Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #29
by Tonya Graham McQuade
When I was at the Missouri Civil War Museum in April, one of the displays talked about the role of nurses in the Civil War. A description of Emily Elizabeth Parsons said the following:
"Massachusetts native Emily Parsons first arrived in St. Louis in 1863 at the request of Jessie Benton Fremont. Although partially deaf and physically very frail, Parsons overcame these obstacles and soon become the head nurse at St. Louis' Benton Barracks. Under her leadership, she dramatically transformed the military hospital's operations by improving conditions and lowering the fatality rate among the sick and wounded."
The display caught my attention - especially because she served at Benton Barracks General Hospital during the time my GGG Grandfather, James Calaway Hale, was there recovering from his illness. His first letter from the hospital is dated June 23, 1863.
As I more recently learned while doing research for my book, Elizabeth wrote many letters to her parents during her time serving as a nurse. After she died in 1880, they published those letters in a book titled Fearless Purpose: Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons to help raise money for the Cambridge Hospital, which Emily had founded in Massachusetts. Last week, I finished reading her book - and it was very helpful in its descriptions of Benton Barracks, as well as the many places it overlaps with James's letters.
Emily had already gained notice before her parents published her letters. An excerpt from Woman’s Work in the War (1867) describes Emily E. Parsons:
“She consulted with Dr. [Morrill] Wyman [1812-1903], of Cambridge, how she could acquire the necessary instruction and training to perform the duties of a skillful nurse in the hospitals. Through his influence with Dr. Shaw, the Superintendent of the Massachusetts General Hospital, she was received into that institution as a pupil in the work of caring for the sick, in the dressing of wounds, in the preparation of diet for invalids, and in all that pertains to a well-regulated hospital....
“It was the duty of the nurses to attend to the special diet of the feebler patients, to see that the wards were kept in order, the beds properly made, the dressing of wounds properly done, to minister to the wants of the patients, and to give them words of good cheer, both by reading and conversation – softening the rougher treatment and manners of the male nurses by their presence, and performing the more delicate offices of kindness that are natural to women.
“In this important and useful service these nurses, many of them having but little experience, needed one of their own number of superior knowledge, judgment, and experience, to supervise their work, counsel, and advise them, instruct them in their duties, secure obedience to every necessary regulation, and [ensure] good order in the general administration of this important branch of hospital service. For this position Miss Parsons was most admirably fitted, and discharged its duties with great fidelity and success for many months, - as long as Dr. [Ira] Russell continued in charge of the hospital.
“The whole work of female nursing was reduced to a perfect system, and the nurses under Miss Parsons influence became a sisterhood of noble women, performing a great and loving service to the maimed and suffering defenders of their country."
It's easy to read this description, as well as her many detailed letters, and forget Emily Parsons was blind in one eye, had poor vision in the other, had limited hearing ability, and suffered pain in her ankle due to an old injury. Despite these physical limitations, she trained as a volunteer at the Massachusetts General Hospital for eighteen months, worked at Fort Schuyler Hospital on Long Island in New York for two months, served aboard the "City of Alton" hospital steamship where she nursed the sick and injured from the Battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi, and supervised and worked as a nurse for a year and a half at Benton Barracks General Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She only returned home after she became so ill, she could no longer work and needed time to recover.
Here are some excerpts from Emily's letters that really stood out to me:
About her work at Fort Schuyler Hospital:
“I sit by him all the evening; he was very restless last evening. I stroked his hand and his hair, and quieted him at intervals, but he did not get much quieter till the Doctor came and gave him morphine. He is obliged to take morphine every night. I love my ward better and better; and if some things are rough and trying, why that is reason for staying and trying to make them better, not running away. It would be poor soldiering to run when the enemy appeared” (Parsons 22).
“To have a ward full of sick men under my care is all I ask; I should like to live so all the rest of my life…. The good that is being done now is perfectly beautiful. I have done my work, and I think I have done it pretty well too. It is the opinion of most of those who are now over these things that the ladies who do them voluntarily do them better than hired nurses, and they like to secure our services…. I am in the army just as Chauncy [her brother] is, and I must be held to work just as he is; you would never think of requesting he might not be sent on picket duty because it was hard work” (28-29).
About the hospital steamship City of Alton:
“[Mr. Hasard] took me on board and left me. Such a sense of confusion and dirt, and soldiers! The ship is built up in all sorts of ways, to afford accommodation for the sick. We were obliged to start while all was in confusion, in order to reach the scene of action as soon as possible” (35).
“I never before was among people who took it so seriously, because I never was where the war was around us, nor ever before was going into the midst of it; and this makes us realize all that is at stake and what we are doing. Self has to be put down more and more, and the work before us must take complete possession of our minds: that is not easy, but necessary” (35).
“Our last orders are to go to Vicksburg. We are now at Helena; look on the map and you will see it. Imagine living in the midst of what the children call a ‘dirt pie,’ and you will have an idea of the condition of the people! We have several freed slaves on board, freed by the act of our President” (36)
NOTE: This is where James was stationed at the time with the 33rd Regiment, Missouri Infantry - Helena, Arkansas. MANY men in Helena died from sickness and disease. Parsons herself contracted malaria on this voyage and was ill for several weeks upon her return to St. Louis. She continued to suffer from bouts of related illness for the rest of her life. James - suffering from dysentery and rheumatism - was eventually transported from Helena to the hospital in St. Louis.
According to historian Rhonda Kohl’s study of the Army of the Southwest at Helena from July 1862 to January 1863, “Sickness did not abate over the three and a half years of Federal occupation as Helena became known as one of the most insalubrious locations in the Union…. The four main diseases that beset the soldiers [were] dysentery, malaria, typhoid, and typhus…. The soldiers became unserviceable, and many died, because of the lack of understanding by medical authorities of the etiological cause of the disease, the relationship among sanitation, the environment and health, and the types of drugs used” (Kohl, Rhonda M. "'This godforsaken town': death and disease at Helena, Arkansas, 1862-63." Civil War History, vol. 50, no. 2, June 2004, pp. 109+.).
“You have no conception of the state of the boat when we left it. Hercules might have cleaned it, nobody else could; it was awful! We had no regular working-woman on board; only contraband who have not the slightest idea of neatness. The men on board were very homesick – longing so for wife and children” (38).
“I am getting sadly familiar with death, - I say, sadly, for it is hard to have it come in such a way through this unnatural war. You feel that it should be the mother or wife’s hand they should cling to, and not that of the stranger” (39).
From St. Louis as Parsons recovered – March 1863:
“They talk of the taking of Vicksburg; but, mother, if the talkers could see it! If it stands a siege instead of capitulating, it is fearful to think what that siege will be. I have been right in front of the city where I could see the fortifications and breastworks; the work of taking it will be awful. I never realized in the East what a war was. Now, I have been down to it, I have seen the camps as they are away from home, I have seen the work the men have to do, and talked with them, seen how they felt about it; and there will be no turning back. But I have also been with the wounded just brought from battle, - such wounds as never come home to us at the East, - and I know at what cost the work is done, and how nobly, too, that cost is borne, counted as nothing if we can only win, and guard the old flag from harm. The cost is great; but in the lives of nations, like individuals, there come seasons when we must give up all. Here, side by side with all this noble stirring is the Secesh spirit contrasting with it at every turn; here, you really see the struggle between the two elements” (43-44).
About Benton Barracks:
“It is out of the city, in an enclosure of fifty acres, formerly used as the scene of the Horse and Cattle Fairs held here. The great amphitheater has been made into a hospital. Then there are other smaller hospitals in the grounds, for different classes of patients. The whole number of beds will be two thousand…. It is a very large and fine hospital. I wish you could see it. The different buildings are large and well arranged” (47).
“I wish you could see this place and the men in it; there are more coming out; I suppose we shall by and by have two thousand patients. Some of the men are sinking; it is sad to see it. They are very good and patient, but so subdued sometimes by their long suffering, it is very sad; you have no idea of the weariness produced by long, sad sickness away from home and woman’s care. The peculiar sort of submissiveness it causes is like that of a poor tired child who wants somebody to take care of him, and is too weak to do for himself” (51).
“Everything here is military. The gates are guarded night and day by sentries, and no soldier can go in or out without a pass. The cavalry are frequently passing to and from the Barracks beyond the hospital. They are very picturesque and effective as they go winding in and out among the trees. The calls are blown by a bugler; every now and then the soft tones come floating on the air, most poetically stating that dinner is ready” (55).
“When new patients come, it is the rule that they must take a bath before they put on their clean clothes; then each man has a clean shirt and drawers and socks, and can go to bed or sit up as he pleases. The poor fellows come out of the boat so dirty and weary, they look like new beings when they are refreshed by their baths and good food, and it is so pleasant for them to be released from the crowded boat jarring on their poor nerves, hot and unavoidably dirty” (73).
“Today I was talking to one of the men, and I told him one of the uses of sickness was to make us think about the Lord and religion. He told me he thought so, that he had never thought much about such matters till he was sick, and now he thought of them. I talked to him about it then, - how little real matter it was if the body suffered, if we had spiritual health and the peace of God, - and this very sickness brought him nearer to that than he could have been without it. He agreed to it all, and seemed glad to talk about it. When all outward help fails, they want something more, and they find they cannot stand alone” (75).
“I wrote to his wife to come to him; and one day when I entered the ward, there she was! I got a warm greeting from her. She brightened him up, nursed him as only a wife can, night and day. I let her stay in the ward, sleeping in the lady nurses’ room. He by and by began to mend, and was well enough last week to go home with his wife. If he gets well I do believe it will be due to her; I think she saved his life” (78).
“I think of sending you a collection of the insects that enter my room, either by flying or walking, only I should be obliged to send it by freight train. They vary in size, but all bite, except the flies, and they go down your throat if you open your mouth at all. I speak from personal experience” (78).
“I found many so exhausted they could not eat. I had a quantity of broth and soup provided, that they could drink, and it did them good. If they can be brought up from that stage of exhaustion, it is a great point gained” (79).
“It was very hot, and the wards were really uncomfortable. I went to every one after supper, and had shades taken away from the windows; they were opened as much as possible, and every ward watered profusely, like the streets, with watering pots; it makes the greatest difference in the temperature…. I finally went to bed in a room like an oven” (79).
On June 21, 1863 - just two days before James's first letter from the hospital – Emily wrote: “Yesterday we received a number of men from Memphis – poor, sick, and wounded fellows. We are booked for a thousand more, I suppose, from down the river” (68).
Somewhere among those "poor, sick, and wounded fellows" was James. Often, sick men were sent first to Memphis (Emily's hospital ship had stopped there as well). It made me happy to know he had such a kind and compassionate nurse looking after him.
Two weeks later, Emily wrote about the Fourth of July celebration at the hospital, and James wrote about that in his letters, too. Emily wrote: “Their tables were covered with good things; there were hundreds and hundreds of men fed at them, and all seemed pleased. After dinner there was speaking from a stand in the large grove, and singing. Finally the different detachments formed into order and marched to their hospital homes and camps. One man just off a bed of severe sickness, told me he had never missed a Fourth of July in his life and he must go. I told him I thought it would do him good, and he went” (74).
James wrote: "I must now tell you what a fine fourth of July we had. The ladies in the country bring in provisions and all kinds of cakes and berries and set a table enough for two hundred men in Ward A. They had more raspberries than ever I seen at one time. Before I eat a saucer full of the largest and nicest I ever seen, though those ladies that waits on the sick had give me some two or three times before."
I've now been working on adding some of the above information to my book - though I don't want to get too sidetracked from telling James's story. I'm thankful, though, for Civil War nurses like Emily Elizabeth Parsons. As I explain in my book A State Divided:
"While initially many women volunteered their services to military hospitals, eventually - under the leadership of social crusader Dorothea Dix - more than 3,000 women served as paid nurses in the North and the South. Dix had already made a name for herself advocating for people living with mental illnesses. A week after the firing on Fort Sumner, Dix volunteered to form an Army Nursing Corps. She was appointed Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army by Secretary of War Simon Cameron. In this role, she organized hundreds of women volunteers, established and inspected hospitals, and raised money for medical supplies.
"While not paid as much as male nurses, who also received superior benefits, Civil War female nurses were paid 40 cents a day plus rations, housing and transportation. Thousands of others volunteered, many doing so after learning of their husbands or other family members being injured, thus earning applause 'for their patriotism and compassion' from the press."
I hope you've enjoyed learning more about Emily Parsons and the important contribution nurses made in the Civil War. Tune in next time to hear more about another book I recently read to help with my research, which I found very interesting: Susan Higginbotham's John Brown's Women.
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