The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 16, 1903, Page 12

THE SUNDAY CALL. Thrilling and Pa- thetlc Anecdotes N June Hami} - 1 1862," says Mrs. Margaret national president A. services were accept- by Sccretary of War Stanton ed as army nurse for Batterlee United States General Hospital, West Philadelphia Dr. Isaac L. Hay: the Arctic explorer, was the surgeon in charge. Our first patients were from the Chickahominy swamps. Dozens of poor fellows were taken from the ambulances d when they reached the hospital, and ndreds died the following weeks, battie of the Wilderness in 1864 s thousands of sick and wound- , and again smallpox broke out and in I was detailed to care for them. tain Jack Crawford of Western fame was In the hospital at this time and will forever sing the praises of the nurses of the Satterlee Hospital. ter the battle we received a large umber of wounded, and among them was 1 young woman not more than 20 years of O URSES FAMOUS ON in the company showed more bravery than she. A few weeks later she was honorably discharged and returned to her home." s s e “The strangest sight T ever witnessed,” rald Miss ‘““Hal" Sharpless, who began ber service under fire in 1862 and kept it up through Fredericksburg, Bull Run, Antfetam, the Wilderness and the siege of Richmond, and who had charge of the bospital steamer Connecticut until 1865, “‘was the ressurection of a little boy shot in front of Petersburg. He was wrapped in his blanket and c ed to his grave, rri when he opened his eves and was ready to say, with Daniel Wel ‘[ still live, We took him to the Armory Square Hos- pital at Washington, where for six months he lay on a water bed ‘with his leg suspended. His thigh was shattered and he was too weak to stand amputa- tion, When he left for his home on crutc his colonel gave me a sword to take him to return to the Governor of battle of Fredericksburg,” sayvs Mrs Lydia L. Whiteman, who won such ex- ceptional honors from Dorothy Dix for her service on the battleflelds of Bull Run, Antietam, Sharpsburg and the Seven Days' battle, “laj a man, all crumpled up. They told me he was dead, but on looking at him closely I said: ** ‘Oh, no; put him In the ambulance. “It was only upon my earnest insis ence that they complied and took him to the improvised hospital just outside of the city. That man was Colonel Baxter, who is well known to Philadelphians. I can never drive from my mind the haunt- ing thought of what might have happened had T let the orderlics leave him on the field." ok 8 “In the spring of 1865, says Mrs. Fan- nle Titus Hazen, who followed her thres brothers to the front and lost two of them at Spottsylvania, “we had Sergeant EN Hudson of Sheshequin. Pa., a vet- eran volunteer, having served over four years, who wounded in the left knee. please let him have ive,’ I “ “Phen, doctor, what he wants while he does asked. “*I give him Titus,’ he answered. for him.’ “The bandages which he complained hurt him were at once removed, and as soon as the rest of the patients were cared for I went out and bought a head of cabbage, as he had begged for some- thing green, if only ‘boiled grass.' When the cabbage was cooked I carried him some, with cider vinegar, and fed him. He ate all on the plate, asked for more, into your hands, Mise ‘Do what you please and still more, until he had eaten the whole cabbax In a month he was well.” i - “While at the Baltimore hospital I had a strange case,” says Mrs. Jane M. Wor. rall, who enlisted with the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers when her hus- band was made a prisoner by the rebels. *“The surgeon sald he had never wit- nessed anything like it. A Confederate age. She ranked as lleutenant thelr ftate, who had presented it to the ) ¢rer gveral months in the hospital he boy, only 16 years old and very ignerant wounded In the shoulder, he regiment when it started to the front. pegan to fail rapidly. He could retain as far as book learning was concerned, not discovered u she came to our hos- i name, I think,~ was Lieutenant jothing on his stomach, even cold water was brought to my ward after a field op- vital. Jt appeared that she had followed Beale." causing & hemorrhage. One morning the eration. He had lockjaw and his doom her lover to the battle, and the boys who - SR i doctor told me he could live but a few was sealed. All I could do was to wet a were brought in with her sald that no one “On & mound under a tree after the days at the longest. piece of linen and lay it across his mouth Bel d Mini ing Angel | eloved as Ministering Angels of the Great War. F the complete story could be told of the devotion and suffering, of the pri- vations and heroic sacrifices of all the brave women who nursed the wound- ed and the dying on both sides in the conflict between the North and South it would be one of the grandest, most narratives ever penned. Even when recorded In brief their careers bloody sublime speak volumes for the dangers they braved to minister with gentle hands and loving care, Mrs. Mary L. Bradley was commission- 1 T Randall of Wisconsin in with the Army of the ler Dorothy Dix without y until 1865, with a furlough of only ne month to allow her to get married. mily E. Woodley, past national of the A. A. N., was a nurse war, who received her first aptism on the field at the first and sec- ond battles of Fredericksburg, where she says slept on the ground, with the sky canopy and God for our com- fort.” She served till 1865. Mrs. Susannah Krip, vice president of the A. A. N., enlisted in 1863 and served with the Second Pennsylvania, Heavy Artillery, through all its hardships until 1565, with a furlough of only fifteen days tn all that time. Because she would not let any one else nurse her wounded soldier husband in 1861, Mrs. Elizabeth Nicholls was obliged to follow the One Hundred and Eleventh New York Infantry into battle and so at Gettysburg became a regular army nurse, Leaving her only child to be cared for by others, Mrs. Elizabeth O. Gibson en- listed as & nurse in 1861 and followed the army through the war, gathering the sick and wounded upon the battleflelds of Bhiloh and Vicksburg and from the swamps of the South, serving until 1865. Mrs. Kate M. Duncan married a soldler and gave the year of 1863 to the worst typhold and surgical cases at Pattison Park Hoepital in Baltimore. berland un Mrs. Ann Schram, after her husband en- listed in the Thirty-second New York In- fantry, became & nurse and served through the war without pay. even fur nishing her own board and delicacies for her patients. Mrs. Clarissa F. Dye enlisted in 1861 in the Army Hospital Corps and carried suc- cor on many a battlefield, where none of her sex could make their way. Her sister's sudden death, leaving & brood of small children, closed her active service. Mrs. Belle Vose Clark joined the Army of the Cumberiand and nursed its wound- ed scldiers until the close of the war, Mre. Susannah D. Clark was married to Major 1". J. Clark just four days after rt Sumter was fired upon and went to Fe the front with her husband immediately. Her first arduous nursing was after Bull Run. Then there was Gettysburg, with all its horrors Mrs. Eunice M. Brown joined the North- ern at Camp Chase in 154 and was not mustered out until 1865, Mrs. Mary Athols' husband came back from his regiment to he'p her bury their only child, when to live down- her eorrow she followed him back to the w and became a nurse, serving with dis tinction on fleld until 1865. Mrs. Mary E. Smith, sent out by the Banitary Commission as a nurse in 1862, did not return until July, 1865. Mrs. Amanda B. Smyth's husband en- listed at the first call and when later news came that he was wounded she rushed to his ald. That Is how she came to serve S0 many years. Mrs. Mary J. Dykeman followed two brothers and her husband into battle and won more distinguished honors than any mayy a hard-fought battle- of them for her services as nurse on the battiefield. Mrs. Annie E. West joined the New York National Guards in 1862 and took an active part in the war, being an eye- witness of the sinking of the Cumber- land and serving till the close of the war, Mrs. J. Matherson Bullard was com- missioned a regular army nurse in 1862, when she went immediately Into active service with the soldiers in the field, re- maining till 1865. Mrs. Emily Haines Harrison was sent to Camp Chase in 1863, where e re- mained until the close of the war. Mrs. Rebecca Lane Price went to the front in 1561 and stepped from the train right into the work of nursing the hun- dreds of wounded soldlers. who were just arriving from the Army of the Potomac. Her holiday dinners to the troops were famous. Mrs. Lydia A. Fou'ke Wilson became an army nurse one hot afternoon in 1852 out of pure pity for the wounded men who were suffering in the ayn. After her work among the dying that day she was not mustered out until Mrs. Wilhelmina Schmidt enlisted in 1861 with the First Regular Pennsylvania Reserves. After Bu un she re urned home for a short time. but was soon back again, finishing her work at Gains- borough Point. Miss Lydia 8. Johnson Miss Dix, among the typhoid particularly, from 1861 to 1863. Mrs. Ellzabeth A. Jarble left Chicago in 1862 to take care of the wounded from Ehiloh. In 1863 she was assigned to the Officers’ General Hospital and later, in 1864, was married to the chaplain of the hospital. She was not mustered out until 1866. Mrs. Elizabeth Chapman followed her husband and her youngest son to the front and was roon enlisted as a regular nurse. In the winter of 1861-62 Miss Mary Fryer, now Mrs. Gardner, and Miss Priscilla Allen, now Mrs, Barry, both joined the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania In- fantry and served until near the close of the war, Mrs. Rachel E. Harris, or, as she soon became better known, ‘‘Aunt Rachel,’” ‘was pressed Into service with the Twellth served under patients Tllinots Infantry after her husband fell fighting at Youngs Point and was actively engaged until the close of the war. Leonora Smith went to the front as soon as the war began and continued through Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Rich- mond, when Lee surrendered. Mrs. Julia 8. K. Tompkins served from 1563 until her soldier husband was dis- charged in 1564. Mrs. Lauretta II. Horsington followed Sherman in his famous march to the sea, nursing the inded and dying until she was mustered out in 1865. Mrs. Hannah E. J. Starbird joined the army In 1564 and went all through the war horrors tiil the close Mrs. Mary Lacy was married at 15 Her husband enlisted a year later. She followed him to the front and served till the wa ded Mrs inore B. Stevens enlisted in 1853 with the Army of the Cumberland and remained til! 1565, A. Richardson served from ngh Gettysburg to the end. Emily Alder went with her hus- to war in 1861 and followed his for- until he was wounded at Fort Mary shecca S. Smith left school to cope with an epidemic of diphtheria among the soldiers in 182 and after that was continually on duty on the battleflelds until 1564 When Mrs. Cordelia Livingston's father enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Illinois In- fantry, she, too, went to the front and be- came a nurse with her mother and only returned home to bu her four brothers and sist after which terrible afiliction both mather and 1ghter rejoined the army at Farmingte Of Mrs. Addie L. Ballou, who has per- haps won more honors during the war and in the long years since than any of the long list of army nurses, no extended com- ment need be written. She is already too well known to Californians to need fur- ther praise. so he could inhale the moisture. He came out of that state perfectly rational, and after taking some nourishment asked me to pray for him. I did so, and read the fourteenth chapter of John. Then he talked for about two hours, using the most beautiful language, about the glories of heaven. All who could gathered about him, for all felt that he was inspired. At last he sald, ‘Mother, don’t you see the angels coming? They are holding out their hands to take me home." Then he fell asleep in Jesus.” o8 e “The boys began calling me mother” says Mrs. Sarah Young, who served through tne entire war with the One Hun dred and Ninth New York Volunteers, “but I would not allow that, one of the doctors in the hospital sal “‘T'Il give you & name that you'll keep to your last & nd he christened ‘Aunt Becky," and every one calls me that now. Why, I wouldn't get my mail it it came addressed to ‘Mrs. Sarah Young." ™ And “Aunt Becky” which she the roster of the R. C. At the battleflelds of Fredericksburg, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Chancellors- ville and Petersburg she was present, ministering to the wounded, and at the latter place A Becky had an expe- ri e she loves to relate. We had a lot of m were very slck, and 1 knew they would die If they were not taken away. But we could get no exchanges for them. Sq T called at the quartermaster’s office, and here was a lot of tickets of exchange g on his desk, which I shoved off with mv elbow, and when I got back found T had captured fourteen of them Without a word to anybody I them on the worst cases dnd had a n m down to meet the sick from divisions as they were being taken to the boats, and they all got off safel “Well, when the doctor came around the next morning and asked for the mis: ing men he was told by the nurses, ‘“They have mone to Washington.' ‘By whose orders?” he asked, and whenm told, ‘By Aunt Becky's,’ he was furious and threat- ened to discharge me, asking on whose responsibility I had sent the men off. I told him on my own, as the men would have died if keot there. “So he went off to General Grant and reported the whole transaction, but the general laughed and sald: Aunt Becky “‘I have nothing to say. get discharged,” concludes outranks me." “I didn't ‘and every one of those o 904 Aunt Becky, men got well. Mrs. Annle Wittenmyer was one of the best known nurses in the army, serving at the front from April, 1361, to November, 1865, and rendered herofc service on many hard-fought flelds. At Shiloh she worked among the wounded until her garments were red with their blood. At Vicksburg she was under fire during the entire slegs, and though shot and shell rained about her, and bo~t and trains on which she traveled were attacked by guerrillas, she escaped all peril. Early in 1354 Mrs. Wittenmyer estab- lished, with the sanction of President Lin~ coln, Secretary Stanton and the surgeon general, a system of dlet kitchens, with every facility for the preparing of food ordered by the doctors for those very sick and wounded. Mrs. Wittenmyer traveled thousands of miles establishing these is the name by is designated as chaplain on Iowa Department, W. she says, “who