Caroline Close Stuart
She» was
оно
of llio early nurses of America
and. in addition, was a remarkable woman
in many other ways. Many of her descend¬
ants still live in North Carolina.
By JULIA RANKIN' SWANSON
CAROLINE CLOSE STUART
in her drab linsey-woolsey
dress nursing the wounded at
the Battle of Guilford Courthouse
on March 15, 1781 looked very dif¬
ferent from the nurses of the Sec¬
ond World War in their snappy
uniforms and insignia of military
rank. Her methods were different
too, with her crude and meager
homemade supplies, but her sym¬
pathy and compassion for the
wounded were perhaps even
reater, for her patients were her
insmen and her neighbors.
The records show that practi¬
cally every able bodied man in
Guilford and nearby counties was
in the battle, many under the com¬
mand of their neighbors. Col.
Arthur Forbis, of Alamance Church
and Col. John Paisley, of Buffalo
Church. It is possible that she
saved the life of a wounded fore¬
father of some old family still liv¬
ing in Greensboro. And, like nurses
of the United States Army Nurses
Corps of today, she gladly gave
her skill for the freedom of
America- an infant America when
the Battle of Guilford Courthouse
was fought.
It was two o’clock in the morn¬
ing darkness of March 15. 1781
when Caroline Close Stuart sad¬
dled her little flea-bitten marc and
left her home south of what is
now the city of Greensboro for the
battlefield. She was packed all
about with stuffed saddle-bags and
bundles of lint and healing herbs
and bandages.
The Approaching Battle
Before dawn she passed Ala¬
mance Presbyterian Church where
women were gathering on foot and
on horseback to pray for victory
in the battle. Just ten years before
their husbands and sons had fought
os Regulators in the Battle of Ala¬
mance. a few miles from this
church, and they knew a battle
meant that some of their men
would not come home.
She did not know then, but the
women of Buffalo congregation also
THE STATE. October 13. 1943
spent most of the day in prayer
at the home of Robert Rankin
under the leadership of Mrs. Rachel
Caldwell, wife of Dr. David Cald¬
well. the pastor of both Alamance
and Buffalo churches.
By way of the grapevine every¬
one knew that a battle would take
Since between the Patriots and the
ritish that day, and for days farm¬
ers from Georgia and South Caro¬
lina and Virginia, and trappers
from the Carolina and Tennessee
mountains had been quietly gather¬
ing at Gen. Green’s headquarters,
because they knew that Lord Corn¬
wallis and his British army were
coming in from the west, and that
Gen. Green planned to meet them
near the village of Guilford Court¬
house. Gen. Green’s camp was on
the old Thomas Donnell grant of
land northeast of where Greens¬
boro now stands. Some of this tract
is even yet occupied by the families
Statue of General Greene at Guil¬
ford Courthouse National Park.
of James D. Donnell. Alfred T.
Whitsett. Maggie Gant. N. Eugene
Rankin, and H. A. Wilson.
After the battle the British car¬
ried their wounded soldiers and
their wounded prisoners to the
Friends’ Meeting House and laid
them on the floor, for there were
no beds.
There is a story that for many
years the print of a bloody hand
was on the wall inside the Meet¬
ing House. Some said it was made
by a wounded British soldier;
others by a dying Patriot prisoner.
The Americans cared for their
wounded in the homes of Patriots
who lived near by. Dr. David Cald¬
well. who came the day after the
battle to help in coring for the
wounded and in burying the dead,
often spoke of working with the
wounded for several days in the
home of the McNairy family. Since
Caroline Stuart was already nurs¬
ing the battle’s wounded it is very
likely that she worked with him.
She worked for several days too.
as did most of the other doctors and
nurses. It is evident that Dr.
Caldwell, who was both physician
and minister, had the happy faculty
of showing up when and where
he was needed.
Additional Assistance
Dr. Eli Caruthers tells in his
"Life of David Caldwell. D.D.”
that. "On the second day after the
battle, a number of old ladies in
the congregation (Buffalo) with a
promptness and kindness that did
them credit, went up with a quan¬
tity of clothing and provisions
which they had collected for the
sick and wounded.”
This was added to the little that
Caroline and others had been able
to bring in their saddle-bags and
to the meager supplies the army
could furnish.
These hard working doctors and
nurses did not have merciful hypo¬
dermic needles, nor sulfa drugs,
nor penicillin, nor blood plasma,
( Continued on page 29)
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