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3. CRIMEAN WAR I - Pioneer

Original Acrylic on Canvas, 24”h x 24”w, Framed

 

“What the horrors of war are, no one can imagine. They are not wounds and blood and fever, spotted and low, or dysentery, chronic and acute, cold and heat and famine. They are intoxication, drunken brutality, demoralization and disorder on the part of the inferior... jealousies, meanness, indifference, selfish brutality on the part of the superior.”

Florence Nightingale

 

       Britain had entered the Crimean War with France, Turkey and the Kingdom of Sardinia against Russia. William Howard Russell, the first professional war correspondent, was sent dispatches to The Times stating more British soldiers were dying from disease in the filthy hospitals than on the field, and supplies of food and clothing were not getting to them in time. Roger Fenton, the first war photographer, was on hand to document the devastation. A groundswell began in every home in England and Florence’s dear friend, Sidney Herbert, British Minister of War, wrote a letter to her asking if she would consider taking a corps of nurses to the front to care for the wounded and sick.
       Interestingly, a letter from Florence crossed his in the post offering her services – the result of a third time in which God once again spoke to her. She had already booked her passage to Constantinople (just across the water from the port of Scutari on the Black Sea). They met and agreed on a plan, and Florence immediately began interviewing nurses with the help of Selina “Z” Bracebridge to ferret out 38 of the best nurses available, be they Catholic nuns or Anglican. Women sewed linen pennants with red embroidery and the words “Scutari Hospital” to distinguish the Nightingale Nurses. Nursing dresses were sewn, supplies readied, and her nursing corps of 38 sailed to war. Florence Nightingale, the 39th nurse, left for the first time with the blessing of her family.
       The war was raging, the British troops being overwhelmed at every corner amid the swords, bayonets, cannons and fighting with failing strength one-on-one on the rocky fields, sometimes in single degree weather during winter months. The filthy corridors of the huge Scutari Barrack hospital were infested with vermin, increasing the already overwhelming presence of disease (dysentery, typhus, pneumonia, cholera, scurvy, and so on). The H.M.S. Duke of Wellington, a 1,131-gun flagship of the Baltic Fleet, could be seen from the windows of hospital where there were four miles of wards filled with thousands of wounded soldiers. Florence would peer out through her binoculars to review the troops. Supplies were being held up due to paperwork and jealousies, rather than duty, and deliberate access was her only way – one story is she broke open the iron lock to a supply room to get what she needed for her beloved British soldiers, rather than wait for someone to bring her the key. She took responsibility when she could, and took leadership very seriously. Doctors refused to have her and her trained nurses by their sides. Flo and her nurses had to “wait” until “asked” by the lead physician in charge to help. Finally, thousands more wounded soldiers were brought in and the military leadership became overwhelmed; finally the physician allowed Flo and her 38 to do what they were trained to do – nurse. She began to change the healthcare delivery system that supported the care of wounded soldiers; history was being made and nursing forever changed, transformed into a true profession for women. Her nurses’ registry scribed the coming and going of the corps; some nurses were sent home due to drunkenness, impropriety or bad nursing; some stayed – it was all documented. Florence understood and connected hygiene and healing, a new concept.
       The Army Sanitary Commission finally removed the dead horse and other animals from the sewers underneath the hospital, allowing fresh and pure water to be made available in pitchers by the wounded men’s bedsides. She opened the windows in the hospital wards to let the fresh air in and rid it of the rancor of death. The floors were scrubbed, men bathed, fresh food cooked, and clothes reeking of blood, sweat and tears were taken off the dead and wounded and cleaned for reuse. It is said that when a soldier was told his leg or arm was to be sawed off or he would soon die of gangrene, he would succumb only after gently being assured by Miss Nightingale that their life is worth living – even without a limb. Florence was on a mission, bound and determined to rid this Dante’s “inferno” of a hospital of its unsanitary situation, and bring comfort through nursing to her beloved soldiers and bring them back to good health.

 

“I use the word nursing for want of a better. It has been limited to signify little more than the administration of medicines and the application of poultices. It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet—all at the least expense of vital power to the patient.”
                                                                                                                                                   Florence Nightingale

 

(l to r)

• The flags of France, Britain and Turkey during the Crimean War.

• Florence brought 38 nurses to Scutari – she was the 39th nurse.

• Inside the Barracks Hospital in Scutari was filth and disease – more British soldiers were dying in the hospital than on the field. Flo put her nurses to work and transformed the space into one of healing.

 

• Florence’s famous nighttime visits to the wounded with her Turkish lamp, made of waxed linen between brass, which became the symbol of hope and healing when she arrived in the dead of night to console the soldiers.

• The linen pennant was embroidered by women in England for Flo’s nursing corps. Each nurse proudly wore this from the right shoulder down to the left waist – it became a symbol of hope to the soldiers knowing there were “nurses” coming to help.

• The windows were opened and the fresh water was put in pitchers by their beds.

• The field of war was hand-to-hand field combat with cannons and bayonets as well as pure muscle.

• Her binoculars are in the Florence Nightingale Museum (London).

• When she arrived, the floors of the hospital were infested with rats eating the fresh pus of soldiers who were on lying on the floor with open wounds, bleeding and dying right there only to have their sometimes month’s old rancid clothes taken off and put onto the next wounded soldier, furthering the spread of germs and disease.

• The nurses’ registry is under glass at the Florence Nightingale Museum (London).

• The H.M.S. Duke of Wellington at the port where ships unload supplies and ammunition bound for the depot; living quarters consisted of cone-shaped tents for the soldiers.

• Now more than 100 years old, a Turkish orange is now under glass at Claydon House, as it was a gift from a soldier to Florence years thanking her for saving his life during the war.

 

“The first possibility of rural cleanliness lies in water supply.”
                                                        Florence Nightingale