cross work at Chickamauga in 1898. The record is written indelibly in the hearts of thousands of soldiers who were stricken with disease on this battlefield, and the story has been told at quiet firesides in every State of the Union.” Here in Chickamauga men fell from the ranks day after day, and were carried helpless to the regimental, division, corps and general hospitals, stricken by an unseen foe. It was at these hospitals that the Red Cross sent supplies of all kinds, medical and surgical, clothing, bedding, delicacies, etc. The agent, Mr. Smith, was told to supply everything needed, regardless of cost. Milk and ice were the chief requisites, and all the surrounding farming country was called upon to supply the milk, some of it coming as far as Biltmore, N.C. The agent ascertained the necessities of the sick through the best official sources, and without delay the necessities were supplied.
Mr. Smith was stricken at his post with typhoid, but is now convalescent.
Washington, D.C.
Headquarters for Camp Alger, Point Sheridan, Va., Washington Barracks Post Hospital, Camp Bristow, Fort Meyer, Fortress Monroe. B.H. Warner, Agent and Chairman Executive Committee of Red Cross at Washington.
By this branch of the Red Cross a large part of the work in camps was undertaken. A meeting was called on June 21, at which a large number of citizens met, and an Executive Committee was formed to carry on the relief work at these different posts.
Captain George C. Lewis was the representative of the committee at Camp Alger. He was constantly on duty there, seeing that supplies were furnished and all possible relief extended—mattresses, pillows, sheets, pillow cases, mosquito bars, night shirts, pajamas, handkerchiefs, underclothing, medicines, groceries and delicacies were supplied in large quantities to this camp.
Point Sheridan was visited by Mrs. Mussey, a member of the Committee. It was found that they were suffering for supplies of all kinds, but especially for medicines, which had been ordered a month before, but had not been received. Proper medicines were delivered by the Red Cross within twenty-four hours, and other necessities were supplied, large shipments being also sent from New York.
When the Washington Barracks was made a post hospital, the Red Cross supplied daily 800 pounds of ice, 5 gallons chicken soup, 30 gallons of milk, 20 pounds of butter and 2 crates of eggs weekly. Also furnished 1200 suits underwear, several hundred suits of pajamas, several hundred pairs socks, and slippers, 500 towels, medicines, antiseptic dressings, etc. The work at this point closed October 8.
The Secretary of War gave authority for the establishment of diet kitchens, in the camps near Washington, and Mrs. Mussey was given general charge of this special work. A diet kitchen was established at Camp Bristow, one at the hospital at the Washington Barracks and at Fort Meyer.
The government had voluntarily paid for meat, chicken and milk, leaving the committee only bills for groceries and wages of employees.
Dr. Green rendered such efficient service that she has been employed by the government to establish diet kitchens at other points.
“Physicians, nurses and patients unite in saying the aid they secured from the work was of inestimable value.”
To Fortress Monroe supplies were sent one day after they were called for, consisting in part of 500 suits pajamas, 25 pairs crutches, 200 pairs slippers, 350 yards rubber sheeting, large quantities antiseptic dressings, 60 gallons whiskey and brandy, 200 cans soups, basins, pitchers, dishes, etc.
Arrangements were also made at this point for supplying ice for the use of the troops on board the transports going South, and also for the sick on their journey North.
The branch of work undertaken by this committee, which was the most difficult to conduct, was in looking after the sick soldiers who passed through the city. Soldiers from almost forty different regiments were fed and cared for when ill. In all, about 40,000 men. The War Department paid for the bread used in this branch of the work. All bills for ice, and ice chests provided by this committee, were paid for by Auxiliary No. 10.
“It is gratifying to be able to state that whatever view the surgeons and other officers may have had as to the need of the Red Cross at the beginning of the war, at the close they joined with the private soldier in testifying to its wonderful and efficient work.”
Yacht “Red Cross.”
The yacht “Red Cross” was bought by the Relief Committee, to be used by Miss Barton as headquarters during her stay in Cuba. The yacht sailed from New York for Key West on June 30, laden with twenty-five tons of surgical and medical supplies, and with five doctors, arriving at Key West on July 10. From Key West the yacht sailed for Santiago on July 16. She ran into a storm, and was so badly damaged she had to put back to Key West for repairs. It was found impossible to repair her there, so the medical supplies were transferred to a transport sailing for Cuba, and the “Red Cross” returned to New York, arriving August 4.
In three or four days she was in order again, and took on board a cargo of supplies for Camp Wikoff. She was then offered to the government to transfer patients from the general hospitals at Camp Wikoff to the hospitals in New York, New Haven, and adjacent cities, where the soldiers could receive better shelter and care. The yacht was comfortably fitted out, and made twenty-eight trips, carrying in all 449 sick men. During these trips she carried a doctor and three trained nurses to care for the sick, and often the relatives and friends of the soldiers were allowed to accompany those whom they had been to find at Camp Wikoff.
Camp Wikoff, Montauk Point, L.I.
Field Agent, Mr. Howard Townsend.
It is difficult indeed, in giving extracts of this report, to present any idea of the great work accomplished here. Mr. Townsend visited the camp on August 8, and, after returning to New York to report to the Relief Committee, went to Montauk on the 10th to open “headquarters.” The first, and in some respects the most important work was the delivery of a daily supply of water for the troops. Ten thousand gallons of hygeia water were delivered to the government, and four tank cars were brought daily from Jamaica with fresh spring water. This work ceased when the great well was finished. To the general hospital such supplies were furnished as were rendered necessary by the confusion and hurry of the first weeks, indeed a large part of the articles necessary for a hospital were placed in the wards a few hours after the need was discovered.
We supplied but few delicacies to the hospital after it was in running order. Oranges and lemons, were, however, supplied at the rate of 1000 a day, and 200 gallons of milk were furnished, until, by order of Secretary Alger, the government furnished 2000 gallons of milk a day to the hospitals and troops. The detention hospital we also kept abundantly supplied with delicacies, and often with necessities.
The regimental hospitals were found to be in great need of equipment and food suitable for the sick, and to this part of the work Dr. Geo. E. Brewer and Mr. Samuel Parrish devoted themselves, making daily visits to the regiments, and assisting the regimental surgeons in their discouraging work.
Auxiliary No. 3 sent a dietary expert, Mrs. Willard, to the camp to establish diet kitchens, and with the aid of Mr. Prescott, of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Society they were established in connection with the various hospitals, and such satisfactory results were worked out that the government agreed to pay all the expenses.
The feeding of all the sick and half-starved men who arrived from Cuba on the transports was undertaken by Dr. and Mrs. Valentine Mott, while Dr. Magruder, chief quarantine officer, exerted himself admirably in Red Cross work, carrying continually stores of Red Cross delicacies to those ships which were in quarantine and suffering for lack of food.
At the railroad station, the men leaving on sick furlough frequently collapsed, and here the government erected two tents for the Red Cross, and Miss Martha L. Draper was asked to take charge. The men were fed with milk, and when necessary given a few ounces of whiskey to enable them to continue their journey. Those who were unable to take the train were kept in the tents over night, which sheltered at times as many as twenty sick men! A great effort was made to answer all the inquiries from relatives of the missing soldiers. Few can realize the number of letters and telegrams received each day from all parts of the country.
“Owing to the recognition given to the Red Cross agent by Major-General Young when the camp was first begun, the Red Cross was able to enter into a far broader sphere of usefulness than would otherwise have been possible.”
The following list is given of articles furnished by the Red Cross, to show in what quantities the supplies were used:
| Equipped cots | 1,523 |
| Suits underwear | 4,948 |
| Pairs of socks | 4,322 |
| Night shirts | 4,322 |
| Pajamas | 4,733 |
| Comfort bags | 1,511 |
| Sheets | 2,471 |
| Pillow cases | 2,536 |
| Handkerchiefs | 10,946 |
| Pairs of slippers | 2,423 |
| Towels | 6,554 |
| Pillows | 800 |
| Blankets | 929 |
| Cocoa | 1,440 |
| Soups (cans) | 10,344 |
| Lactated food (bottles) | 3,456 |
| Beef extract | 1,224 |
In all, 178 different articles were furnished, and many of them in as large, some in even larger numbers than these given.
Red Cross Relief Station, Long Island City.
Mrs. Hammond in charge.
The Red Cross Relief Station was opened on August 29th. The building which was directly opposite the railroad station, and in every way most admirably adapted to the work, was offered to the Society by Patrick J. Gleason, ex-Mayor of Long Island City. On the second and third floors of this building, cots were erected, diet kitchens were started, a corps of servants employed, and in a day or two everything was in readiness. All the trains arriving from Montauk were met and the men assisted to the Red Cross Relief Station, where they were all fed. Many men were too ill to continue on their journey and were kept at the “Emergency Hospital,” or sent to hospitals in New York and Brooklyn. The work, in a day or two, assumed such large proportions that cots were erected on the first floor, and the Information and Business offices were in a tent in front of the building. Even this proved inadequate, and fifteen tents were erected, each holding six cots.
Competent trained nurses were on duty, supplied by Auxiliary No. 3.
Two ambulances were supplied by Auxiliary No 1.
Clothing and delicacies of all kinds were dispensed in large quantities.
Over fourteen thousand men were fed, and about $7000 was spent in carrying on this work.
From the reports of the physicians in charge we can safely say that for the first two weeks 75 per cent of all that came in were sick, needing care and medical attention, the third week about 50 per cent, and the fourth week about 25 per cent.
It was due to the untiring enthusiasm of the women interested in the relief work that the society was able to carry it on so successfully.
THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARIES OF THE RED CROSS.
By special authority from the American National Red Cross, these auxiliaries were organized under the auspices of the Relief Committee in New York, acting in conjunction with the Executive Committee of the Red Cross. Therefore, full reports of what they have accomplished have not been sent direct to the national headquarters. Among the woman’s auxiliaries it was the custom for each to organize for some special work, and devote their entire attention to it. It is a pleasure to be able to insert here, as an example of the manner in which these loyal women did their part in the work of war relief, the following from the report of Auxiliary No. 3, organized for the maintenance of trained nurses:
From the Report of Red Cross Auxiliary No. 3.
At the request of the Women’s Committee on Auxiliaries, this auxiliary was organized on May 18, 1898, to provide funds for the maintenance of trained nurses. It was the original intention that these nurses should be placed on a hospital ship to be furnished by the National Relief Committee. It was not long, however, before this plan of specialized work was abandoned by the Relief Committee, and the Executive Committee of the auxiliary adapted itself to the change, by using its funds and devoting its energies in supplying and maintaining trained nurses in army hospitals, where, owing to the suddenness and greatness of the emergency, the supply and maintenance of an adequate number of nurses were not in the government’s power. This form of work was begun early in July, and on the 19th of that month was, with the concurrence of the Relief Committee, finally adopted as the chief purpose of the auxiliary. It is hoped that some estimate of the success achieved may be gained from this report.
Immediately on its organization, the important work of raising money was 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.
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.
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 becertain 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.
One of the largest fields of the auxiliary’s activity was at 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.
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.
Strange to say, so sensational had the tone of our press become, so warped the judgment, so vitiated the taste of its readers, that in the hurried scramble between headlines and the waste basket they failed to discriminate between this announcement of clear, true official relations on the part of a government, with a body which it held sufficiently responsible to deal with officially, and the sensational guess of some representative of the press.
It will seem a little singular to any one who should ever take the time to coolly read this account (if such there be), that in response to this announcement not one dollar or one pound ever came or was offered, and the cry for “starving Cuba” still went on as if no door had been opened. Had the nation gone mad, or what had happened to it?
Societies of women were formed to raise money; among these the most notable, influential and worthy ladies in American society. They labored, instant in season and out of season, with small results; perfectly unable to comprehend their want of success.
I think that dear Mrs. Thurston, one of their most ardent members, came to comprehend it a little by the strong, prophetic words she spoke to me as months later in Havana our carriages rattled and thundered over rocky streets from one hospital of death to another. And this only comparatively a few hours before the cruel, restless sea surged out of that worn, frail body the soul that glowed with the flame of humanity, justice and pity to the last.
This state of things continued through the year of 1897, but as the present year of ’98 opened the reports of suffering that came were not to be borne quietly, and I decided to confer with our government and learn if it had objections to the Red Cross taking steps of its own in direct touch with the people of the country, and proposing their co-operation in the work of relief. I beg pardon for the personality of the statement which follows, but it is history I am asked to write:
Deciding to refer my inquiry to the Secretary of State, I called at his department to see him, but learned that he was with the President. This suiting my purpose, I followed to the Executive Mansion, was kindly informed that the President and Secretary were engaged on a very important matter and had given orders not to be interrupted. As I turned to leave I was recalled with, “Wait a moment, Miss Barton, and let me present your card.” Returning immediately, I entered the President’s room to find these two men in a perplexed study over the very matter which had called me. Distressed by the reports of the terrible condition of things so near to us, they were seeking some remedy, and producing their notes just taken revealed the fact that they had decided to call me into conference.
WRECK OF THE BATTLESHIP “MAINE,” HAVANA HARBOR.
THE PRADO—PRINCIPAL STREET IN HAVANA.
The conference was then held. It was decided to form a committee in New York, to ask money and material of the people at large to be shipped to Cuba for the relief of the reconcentrados on that island. The call would be made in the name of the President, and the committee naturally known as the “President’s Committee for Cuban Relief.” I was courteously asked if I would go to New York and assume the oversight of that committee. I declined in favor of Mr. Stephen E. Barton, second vice-president of the National Red Cross, who, on being immediately called, accepted; and with Mr. Charles Schieren as treasurer and Mr. Louis Klopsch, of the Christian Herald, as the third member, the committee was at once. established; since known as the Central Cuban Relief Committee.
The committee was to solicit aid in money and material for the suffering reconcentrados in Cuba, and forward the same to the Consul-General at Havana for distribution. My consent was then asked by all parties to go to Cuba and aid in the distribution of the shipments of food as they should arrive. After all I had so long offered, I could not decline, and hoping my going would not be misunderstood by our authorities there, who would regard me simply as a willing assistant, I accepted. The Consul-General had asked the New York Committee to send to him an assistant to take charge of the warehouse and supplies in Havana. This request was also referred to me, and recommending Mr. J.K. Elwell, nephew of General J.J. Elwell, of Cleveland, Ohio, a gentleman who had resided six years in Santiago in connection with its large shipping interests, a fine business man and speaking Spanish, I decided to accompany him, taking no member of my own staff, but going simply in the capacity of an individual helper in a work already assigned.
On Saturday, February 6, we left Washington for Cuba via Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West.
Thus, with that simple beginning, with no thought on the part of any person but to do unobtrusively the little that could be done for the lessening of the woes of a small island of people, whom adverse circumstances, racial differences, the inevitable results of a struggle for freedom, the fate of war, and the terrible features of a system of subjugation of a people, which, if true, is too dark to name, was commenced the relief movement of 1898 which has spread not alone over the entire United States of America from Maine to California, from Vancouver to the Gulf of Mexico, but from the Indias on the west, to the Indias on the east, and uniting in its free-will offerings the gifts of one-third of the best nations in the world.
HAVANA.
“We reached Havana February 9, five weeks ago, and in all the newness of a strange country, with oriental customs, commenced our work.”
The above entry I find in my diary. In speaking of conditions as found, let me pray that no word shall be taken as a criticism upon any person or people. Dreadful as these conditions were, and rife as hunger, starvation and death were on every hand, we were constantly amazed at the continued charities as manifested in the cities, and small, poor villages of a people so over-run with numbers, want and woe for months, running into years; with all business, all remuneration, all income stopped, killed as dead as the poor, stark forms around them, it was wonderful that they still kept up their organizations, municipal and religious, and gave not of their abundance, but of their penury; that still a little ration of food went out to the dens of woe. That the wardrobe was again and again parceled out; that the famishing mother divided her little morsel with another mother’s hungry child; that two men sat down to one crust, and that the Spanish soldier shared, as often seen, the loaf—his own half ration—with the eager-eyed skeleton reconcentrado, watching him as he ate. In another instance the recognition might have been less kind it is true, for war is war, and all humanity are not humane.
The work was commenced in earnest. I still turn the pages of the diary, which says: “We were called on deck to look at Morro Castle, which, grim and dark in the bright morning sunlight, skirts the bay like a frowning ogre.”
We were met at the dock and driven to Hotel Inglaterra, where letters of welcome awaited us. After paying our official respects, our first business was to meet the committees appointed for the distribution of food. We found them pleasant gentlemen. We were notified of the arrival of the steamship “Vigilancia,” with fifty tons of supplies, sent by the New York Committee; took carriage and drove to the dock. It was a glad sight to see her anchors dropping down into the soil of that starved spot of the earth. We boarded her, met the gentlemanly officers, and saw the goods being put on the lighters. This was the largest quantity of supplies that had yet arrived by any one steamship. In returning to land, we threaded our way through the transports and yachts—among the latter the “New York Journal,” that had just taken Julian Hawthorne across from Key West—and grandest of all, the polished, shining battleship “Maine.” She towered above them like a monarch, or rather like an elegant visitor whom all the household felt bound to respect. On landing, we resumed our carriage and drove to Los Fosos, a large, long building filled with reconcentrados,—over four hundred women and children in the most pitiable condition possible for human beings to be in, and live; and they did not live, for the death record counted them out a dozen or more every twenty-four hours, and the grim, terrible pile of rude black coffins that confronted one at the very doorway, told to each famishing applicant on her entrance what her exit was likely to be.
We went from room to room, each filled to repletion—not a dozen beds in all. Some of the inmates could walk, as many could not,—lying on the floors in their filth—some mere skeletons; others swollen out of all human shape. Death-pallid mothers, lying with glazing eyes, and a famishing babe clutching at a milkless breast. Let me attempt no further description. The massacres of Armenia seemed merciful in comparison.
We went our rounds, and sought the open air; drove to another building of like character, but in a little better condition—one hundred and fifty-six inmates. These persons had been recommended by someone, who paid a little for each, and thus kept them from daily starvation. From here to the third building (the Casino), of about an equal number, still a little better off.
From here to the fourth building (La Yocabo)—two hundred and fifty persons, the best of the reconcentrados. The sisters of charity had recently taken hold of these, and cleanliness and order commenced to appear. The children had books, were being taught, and rooms were fitted out for some kind of industrial training. This place seemed like heaven in comparison.
From here to the fifth building, a distributing house, where American rations were given out on Sundays to great crowds of people who thronged the streets.
This finished, we drove to our warehouse, the San Jose, where our supplies were stored. Here was what remained of the several shipments which had preceeded us, the result of the tireless and well directed efforts of the New York Committee, only so recently established, and so new in its work. Possibly three hundred tons of flour, meal, rice, potatoes, canned meat, fruit, bacon, lard, condensed and malted milk, quinine, some of which had come by the first shipment, showing how difficult the distribution had been found to be; and it was not strange that a “warehouse man” had been asked for by the Consul General. Surely Mr. Elwell had not a sinecure.
Somehow the report got abroad that we had brought money for distribution, and a thousand people thronged the hotel.
We found among our supplies large quantities of flour, and the people had no way of cooking it. There are no ovens in these oriental countries except those of the baker. Consequently only he could make bread of flour. We found a baker with whom we arranged to take our flour and return bread in its place at a fair percentage.
“The Consul General has named a desire to have an orphanage created, and asked of me to find a building, and establish such an institution. I commence a search among the apparently suitable buildings of the town, but regretting always that I have not his knowledge of the city and its belongings. Up to this time the search, although vigilant, has been fruitless. Still there are only three days of it all since our arrival, and to-morrow will be Sunday.”
This hopeful entry ended the first half week of life in Cuban relief. Up to this moment no American food had ever entered Los Fosos, as the institution was under Spanish military and municipal direction. How to get our distributors into proper and peaceful aid there, if not into control, was a politic question.
The diary continues: “That Sunday morning, fine, clear and warm, brought three matters of interest to our attention:
“First. An interview with a householder concerning the orphanage—unsuccessful.
“Second. The visiting of all the various points, some nine in number, where American food would be distributed for the coming week to the waiting thousands and—
“Third. A bull fight.”
One would feel something of the same dread in attempting to describe these gathering moving masses of starving humanity as in picturing the “still life” of Los Fosos. The children of three and four years old often could not walk and the mother was too weak to carry the burden, and they fell in a heap among the crowd.
The food was distributed by tickets, suited to the family and put up in paper bags, for few had any vessel to get it in.
At the first place of distribution there were 1000 fed; at the second, 1300; at the third, 2200, and so on—some larger, some less. At one of the larger distributions, when about half served, it was announced that there was no more food and the people were directed to disperse. We inquired the cause and were told there were no more American supplies in Havana—that they had been so informed. We could not persuade them that they had been misinformed, that there was plenty of food in the warehouse, but we did succeed in having the disappointed, hungry hundreds called back and told to come again next day and get their food. We never knew how the mistake occurred, but were more than ever convinced that some systematic work must be instituted among the constantly arriving supplies at the warehouse. The task had all along been too great. The next morning took us with proper assistants to San Jose, when a systematic inventory of stock as per each shipment was instituted. At 3.30 p.m. our work was interrupted. A cordial invitation from Captain Sigsbee to visit the “Maine” that afternoon had been received. His launch courteously came for us; his officers received us; his crew, strong, ruddy and bright, went through their drill for our entertainment, and the lunch at those polished tables, off glittering china and cut glass, with the social guests around, will remain ever in my memory as a vision of the “Last Supper.”
The next day took us again to the warehouse. I cannot refrain from taking the liberty of mentioning my most distinguished volunteer assistant, General Ross, a general in our Civil War and the uncle of Commissioner Ross, of Washington, D.C. Being in Havana on a passing tour, and perceiving the need, he volunteered freely to do the work which he had once commanded his under officers to direct their private soldiers to do. It was most intelligent help.
While passing quickly among the rows of barrels, with dress pinned back, a letter of introduction from the Consul-General was handed to me by a manly, polished-mannered gentleman, on whose playful features there mingled a look of amused surprise, with a tinge of well-covered roguishness and complacency, that bespoke the cultured man of the world. The note, addressed to my hotel, said that the Consul took pleasure in introducing to me Mr. William Willard Howard, of New York. Although never having met we were by no means strangers. He had worked on the Eastern fields of Armenia in the hard province of Van, while I was in Constantinople, and our expeditions in the great centre districts of Harpoot and Diarbeker. He evidently felt that the surroundings were a little rough and unexpected for a first meeting, but collecting himself, at once rallied me with the grand opportunity I was affording him for a sensational letter to the States, with a cartoon of the president of the American National Red Cross in a Cuban warehouse, with dress pinned back, “opening boxes.” He admitted that the latter stroke of the picture was a little stretch of imagination, but he hoped it might realize, as he really wanted it for his cartoon. After a few moments of pleasant badinage he left, under pretext of not hindering me in my favorite occupation of “opening boxes.”
The next day I was detained at home by an accumulation of clerical work and heavy mails to be gotten off (I had as yet no clerk), but on the return of the men at night they reported a marvelous day’s work. That Mr. Howard had come early in the morning, thrown off his coat, and, calling for a box opener, had opened boxes all day. They had never seen a better day’s work. A messenger was immediately dispatched to his hotel, inviting Mr. Howard to come and dine with us. From that time on, during his stay, he continued to dine with us. We compared methods of relief work with the experiences we had gained, and when we separated it was with the feeling on my part that any work of relief would be a gainer that could enlist men of such views, experience and capacity as Mr. Howard in its ranks.
The heavy clerical work of that fifteenth day of February held not only myself but Mr. Elwell as well, busy at our writing tables until late at night. The house had grown still; the noises on the streets were dying away, when suddenly the table shook from under our hands, the great glass door opening onto the veranda, facing the sea, flew open; everything in the room was in motion or out of place—the deafening roar of such a burst of thunder as perhaps one never heard before, and off to the right, out over the bay, the air was filled with a blaze of light, and this in turn filled with black specks like huge spectres flying in all directions. Then it faded away. The bells rang; the whistles blew, and voices in the street were heard for a moment; then all was quiet again. I supposed it to be the bursting of some mammoth mortar, or explosion of some magazine. A few hours later came the terrible news of the “Maine.”
Mr. Elwell was early among the wreckage, and returned to give me news.
The diary goes on. “She is destroyed. There is no room for comment, only who is lost, who has escaped, and what can be done for them? They tell us that most of the officers were dining out, and thus saved; that Captain Sigsbee is saved. It is thought that 250 men are lost, that one hundred are wounded, but still living, some in hospital, some on small boats as picked up. The Chief Engineer, a quiet, resolute man, and the second officer met me as I passed out of the hotel for the hospital. The latter stopped me saying, ‘Miss Barton, do you remember you told me on board the “Maine” that the Red Cross was at our service; for whenever anything took place with that ship, either in naval action or otherwise, someone would be hurt; that she was not of a structure to take misfortune lightly?’ I recalled the conversation and the impression which led to it,—such strength would never go out easily.
“We proceeded to the Spanish hospital San Ambrosia, to find thirty to forty wounded—bruised, cut, burned; they had been crushed by timbers, cut by iron, scorched by fire, and blown sometimes high in the air, sometimes driven down through the red hot furnace room and out into the water, senseless, to be picked up by some boat and gotten ashore. Their wounds are all over them—heads and faces terribly cut, internal wounds, arms, legs, feet and hands burned to the live flesh. The hair and beards are singed, showing that the burns were from fire and not steam; besides further evidence shows that the burns are where the parts were uncovered. If burned by steam, the clothing would have held the steam and burned all the deeper. As it is, it protected from the heat and the fire and saved their limbs, whilst the faces, hands, and arms are terribly burned. Both men and officers are very reticent in regard to the cause, but all declare it could not have been the result of an internal explosion. That the boilers were at the two ends of the ship, and these were the places from which all escaped, who did escape. The trouble was evidently from the center of the ship, where no explosive machinery was located.
“I thought to take the names as I passed among them, and drawing near to the first in the long line, I asked his name. He gave it with his address; then peering out from among the bandages and cotton about his breast and face, he looked earnestly at me and asked: ‘Isn’t this Miss Barton?‘ ‘Yes.’ ‘I thought it must be. I knew you were here, and thought you would come to us. I am so thankful for us all.’
“I asked if he wanted anything. ‘Yes. There is a lady to whom I was to be married. The time is up. She will be frantic if she hears of this accident and nothing more. Could you telegraph her?’ ‘Certainly!’ The dispatch went at once: ‘Wounded, but saved.’ Alas, it was only for a little; two days later, and it was all over.
“I passed on from one to another, till twelve had been spoken to and the names taken. There were only two of the number who did not recognize me. Their expressions of grateful thanks, spoken under such conditions, were too much. I passed the pencil to another hand and stepped aside.”
I am glad to say that every kindness was extended to them. Miss Mary Wilberforce had been at once installed as nurse, and faithful work she performed. The Spanish hospital attendants were tireless in their attentions. Still, there was boundless room for luxuries and comforts, delicate foods, grapes, oranges, wines, cordials, anything that could soothe or interest; and no opportunity was lost, nor cost nor pains spared, and when two days later the streets filled with hearses bearing reverently the bodies of martyred heroes; and the crape and the flowers mingled in their tributes of tenderness and beauty, and the muffled drums and tolling bells spoke all that inanimate substance could speak of sorrow and respect; and the silent, marching tread of armies fell upon the listening ear,—the heart grew sick in the midst of all this pageant, and the thoughts turned away to the far land, smitten with horror, and the homes wailing in bitter grief for these, so lone, so lost; and one saw only the:
Nodding plumes over their bier to wave,
And God’s own hand in that lonely land
To lay them in their grave.
We were still in hotel—excellent of course—but a home should be made for the body of assistants it was by this time proposed to send for. I remembered the visit of a lady—one among the hundreds who called the day before—and who impressed me as being no ordinary person. She had the air of genuine nobility and high birth. I had retained her card:
Senora J.S. Jorrin,
528 del Cerro.
It would be certain I thought that this lady knew something of suitable homes; and we drove to her residence next day, to find one of the loveliest villas in the city, surrounded by gardens, fountains, flowers, baths, a little river rushing through the garden, palms, bananas, cocoanuts, all growing luxuriantly. This was the home of Senora Jorrin, given her as a wedding gift many years before by her husband, a man of great power in the island, and who had three times represented Cuba in the Senate of Madrid. Three months before he had died on a visit to New York. La Senora was alone with her retinue of servants, and waiting to make some suitable disposition of her mansion, in order to join her only daughter residing in America.
The desired disposition was quickly made, and in the next day or two we were safely installed in our new home, with Senora as honorary hostess, to the delight and advantage of all. This pleasant arrangement has never been interrupted, and is the origin of the charming Red Cross headquarters at Cerro, that all our friends and visitors recall with such admiration. I might be pardoned for adding that Senora Jorrin, who was early called to Washington by the sudden death of her beautiful and only daughter, has remained with her grandchildren, and we have continued such loving care as we were able to extend over her palatial home from that time to the present.
The diary now makes the following notes, which I remember to have once copied in a letter to some periodical which perhaps published it. I never knew; but will venture to reproduce it here, as the description of the first visit made to any point of the country outside of Havana.
We were overborne by requests to visit towns and villages filled with suffering and death. The notes run: