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.”