The Elbert County tribune., 1907-05-23
Copyright by J. II. Bow les }

CDR. Anita Newcomb MCGEE is the one
woman in this country who has held
commission as an officer Of the United
States army. During the Spanish Amer
lean war, as director of the hospital corps
oTsaIlztu ny the army anu 4NaNy -. .,pte' w
of the Daughters of the American ReNo-
luton, Of which society she was vice-pres-
ident-general, Or. McGee was regularly
appointed assistant surgeon OF the army.
| During the war she constantly on
duty. visiting hospitals and battlehelds in
| her capacity OF director and supervisor of
| the army's trained nurses She was
prominently connected with the japanese
! hospital service during the late war with
| Russia. DIR. McGee studied abroad at
| Cambridge and the University of Geneva.
versity of Washington in 1853. Later she
| took special course at Johns Hopkins
hospital. She Is fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of
| Science)
An army has always two parts.
! One part is the actual fighters. who
work. suffer and die and at the end
receive all the glory. The other part
is those who provide for the fighters
They also work and suffer and die,
but at the end they are Ignored and
afterward forgotten.
There are naturally very few wom-
en- who have achieved glory in the
| fighting part of an army, though the
amazons are well known and Semira-
mis-, Zenobia and Jeanne dare were
commanders of armies. In former
times, however, many a woman CON
cealed her sex and took her place in
the ranks as a man, though from the
nature of the case, not many of their
names are known. Among those who
enlisted in our revolutionary army
were Deborah Sampson, Elizabeth
| Canning and Molly Macauley, and the
| last-named won the grade of sergeant
before being discovered. 1t has been
estimated that during our civil war no
less than 400 women contrived by
some means or other~to enlist as sol
| diers. The most recent instance of
fighting women was in the Transvaal
war when many burgher's wife han
died a weapon at his side and many
were taken prisoners, some of them
being dressed as men. 1t is quite
common for the royal women of Eu-
rope to-day to hold honorary commits
sions, generally as colonels. and al
though not expected to take command
in time of actual war, they do wear
their uniforms and ride with their
troops on occasions of ceremony
But. after all, the true story of
women in armies relates 20 their part
in providing and caring for the fight
ers. The present elaborate organiza.
| ton OF armies is of comparatively re-
cent growth, and originally the
| greater part of the cooking and OF the
nursing of soldiers was done ty their
hardy female relatives, who were as
well able as themselves to bear the
fatigues of the campaign. 1t is al.
ways easier to procure new soldier
than 1t is to cure one who is sick or
wounded. and the humane medical
corps, as one of the departments of
an army, was a growth of the last
century. During the middle ages the
care of the sick was largely left to
the great catholic order of knights
and the orders of sisters who were
affiliated with them. On the continent
of Europe to-day, although a large
majority of army nurses are men, yet
in most countries there are a few
sisters of catholic orders who not only
continue to follow the troops in time
of war, but who serve as head nurses
in large army hospitals in time OF
peace.
About the beginning of the last cen.
tury the idea of systematic training
in the principles and practice of ear.
ing for the sick had its origin in Ger
many, where one of the earlier stu.
dents of the art was Florence Night.
ingale. Like untold thousands OF
women before her, she went forth
to the great battle with death in the
hospitals, taking with her to the
| Crimea IS women, of whom 1S were
sisters of catholic or protestant or.
ders. Other nurses Joined her later.
| This war gave a great stimulus ia