The Portland daily press., 1898-09-07
short we have got to have large regular
zoe" wHEELER's DAUGHTER.
The Brave Conduct and Great Services OF
an Army Nurse.
fFrom the Boston Globe. }

(From the Boston Glo5e.)
When the history of the war is Wrioteh
two names will stand side by side on tne
brightest page. One is Joe Wneeier'
major-general of volunteers, one Time
confederate general, who went to tne
firing line on litter and inspired MS
men to deeds of heroism by his own In
domitable courage, which disease could
not subdue. The other is his daughter,
Annie Laurie Early Wheeler, the only
non. immune Red Cross nurse who went
to Santiago.
To Gen. Joe came the high honor of
this camp Of reouperation.
Placed above regulars and volunteers
alike, there is none who can say che does
not eserve the honor"
To the daughter belongs the honor Epf a
nurses place in the general hospital, with
40 patients in her care.
81 expected TO rest when came north,
she simply said, shut when found the
need 80 great felt like fire horse at the
sound of an alarm. could not rest with
all this suffering about me, 90 I applied
to Col. Forwood and was assigned to
ward 1, where am kept busy with my
40 patients.
Not a woman to be recorded as one Of
the worlds beauties, this heroine of the
hospital. but with face once seen which
is hard to forget. 1t 10 face Of rare in
telligence, face refined and womanly,
a face which lights up with kindness
when she talks about her suffering boys.
The great blue-gray eyes which she has
inherited from her twin-souled father
grow fairly luminous when her interest
Is aroused.
Dressed in the simple and neat habit OF
the Red Cross, 'kerchief about her neck
caught by q ri n fashioned in the likeness
of q Maltese cross, Miss Wheeler paused
in her self-appointed ia Just long
enough to tell Of her experience 1nSantie-
go. Frequently her story was interrupt,
ed by the need of some patient. she tolo
1T unaffectedly, thinking naugnt OF the
"What can tell you of INTEREST,"" she
asked. IAN know anything about is
patients and fever and Thermometers.
when the war broke out / wanted to
do what, I could. could not fight the
Spaniards as my father was doing. All
l could fight was yellow fever. ! went to
Cuba on the LampasRs. l wanted TO pc
near papa. was not Drained nurse
but had had some little experience nurs'
ing at home. The rest had to learn.
"When we got to Sa ntiago they refused
to let me land, and told fearful stories of
hundreds dying in the streets and hospi.
tails. 1 was not an immune, and they
thought 1t would mean death for me to
land. In spite Of my appeals they sent
me on to Guantanamo;
II sought out Gen. Miles and begged
him to let me land. He looked into my
eyes moment, then he said could do as
l thought best. So passed the lines and
went into the CITY.
"When got there I found the men
without any of the comforts which be-
long to the Ill. Cots they had none;
blankets had been long since cast aside
and lost There was nothing for them
army ratious-hartltack and the like.
81 WAS placed in charge OF hospii al
which had formerly been boat house.
1t was building extending out over the
water, with a verandn running around
it. 1t was, comparatively speaking, cool.
"In few days the Red Cross supplies
began to come in and got cots for my
ul0Q. lucy WcEC ICindth0b1J Aio OSpos
Each one had four pillow cases, sheets,
rubber blankets and mosquito netting.
We also received many delicacies.
II think the happiest hour of my life
was when got my patients off the floor
and into thoss comfortable cots. You
ought to see Their eyes shine. Many
man alive today owes his life to the Red
Cross
Miss Wheeler paused in her recital long
,rorub IN oiva Soma modicina tn tv.
phoid patient
NY boys were the private soldiers, she
went on. II found the officers had SER
wants to wait on them and plenty of at
tention But the privates were alone and
helpless and neglected. That was the
sort I had come to help. And oh, they
were SO grateful, SO accomplishing, go
gratitude shining In their faces over THE
smallest things that could do for them.
They used to follow me with their eyes.
81 wrote letters for them, and remem-
Der one case Of very brave man, Fed
derle, of the 9th Ohio. When the doot or
told him he had yellow fever, he smiled,
and asked me if would write to his wi e
and children.
g Tell them that am slightly Ill, but on
the road to recovery he said. And
wrote that brave white lie. Intended to
scare them suffer ing. God bless him
They took him across the bay that same
day to the yellow fever ospital. He was
a very sick man, but his was the in
domitable grit that conquers disease by
sheer force of character, and the last
heard Of him he was getting we'll.
She had go patients. She was on her
feet from 6 a. m. to p. m. and had no
time to catch the fever. One day II vel.
low fever patients came in q wagon but
she lived through it all and saved many
lives.
1.-THE voyage north on the Olivette was
pleasant" she said, "but Ihad my hands
full with the ill, the dying. Eight more
poor fellows went. 1t was pitiful to see
their sheeted forms go overheard, to
realize that after ali they had gone
through and suffered they would never see
home again. They had fought go hard to
live that they might at least reach home.
"There was no chaplain Oh board, so I
read the burial service for the dead.
Then the bells rang in the engine'Ioom
and we went on once more"
But patients in ward were getting
restless, and Miss Wheeler said she must
idle no longer. Two other daughters OF
Fighting Joe" are coming here, and 1T
is believed they, too, will go into the
hospital.