“Into the Jaws of Death”

Image of Miss Nelly Chase taken in Beaufort, S.C. in 1862.  The following chapter from Frank Moore's "Women of the War", describes the Roundhead's Nurse Nelly Chase in action after the horrible carnage at Fredericksburg.

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A soldier, who, though fearfully wounded, has survived that disastrous attempt to storm the enemy’s intrenched lines at Fredericksburg in December, 1862, gives an admirable  account of his sensations when marching “into the jaws of death”, his sufferings on the field, and the touching kindness with which he was cared for and his life saved by one of those angels of mercy, a volunteer army nurse.  Inquiry has hitherto failed to reveal more concerning the character and services of Miss Chase than has been given to the world in the story of this one-armed volunteer; but this alone is enough to enshrine her in the grateful hearts of every soldier, and win for her the blessing of all who love virtue and their country.

             After describing the sensations with which he awoke from his sleep in the streets of Fredericksburg, at the sound of heavy cannonade, and the manner in which the division was marched out and pushed forward in the attack, “One-armed” continues his narrative as follows: --

             “ ’Steady, men --- forward!’ rang out the voice of our commander; and disentangling from the retreating fugitives, we steadily bore on till we neared the batteries, and with a cheer sprang forward.  That instant a line of fire leaped from behind a stone wall close in our front, and – I don’t remember anything more about it.  My next recollections were of a confused and contradictory character; one instant I was fully conscious; the moment following, utterly lost.

             “Then I would imagine I was at home and half asleep, while all the house was astir with some past or anticipated catastrophe with which I was in some way connected.  Then all was dark and a great load seemed to press me down and glue me to the ground in spite of all my efforts to rise.   Then I heard voices, all strange and heartless but one; this had chords of human sympathy in it.  I could feel something force open my jaws, and a fluid trickle into my throat, which I managed to swallow to prevent strangling; still it trickled down, and still I painfully swallowed, hoping praying that it would stop; but it did not, until I recognized that it was some powerful stimulant that I was taking, and that I was becoming more able to swallow it.  All this time I could hear the kind voice encouraging me; also some cold unsympathizing voices. I could not distinguish what they said; only by the tone could I tell the sympathetic from the unsympathetic.  At last I heard the words in part of one who said, ‘It’s no use working over him; he’s dying now.’  Quietly, but O, so earnestly and tenderly, the kind voice replied, ‘No, doctor, he’s not dying; he’s coming to life; he will live if we don’t give him up.  This wound on his head won’t amount to anything if we can get him warmed up.  Don’t you see that he’s been nearly frozen to death while faint from loss of blood?  But he’s coming on finely, and by and by you can take off his arm, and the man may get well.  Who knows but he has a mother or a sister to love him, and thank you or me some day for a son or brother saved?’

             “Yes, I was saved; I understood it all now; I remembered the battle, and that my present condition was in some way the result of it; and for the sake of that dear mother and sister so strangely invoked, I made an effort to unclasp my eyelids, and opened my eyes once more to the light of the sun.  At first the glare confused me, but soon I could distinguish three surgeons beside me, watching my symptoms with curiosity, if not with interest.  On the other side of me, as I lay on the ground under a large hospital tent, there was kneeling a woman; her left hand was under my head; in her right she was holding a spoon, with which, at short intervals, she dipped some warm fluid from a cup held by a boy soldier, her attendant.  I tried to speak, but could not; she merely shook her head, to discourage my efforts, and turning to the lad, said, ‘Now, Johnny, the beef soup.’  In a moment the soup was substituted for the toddy, and I gradually felt life, and the love of life, coming back to me.  Looking around, I saw near me a basin of water, with a sponge, and the lady’s hands covered with blood.  I inferred, what I afterwards learned to be the case, that she had been washing the clotted gore from my hair and face and had discovered that what looked like a fatal wound on the head was merely a scalp cut, which had bled profusely, and looked hopeless, but was not so in reality.

            “Gradually, I recovered sufficient strength to undergo the amputation of my shattered right arm, and then recovered entirely.  I had been struck both on the head and army at the same time, and lay senseless on the field till late in the night, when the stretcher-carriers found me, and bore me to the city, where I was thrown into an ambulance and taken across the river.  After waiting my turn with hundreds of others, I thank God that, when that turn came, I fell into good hands—the blessed hands of a kind-hearted woman!  Even here, amid the roar and carnage, was found a woman with the soul to dare danger; the heart sympathize with battle-stricken; sense, skill, and experience, to make her a treasure beyond all price.  The choicest blessings of Heaven be hers in all time to come!  Since my recovery I have observed her in her ministrations, and I see she is gifted in a wonderful degree for scenes like these.  She has been in the army ever since the war broke out, and ever at the front.  Rear hospitals are no place for this noble girl.  Though not twenty-four when I saw her on that memorable day, I do not believe, as an army nurse, she has the equal any where.  The surgeon of the Seventy-ninth New York (author’s note: Highlanders), stationed in the hospital from which this is written, has placed her in charge of our supplies and stores, and most efficiently does she deal them out. 

 “Many a poor wounded soldier would lack his timely stimulant, or food proper for his condition, if she did not pass through the tents at all hours of the day and night; for they say she seldom sleeps.  For many months she was connected with the One Hundredth Pennsylvania, known as the Roundhead Regiment, and went with it to South Carolina.  At the time of Benham’s defeat on James Island, Dr. McDonald, who was there, says she performed incredible labors, as she does here.  Among the many developments of character produced by this war, I have seen none that I consider more admirable than Miss Nelly M. Chase.  She has never been a paid nurse, but considers herself a member of the regiment, and works for others only when she cannot accompany it.  For all the labors, privations, and hardships of her campaigning life, her only reward, is the consciousness of being so largely useful, and the unbounded admiration and gratitude of the private soldiers, who almost worship her.”

Below is a copy of an original newspaper article  (Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 24, 1862, pg. 6, col. 1-2) that the above chapter on Nelly M. Chase is derived.  Thanks to Paul and Eileen Campos, 26th PVI Civilian Re-enactors for contributing this piece of important history on Nelly M. Chase.

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