The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-25
Women's Part in War,

The president and secretary of war are
! receiving letters from patriotic women
all over the country anxious to be mus
tered into the service IN case there should
be an outbreak of war with Spain
A letter received at the White House.
and addressed resident Mckinley, Wash
ington. D. c. reads: Il write asking if
l would be of any use 10 you in this
Cuba trouble. 1 am only woman. but
can nurse the sick and wounded. on
ly wish l were a man. l would go and
volunteer to take one OF our unfortu-
Mates place who went down with the
Maine. If you need women TO nurse, or
If in any way can be Of service to you
for my country's sake please let me know.
am strong, weigh $50 pounds, height 5
feet 512 inches, age twenty-seven years.
and a good nurse. Hoping to be Of service
to my God and country, 1 am at your
command
Another says: 81 was one of the first
volunteer nurses during the War of the
Rebellion; experience on transports and in
| hospitals. If there is another war 1 am
| ready"
From away down in Colorado another
woman, who addresses her letter War
Department" offers her services in these
words: Should there be war between
the United States and Spain, would there
be any show for US to get transportation?
We are nurses, and strong, healthy wo-
men. There are two Of US, aged thirty
five years.
These are but several examples of the
| correspondence being received from
American women.
In the event of an outbreak with Spain
positions in the army will be open TO ma
ny women, the number of course depend
ing upon the extent of the struggle. Du-
ring the late war hundreds of women
served in many capacities with relation TO
the armyl, most of them as nurses. some
as spies and others as purveyors, laun-
dresses, &c.
Should a war break out, the hospital
corps of the army would have to employ
a great number of nurses. Secretary AL
ger would probably appoint an expert
enced woman as superintendent of nurses.
In 1861, at the beginning of the civil war,
Secretary of War Cameron appointed Miss
Dorothea Dix for this duty. She oqered
| her services without compensation, and
nurses selected by her were found upon
every battle field from Bull Run to Apo
mattox. They were in every Union hos
| pital.
While the typical army nurse is always
described by the idealist as a youthful
tender ''angel of mercy" with a beautiful
face it is interesting to know that gen
erals in command Of armies prefer mid
die aged and homely women for such ser
vice. A circular distributed by the super
intendent Of nurses in 1861 read:
mo women under thirty need apply.
All nurses are required to be very plain
looking women. Their dresses must be
either brown or black, with no bows, no
curls or jewelry and no hoop skirts"
The pay given to nurses in the late war
was $l2 month but it is said that hun
dreds of women of social rank and posi-
ton without waiting to be formally mus
tered in, served without pay or hope Of re-
ward.
Should a war break out with Spain, wo-
mans most valuable military service will
be done at home. AS soon as the first gun
of the civil war was fired, woman's work
for both the Union and Confederate caus-
es began in earnest. Within month after
President Lincoln called for the first ar
my of 5000 volunteers, an association of
New York women had chosen from hun
dreds of candidates 100 competent nurses
to be trained by the physicians and sur
geons of the city. At the same time wo-
men throughout the country organized
soldiers aid societies, sewing circles, fairs
and entertainments of various sorts for
the purpose of furnishing the brave boys
both necessities and dencacies Trains
running into Washington were weighted
down with a tremendous accumulation of
freight for this purpose. Its distribution
was finally turned over to the sanitary
commission, which co-operated during the
war with women's clubs and societies
throughout the entire North. After each
battle agents distributed supplies as re-
ceived-
Statistics show that during the late war
the women's organizations raised alto
gether fifty millions of dollars among the
societies in the northern states the
amount just appropriated by congress to
put the nationa upon an effective defen-
81 We footing. The little girls of the North
by their miniature affairs and handiwork,
contributed 800, 600
Women might serve this government as
spies in a great war. That a woman can
not keep a secret herself or let any one
else keep one is not born out by certain
secret archives kept in a large freproof
safe in the war department. One of the
most active and reliable Union spies in
the late war was a woman. who worked
successfully for a long period. Eventu-
ally, however, she was caught by the en-
envy and hanged TO a tree. Martial law,
which states that 1.-The spy is punishable
by death by hanging by the neck" has
no respect for sex.