Dr. H. P. MacPherson, President of the University, took the matter up direct with the Government of Canada, and in April, 1916, authority was given for the acceptance of No. 9 Canadian Stationary Hospital from St. Francis Xavier.
LIEUT.-COL. R. C. M‘LEOD.
This announcement was received with great enthusiasm, and it was decided not to send the Unit away empty-handed. A subscription list was opened and friends of the University were given an opportunity to subscribe to a fund to provide for some special equipment and to organize a band. The response was most generous, and in a very short time an ample amount of money was secured. Besides private subscriptions, liberal donations were received from the Red Cross, Daughters of the Empire, Knights of Columbus and other societies.
Busy days followed in selecting the personnel and organizing the Unit. No recruiting campaign was necessary. The loyal sons of St. Francis and daughters of Antigonish, and many others everywhere, were offering their services. As the brokers would say: “The stock was over-subscribed.” And it was a matter of selection.
The command was given to Lieut.-Col. Roderick C. McLeod, who had already enlisted in the C.E.F. and was daily expecting orders to proceed Overseas. Colonel McLeod was a graduate of St. Francis Xavier and had attained a wide reputation as a successful medical practitioner of North Sydney. He was a man of a most genial personality and beloved by all who knew him. His appointment to the command of this Unit was hailed with universal satisfaction.
Colonel McLeod was assisted in the work of organization by Major H. E. Kendall as second in command, an outstanding surgeon of Cape Breton; and Major J. S. Carruthers, an energetic Militia officer, was appointed adjutant.
The enthusiasm among nurses for service in this Unit was remarkable. Applications poured in from every Province in Canada and from many parts of the United States, by mail and telegraph. Miss S. C. MacIsaac, a graduate of Mt. St. Bernard Convent, of Antigonish, was chosen as Matron. Miss MacIsaac was trained as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Glace Bay, in which institution she had charge of the operating room for three years. She had taken a post-graduate course at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, and when war broke out she was Assistant Matron at Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco. Miss MacIsaac therefore came to her new, important and strenuous post well qualified.
The organization of the Unit was completed at the University Town of Antigonish, the seat of the mother College, St. Francis Xavier. The college authorities and citizens of Antigonish vied with each other in extending an enthusiastic reception to the volunteers as they came, and everything was done to make their stay pleasant.
Orders were issued from headquarters for the Unit to mobilize at Halifax in the spring of 1916. The officers took the C.A.M.C. Training Course at Cogswell Street Military Hospital, and the nursing sisters were also posted there, and faithful work was done in a general course of preliminary training.