The tender of the services of the American National Red Cross, made to this department through the Department of State under date of May 25, 1898, for medical and hospital work as auxiliary to the hospital service of the navy of the United States, is accepted; all representatives and employes of said organization to be subject to orders according to the rules and discipline of war.
Very respectfully,
Chas. H. Allen,
Acting Secretary.
In the meantime, war was officially proclaimed, and the President had issued his call for volunteers. As the troops responded to the call, they were assembled in camps in various sections of the country, principally in Washington, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, Jacksonville, Tampa and Port Tampa in Florida. Soon after the formation of the camps it became evident that the auxiliary service of the Red Cross would be necessary in caring for the men, and a formal tender of such service was made to the government by Mr. George Kennan, first vice-president of the American National Red Cross, to which the following reply was received:
War Department,
June 8, 1898.
Dear Sir: I have, by your reference, the letter of this date from Mr. George Kennan, of the American National Red Cross, and see no objection whatsoever to their establishing a station in every military camp for the purpose indicated in their letter. Instructions have been issued by me to-day to the surgeon general, who will communicate this information to the chief surgeons of the camps.
Very truly yours,
R.A. Alger,
Secretary of War.
Hon. John Addison Porter,
Secretary to the President.
Acting upon this acceptance, the executive committee, of which Mr. Stephen E. Barton was the chairman, appointed and sent to each camp an agent, to represent the Red Cross in the field. These representatives were instructed to report to the respective medical officers of the army in charge, to make, personally, a formal tender of assistance, and to ascertain if the Red Cross could be of service, by furnishing quickly any medical and hospital supplies of which the camps might be in need.
It is perhaps proper to state here, as a matter of history, that while these field agents were always most courteously received, in many instances the auxiliary services of the Red Cross were not at first welcomed by the medical officers of the army. Indeed it often happened that the assistance, of which the hospital service of the army was apparently in need, was not accepted until after its efficiency was seriously diminished by reason of delay.
The reluctance to permit the people, through the Red Cross, to assist in ministering to the comforts of the men, did not generally seem to arise from personal objection on the part of the medical officers at the camps, but from an apparent fear, whether well founded or not, that immediate acceptance of assistance would result in official censure and disapproval.