air warfare, 28, 69–70, 134–35, 183–84, 204–6
All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque), 4
“Alone” (La Motte), 17, 21, 114–18
ambulance drivers: American volunteer, 102–3; bravery of, 186
Ambulance No. 10 (Buswell), 103n10
ambulances, 14, 19, 96, 102, 109, 119–23, 126, 135, 138, 143, 171, 186, 201
ambulance trains, 26, 30–31, 173
American Ambulance, Neuilly, France, 23–25; conditions and mismanagement, 23–24, 25, 84, 175–76; Kerr’s essay about, 220n50. See also “American Nurse in Paris, An”; “Experiences in the American Ambulance Hospital, Neuilly, France”
American Journal of Nursing, 25, 43, 46, 55, 219–20n50
“American Nurse in Paris, An” (La Motte, unattributed), 4–5, 23–25, 26, 58, 84, 171–80
amputees, 18, 21; desire for death, 151–52; military medals awarded to, 104, 105
Angkor, Cambodia, 72
anti-opium campaign: La Motte’s involvement, 5, 72–73, 75–78, 85, 227n140, 227n143; E. Roosevelt’s support, 79
antiwar sentiments: The Backwash of War, 4, 8, 9, 13, 69, 73–74; La Motte, 8–9; other literary works, 4, 9; soldiers’ sentiments, 16
Art Institute of Chicago, 1913 Armory Show, 60
Asia, La Motte’s travels in, 71–73, 75, 85, 227n140
Atlantic Monthly: “Heroes,” 16, 28, 65, 68, 70, 85, 96n1; “A Joy Ride,” 28, 69, 85, 195; La Motte’s articles for, 76; payment from, 70; “Under Shell-Fire at Dunkirk,” 85, 181
Athenaeum, 12
“At the Telephone” (La Motte), 18, 70, 153–55
“Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” (G. Stein), 63, 64–65
backwash of war, definition, 8, 12, 93, 95, 135
Backwash of War, The; The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Nurse (La Motte), 3; 1916 edition, 4, 6, 85, 93, 218n11; 1919 re-release, 4, 12, 86; 1934 edition, 4, 7, 11, 22–23, 80, 94–95, 164; acceptance for publication, 71; advertisements for, 6, 10–11, 12, 74; antiwar theme, 4, 8, 9, 13, 73–74; censorship (England), 4, 6–7, 12–13, 31, 74, 94; censorship (France), 12–13, 59, 74, 94; censorship (US), 4, 12–13, 74, 86, 94–95; critical reviews, negative, 7–8, 9–10; critical reviews, positive, 6, 8, 12–13, 73; dedication to Borden, 36, 91; influence of G. Stein on, 65; introduction (1916), 93, 94–95; introduction (1934), 94–95; motivation for writing, 3; perspective of, 13–14; royalties, 12; sales of, 12, 73; scholarly research about, 217n2; G. Stein’s personal copy, 21–22, 219n48; writing of, 67–71
Baltimore, MD: Democratic presidential convention (1912), 51; Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, 44, 45, 49; Johns Hopkins Hospital, 43; Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses, 42–43, 83; Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 54; La Motte’s prominence, 51; suffrage movement, 47–48; tuberculosis mortality rate, 46
Baltimore Health Department, Tuberculosis Division, 37, 45–46, 82, 83
Baltimore Sun, coverage of La Motte: profile of, 51–52; suffrage movement activities, 46, 50, 52–53, 58, 83; supposed trip to Serbia, 59; visit to Lord Bryce, 227n143
Barbusse, Henri, 9
Bataillon d’Afrique. See Bataillon d’Infannterie Légère d’Afrique
Bataillon d’Infannterie Légère d’Afrique, 16, 35, 105, 156–60
“Belgian Civilian, A” (La Motte), 17–18, 20, 119–23
Belgians, French soldiers’ attitudes toward, 123
Belgian women: as hospital workers, 165–66, 168; as mother of wounded child, 3, 120–23; as prostitutes, 134, 135–37; as spies, 136–37
Belgium, German invasion, 57, 84, 134n3
Best Short Stories of 1919, The, 75
Bodley Head, 218n11
Borden, Mary, 32–33, 34; as character in The Backwash of War, 36; dedication of Backwash of War to, 36, 91; family, 121–22; The Forbidden Zone, 32–33, 35, 36, 220n64; as hospital benefactor and director, 121–22, 195n2; Journey Down a Blind Alley, 33
boredom, in war zones, 195–96
brancardiers, 101
bravery, 15, 142, 159; of ambulance drivers, 186; coerced, 142; medals for, 98, 104, 159–60
British Journal of Nursing, 31
British Library, 7
Brittain, Vera, 30
Bryce, Lord James, 76–77, 227n143
Bryce Report, 76–77
Budenbach, Anna, 81
Burlington Free Press, 63
Buswell, Leslie, 103n10
Cambodia, 72
Catch-22 (Heller), 22
Catskill Mountains, NY, 74
censorship, 4; of The Backwash of War, vi, 4, 6–7, 10–11, 12–13, 36, 74, 86, 94–95; La Motte on, 7, 11; of The Liberator, 10–11; of The Masses, 10; of patients’ letters, 133; as war propaganda, 59; of wives in war zones, 133–34
Century Magazine, 75
Chadbourne, Emily Crane, 5, 65; anti-opium campaign and, 73; as art collector, 60, 61, 84, 225n84; correspondence with G. Stein, 66, 67, 68, 69, 79; death, 81; divorce, 60; on Dunkirk bombardment, 66; financial situation, 78–79, 80; as hostess in London, 61; later years, 80; physical appearance, 78; reaction to La Motte’s death, 81; relationship with La Motte, 60–63, 84, 221n80; travels with La Motte, 68–69, 71–74, 77–78
Chadbourne, Thomas, 60
children and adolescents: death of, 17–18, 121–23; as prostitutes, 19, 135; as tuberculosis patients, 46; as typhoid patients, 45; war literature for, 28; as war’s victims, 17–18, 19, 20, 70, 119–23, 161–63
China, La Motte’s travels in, 71–73. See also Peking Dust
chloroform, 153
“Christmas Boat, The” (La Motte), 76
“Citation, A” (La Motte), 16, 35–36, 70, 156–60
civilians: of Dunkirk, Belgium, 182–83, 184–85, 186–87, 188, 190–92, 194; suffering of, 17–18; as victims of war, 119–23
Civilization: Tales of the Orient (La Motte), 75–76, 86
Civil War, wounded soldiers in, 32
clergy: parson-chauffeur, 196, 198, 201–3, 207, 208–9; priest-orderlies, 128–29, 146–47, 153, 154; priests, 36, 111–12, 141
college students, views on The Backwash of War, 8
Cone, Claribel, 54
convicts, as soldiers. See Bataillon d’Infannterie Légère d’Afrique
“Coronation in Abyssinia, A” (La Motte), 78
Council on Turkish-American Relations, 76
court-martial, 9, 15, 35, 96, 98
Crane family members, 61, 62, 65, 77
Crane Gartz, Kate, 62
criminals, as soldiers. See Bataillon d’Infannterie Légère d’Afrique
Croix de Guerre, 36, 104, 105, 110, 125, 159–60
Cummings, E. E., 103n10
Dali, Salvador, 60
“dead-end occupation,” 15, 98–99
death and dying, 3; of children, 17–18, 121–23; desire for, 151–52; dying words, 16, 67, 107–8, 141–42, 154; fear of, 3, 31; of gas gangrene patients, 3, 115–18; nobility of, 141; odor of, 36, 104, 106, 107, 158; of patients, 3, 16, 17, 20, 36, 103, 115–18, 120–22, 127–29, 138, 139–42, 153–55, 160; patients’ awareness of, 140–42; patients’ bitterness toward, 107–8; patients’ struggles against, 139–42; during peace time, 138–39, 147; after religious salvation, 36; repetitive nature of, 20; resignation toward, 22; during surgery, 153–55; from syphilis, 3, 147; of tuberculosis patients, 45, 46; Vonnegut’s perspective on, 22
Defense of the Realm Act, 6–7
Dell, Floyd, 10
desertion, suicide attempts as. See “Heroes”
Detroit Journal, 20
Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914–1915 (anonymous), 30
discharge, from military service, 98n9, 146–47
Dorothea’s War: The Diaries of a First World War Nurse, 30
Dos Passos, John, 103n10
Du Bouchet, Charles, 171
Dunkirk or Dunkerque, Belgium: bombardment, 26–28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 66, 68, 84, 181–94, 198; civilian population, 182–83, 184–85, 186–87, 188, 190–92, 194; typhoid hospital, 33
duPont, Alfred I., 41, 44, 57, 68; on The Backwash of War, 1934 edition, 80; E. C. Chadbourne and, 62–63; correspondence with La Motte, 79; on Great Depression, 78; as La Motte’s financial support, 52, 53–54, 55, 69; on La Motte’s loyalty to US, 73–74; as munitions inventor, 41, 64; parents’ death, 44; G. Stein and, 64; suffrage movement and, 52; war souvenirs, 69, 70; wives, 62
DuPont Company, 41; munitions manufacturer, 41, 69–70; wartime profits, 69–70
“Early Struggles with Contagion” (La Motte), 43
egalitarianism, lack of, 16–17
Egypt, 77
“Emily Chadbourne” (G. Stein), 64
England: The Backwash of War censored in, 6–7, 31, 73, 94; Defense of the Realm Act, 6–7; opium trade, 76–77; Press Bureau, 7; suffrage movement, 51–53, 54, 56, 83; trip to, in 1906, 49. See also London
English Ambulance, Paris, 177–78
Equal Suffrage League, Baltimore, 47
Equal Suffrage pageant, 51
“Esmeralda” (La Motte), 22–23, 80, 164–68
ether, 97
Ethics of Opium, The (La Motte), 76
Ethiopia (Abyssinia), 77–78, 81, 82
Evans, T. M., 81
Evening Journal (Wilmington, DE), 43
“Experiences in the American Ambulance Hospital, Neuilly, France” (La Motte, unattributed), 25–26, 219–20nn50–51
Farewell to Arms, A (Hemingway), 4
fathers: doctors as, 133; of a wounded soldier, 148–52; wounded soldiers as, 17, 132, 139
fears of La Motte: of bombardment, 27, 188, 190, 203–4, 206; “gun shy,” 63, 67; of mutilation, 190
fecal fistula patients, 24, 104, 173
Field Hospital and Flying Column (Thurston), 31
field hospitals: mortality rates, 34–35; proximity to battle fields, 33; triage at, 143–45. See also Hôpital Chirurgical Mobile Unit 1, Roesbrugge, Belgium
Fighting France (Wharton), 19
food (ptomaine) poisoning, 145, 146
Forbidden Zone, The (Borden), 32–33, 35, 36, 220n64
Fortune, 79
France: The Backwash of War censored in, 12–13, 59, 73, 94; Germany’s declaration of war on, 57, 84; national motto, 17, 134; opium trade, 77. See also Paris
Franz Ferdinand (archduke), assassination, 57, 84
French army: first mobile surgical hospital, 33–35; lack of egalitarianism in, 16–17; policy toward prostitutes, 19
French Foreign Legion, 103n11
French Red Cross, 33, 172, 176
French soldiers: antiwar statements, 16; nurses’ descriptions, 31; as old men, 111, 127; possessions, 144; as walking wounded, 143–47; war’s ennoblement, 19; working-class, 16–17
French Somaliland, 78
futile care, 14–15, 17, 35–36, 98, 120, 148–52, 153–55, 156–60
Garrett Park Methodist Episcopal Church, Men’s Guild, 48
gas gangrene patients, 32, 101–8, 114–18, 173, 174
Gaugin, Paul, 60
generals: awarding of military medals by, 15, 20, 36, 138–40, 157–60; inspecting field hospitals, 124–26, 129–30; interactions with patients, 125; offended dignity of, 167–68
Genthe, Charles V., 13
German soldiers: Belgian prostitutes and, 136; chained to guns, 16, 100; war atrocities, 76–77, 191
Germany: declaration of war, 57, 84; invasion of Belgium, 57, 84, 134n3; in opium trade, 77
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 6, 71, 80, 85, 218n11
Green Tent in Flanders, A (Mortimer), 32, 36–37
Hair Spinners Union, 48
Harvard University, 8
Hasbrouck, Katherine, 81
Hazebrouck, France, 119, 120, 195
Heller, Joseph, 22
Hemingway, Ernest: La Motte’s influence on, 21–22; G. Stein’s influence on, 21–22; war as slaughterhouse analogy, 29; as WWI ambulance driver, 103n10
“Heroes” (La Motte), 14–16, 35, 67–68, 70, 85, 96–100
heroism, 14, 134–35; of suffering, 159–60
Hesseltine, Marion E., 25, 219n50
“Hole in the Hedge, The” (La Motte), 17, 34, 109–13
Holland, in opium trade, 77
Hoover, Herbert, 79
Hôpital Chirurgical Mobile Unit 1, Roesbrugge, Belgium, 33–34, 66; director, 65–66, 67, 121–22, 195n2; La Motte at, 33–35, 36–37, 66–67, 69, 85, 93n1; mortality rate, 34–35
“Hôpital Génèral, Rheims” (La Motte), 43
hospital orderlies: at American Ambulance, 24–25, 175, 178–80; attitudes toward patients, 117, 118; dereliction of duty, 109–13; ineptitude, 124, 179–80; relationship with patients, 17, 109–13, 124–30; as “shirkers,” 17; volunteer, 24, 25, 178–80; wives, 133, 135
hospitals: field, 33–35, 143–45; in Italy, 43–44; in peacetime, 138. See also American Ambulance, Neuilly, France; Hôpital Chirurgical Mobile Unit 1, Roesbrugge, Belgium
hospital wards, 131–32
Houston Post, 51
How Could They Marry Her? (G. Stein), 63–64, 226n98
Hudson Valley, NY, 80
humor, in La Motte’s writings: as coping mechanism, 45; cynicism of, 76; “Esmeralda,” 22–23, 80, 164–68; about hospital volunteers, 24; about labor-saving devices, 43–44; mordancy of, 4, 22–23; about perilous voyage, 76; sense of horror underlying, 25–26; about suffrage movement, 53; about typhoid patients, 45
“Humor of the Districts” (La Motte), 45
Hutchison, Hazel, 21
ideals, fallacy of, 15, 99–100
“I Have a Rendezvous with Death” (Seeger), 103n11
“Incident, An” (La Motte), 18, 70, 161–63
influenza epidemic (1918), 74–75
Ingram, Angela, 218n11
Instructive District Nursing Association, Boston, 46–47
Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, Baltimore, 44, 45, 49
International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, 1915 strike, 62
“Interval, The” (La Motte), 17, 20, 21, 124–30
Issues and Events: American Liberal Review, 7, 73
Jackson (MS) Daily News, 51
Japan, La Motte’s travels in, 71–72
Johnny Got His Gun (Trumbo), 18
Johns Hopkins Hospital, 43
Johns Hopkins Hospital Training School for Nurses, 42–43, 83
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 54
journalism, La Motte’s, 52–53
Journey Down a Blind Alley (Borden), 33
“Joy Ride, A” (La Motte), 5, 28, 69, 70, 85, 195–209
Just Government League, 47–48, 50
Kerr, Katherine, 25, 219–20nn50–51
kissing, tuberculosis spread by, 46
La Motte, Ellen (neé Newbold; mother), 41
La Motte, Ellen Newbold: as American Ambulance volunteer, 23–24, 58, 84, 171–80; anti-opium campaign, 5, 72–73, 78, 86, 227n140, 227n143; attitude toward war, 8–9; on The Backwash of War, 3, 12; at Baltimore Health Department, Tuberculosis Division, 37, 38, 45–47, 82, 83; birth, 83; on censorship, 7, 11, 94–95; as E. C. Chadbourne’s financial manager, 79, 81; chronology of life, 5, 83–86; colleagues’ description, 36–37; correspondence with G. Stein, 64–65, 79, 80; death, 81, 86, 221n80; definition of “backwash of war,” 8, 12, 93, 95, 135; depression, 56–57; education, 42–43, 83; family background, 41–42; first experiences of war nursing, 23–25, 27, 58–59, 65–67, 172, 173; at Hôpital Chirurgical Mobile Unit 1, 33–35, 36–37, 66–67, 69, 85, 93n1; illnesses, 50, 51, 81; as Instructive District Nursing Association director, 46–47; as Instructive Visiting Nurse Association field nurse, 44, 45, 49; as journalist, 52–53; Just Government League involvement, 47–48, 50; lack of scholarly research about, 5, 217n3; later years, 78–81; lesbian relationships, 48–50, 62–63 (see also Chadbourne, Emily Crane); as Liberator contributing editor, 10; as National Organization for Public Health Nursing director, 46; nicknamed “Organization,” 37; parents, 41; pets, 76, 80–81, 198, 201–2, 209; physical appearance, 37, 42, 78, 80; political ideology, 16, 36–37, 48, 52, 55, 74, 75, 79; pre-war nursing career, 43–47; prose style, 4, 20–22, 28, 56–57, 65; retirement from public life, 80, 86; G. Stein’s influence on, 20–21, 65; in suffrage movement, 47–48, 49–53, 54, 83; trans-Atlantic trips, 76; travels in Asia and Africa, 71–73, 75, 77–78, 85, 227n140; tuberculosis care involvement, 44–47, 82, 83; on war, 23, 26
La Motte, Ferdinand (father), 41
La Motte, Ferdinand, Jr. (brother), 41
La Motte, Mary Augusta (sister), 41
“La Patrie Reconnaissante” (The Grateful Nation) (La Motte), 17, 67, 101–8; comparison with Catch-22, 22
Latin Quarter, Paris, 148
La Touraine (ship), 58, 70–71, 226n121
League of Nations, Opium Committee, in Geneva, 76, 77
Le Feu (Under Fire) (Barbusse), 9
Le Rire (Laughter), 124
lesbian relationships: of Budenbach and Hasbrouck, 81; of La Motte, 48–50; of G. Stein, 54, 63, 64–65, 68–69. See also Chadbourne, Emily Crane
Liberator, The, 10–11, 12, 74, 94
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” 17, 134
Library of Congress, 60
Literary Guidepost, 13, 219n37
“Locomotor Ataxia” (La Motte), 19–20, 143–47
London: E. C. Chadbourne in, 61; La Motte in (1913), 51–53, 54; La Motte in (1914), 56, 57, 84; La Motte in (1920s), 76, 77, 86
Los Angeles Times, 6
“lost generation,” 21
Louise (lover of La Motte), 48–49, 50
“Manchukuo and the Opium Trade” (La Motte), 79
“Manet and the Post-Impressionists” (art exhibition), 60
marriage, war’s effects on, 18–19
Maryland, Senate Committee on Elections, 47, 50–51
Maryland Suffrage News, 51
Médaille Militaire, 16, 36, 98–99, 111, 116–17, 139–40
medical experimentation, 16, 156–57
Melville, Herman, 29
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 60
military draft, 149–51
military hospitals. See field hospitals
military medals: Croix de Guerre, 36, 104, 105, 110, 159–60; irony of, 15, 20, 36, 139–40, 159–60; Médaille Militaire, 16, 36, 98–99, 111, 116–17, 139–40; reasons for earning, 134; soldiers’ attitudes toward, 98–99, 140, 142
“Milk and Eggs for Consumptives” (La Motte), 46
“Modern Italian Hospital, A” (La Motte), 43
Morning News (Wilmington, DE), 7–8, 43
morphine (morphia), 115–16, 140
mortality rate: at field hospitals, 34–35; from tuberculosis, 46
Mortimer, Maud, 32, 33–34, 36; A Green Tent in Flanders, 32, 36–37
mothers: banned from war zone, 199; of typhoid patients, 45; of wounded children, 3, 120–23
“Municipal Care of Tuberculosis” (La Motte), 46
mutilation, 24, 173; fear of, 190; as outcome of surgery, 15, 98, 148–52
My Beloved Poilus (Warner), 32
National American Suffrage Association, 51
National Organization for Public Health Nursing, 46, 222n25
“Neglected Tuberculosis Child, The” (La Motte), 46
New Republic, 13
newspapers, censorship of, 11, 59. See also specific publications
New Voter, The, 48
New World, The, 9
New York American, The, 77
New York City, influenza epidemic, 74–75
Nieuport/Nieuwpoort, Belgium, 183
noncombatants. See civilians
“Nurse as Social Worker, The” (La Motte), 46
Nurse at the Front, A: The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton (Appleton), 30
nurse-patient ratio, 23–24, 176
nurses and nursing. See tuberculosis nursing; war nurses; war nursing; under La Motte, Ellen Newbold
Oakland Tribune, 51
officers: indifference to suffering, 70, 162–63; prostitutes and, 136–37; as source of “bravery,” 142, 159–60. See also generals
Opium in Geneva: Or How the Opium Problem is Handled by the League of Nations (La Motte), 76
Opium Monopoly, The (La Motte), 76
pacifists: Crane Gartz, 62; La Motte, 8–9, 37. See also antiwar sentiments
Pankhurst, Christabel, 54
Panthéon, Paris, 101n
Paris: expatriate community, 54, 63; German bombardment, 63; La Motte in (during WWI), 58–60, 66–70, 85; La Motte in (pre-war), 53–56, 57, 83; La Motte’s war nursing in, 58–59; social classes of, 57
patients: acceptance of suffering, 158–60; behavior toward fellow patients, 19–20, 98–99, 103–4, 145–47; censorship of letters, 133; children as, 119–23; civilians as, 119–23; dying, 3, 16, 17, 20, 36, 103, 115–18, 120–22, 127–29, 138, 139–42, 153–55, 160 (see also death and dying); La Motte’s admiration for, 24; with locomotor ataxia, 19–20; nonheroic qualities, 15–16, 98–100; physicians’ attitudes toward, 3; suicidal, 96–100; tubercular, 44–45, 82; wives of, 133–34, 135
peace time, death during, 138–39, 147
Pearson’s Magazine, 7
Peking, China, 71–72
Peking Dust (La Motte), 72, 75, 86
Petit Parisien (Little Parisian), 124
physicians. See surgeons
“Piqures—The Italian Method of Giving Medicine” (La Motte), 43
plastic surgery, 151–52
poetry, by war nurses, 30
Poperinghe, Belgium: bombardment, 185, 195n13, 198–99; “joy ride” to, 5, 28, 69, 70, 85, 185, 195–209
“Pour la Patrie” (For the Nation) (La Motte), 16, 20, 138–42
poverty and the poor, 44–45, 55
“Present Attitude of the Tuberculosis Nurse towards Her Work, The” (La Motte), 46
“Present Status of Tuberculosis Work Among the Poor” (La Motte and Lent), 49
priest-orderlies, 128–29, 146–47, 153, 154
“Private Nursing in Italy” (La Motte), 43
prosthetics, 151–52
prostitutes and prostitution, 19, 78, 134, 135–37
public health work, of La Motte: 38, 43–47, 72–73, 75–78, 83, 86, 219n50; as National Organization for Public Health Nursing director, 46; tuberculosis nursing, 37, 44–47, 82, 83. See also under anti-opium campaign
Publisher’s Weekly, 6
racism, suffrage movement and, 50–51
Red Cross, 151, 152, 201; French, 33, 172, 176
réformés, 98
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 79
“Ruins of Angkor, The” (La Motte), 72
Salvation Army, 48
Secret Service Department, 73
Sedition Act, US, 7
Seeger, Alan, 103n11
Selassie, Haile, 77–78
Senate Banking and Finance Committee, 79
Shaw, Anna Howard, 51
shellfire: La Motte’s experience of, 26–29, 66, 69, 164, 185–94, 204–7; La Motte’s fear of, 27, 63, 67, 188, 203–4, 206. See also “Under Shell-Fire at Dunkirk”
shrapnel wounds, 24, 115, 116, 117, 156–57, 173
slaughterhouse analogy, of war, 22, 29, 202
Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut), 22, 29
smallpox vaccine, 43
Snuffs and Butters (La Motte), 64, 77
social classes, 16–17, 57, 132
social reform, 50
soldiers: antiwar statements, 16; attitudes toward military medals, 98–99, 140, 142; British, 202, 203, 204; Canadian, 196, 199–208; ennoblement, 19; French, 16, 19, 31, 143–47; German, 76–77, 136, 191; hygiene, 144–45, 173, 174; leisure activities, 202; suffrage movement and, 53; unmarried, 134. See also death and dying; wounded soldiers
Solomon, Eric, 22
Somme, Battle of, 103n11
souvenirs, of war, 69, 70, 186–87, 207
spies, 136–37
Stein, Gertrude, 20–21, 66, 69; “Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,” 63, 64–65; correspondence with E. C. Chadbourne, 66, 67, 68, 69, 79; correspondence with La Motte, 64–65, 79, 80; death, 65; “Emily Chadbourne,” 64; as J. Hemingway’s godparent, 219n46; “How Could They Marry Her?,” 63–64, 226n98; influence on Hemingway, 21–22; influence on La Motte, 20–22, 65; at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 54; on La Motte’s anti-opium work, 73; La Motte’s friendship with, 5, 54, 63–65; personal copy of The Backwash of War, 21–22, 219n48; salon, 54; in Spain, 68–69
Stein, Michael, 54
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6
St. Omer, France, 120
suffering: heroism of, 159–60; official indifference to, 17–18; patients’ acceptance of, 158–60; pointlessness of, 35–36, 139–42, 156–60
suffrage movement, 47–48, 49–53; in England, 51–53, 54, 56, 83; militancy of, 53; racism and, 50–51
Suffragette, The, 53
suicide attempts, 35. See also “Heroes”
surgeons: attitudes toward civilian patients, 3, 119–20; attitudes toward suicidal patients, 97; fame-seeking, 16, 35–36, 156–57; resentment among, 119–20; wives of, 133, 135; at work, 102, 114–15, 119–20, 126, 153–55
surgical operations: on children, 120; as medical experimentation, 35–36, 156–57; patients’ behavior during, 98, 153–55; pointless, 18, 98, 148–52, 153–55, 156–61; on suicidal patients, 96–97
surgical school, 114
“Surgical Triumph, A” (La Motte), 18, 148–52
Survey, The: A Journal of Constructive Philanthropy, 58, 84, 171
Switzerland, opium trade, 77
Testament of Youth (Brittain), 30
tetanus, 174
Text Book of War Nursing, A (Thurstan), 31–32
“Three Widows, The: The True Story of an International Crisis” (La Motte), 78
Thurstan, Violetta, 31–32
Toiler (Cleveland, OH), 12
Toklas, Alice B., 54, 63, 64–65, 68–69
travel writings, of La Motte, 72, 75
trench warfare, 17, 111, 127, 132; soldiers’ respite from, 202
triage, 143–45
Triple Entente alliance, 120
Trumbo, Dalton, 18
tuberculosis, 46
Tuberculosis Nurse, The; Her Function and Her Qualifications (La Motte), 53–54, 55–56, 57, 68, 71, 83–84
tuberculosis nursing, La Motte’s involvement, 37, 44–47, 82, 83
“Tuberculosis Work of the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association of Baltimore” (La Motte), 44
typhoid hospital, Dunkirk, 33
“Under a Wine-Glass” (La Motte), 75
Under Fire (Barbusse), 9
“Under Shell-Fire at Dunkirk” (La Motte), 5, 26–28, 66, 85, 181–94
United States: censorship of The Backwash of War, 4, 12–13, 74, 86, 94–95; Espionage Act (1917), 7, 10; Sedition Act (1918), 7
US Postmaster General, 11–12, 74, 86
US State Department, 73–74
“Value of Record Keeping, The” (La Motte), 46
Van Vorst, Marie, 32
Vassar College, 8
war: civilians’ acceptance of, 191; comparison with peacetime, 138–39, 147; as “dead-end occupation,” 15; La Motte’s views on, 8–9; slaughterhouse analogy, 22, 29, 202; wastefulness of, 24
war diaries, 30–31, 32, 36–37, 217n3
War Diary of Clare Gass, 1915–1918 (Gass), 30
war essays, La Motte’s, 23–29, 171–209
War Letters of an American Woman (Van Vorst), 32
war literature: for children, 28; post-WWI, 21; romantic approach, 16; of war nurses, 30–38; wartime works, 9, 19–20, 30–32; of WWII, 22
war nurses: at American Ambulance of Paris, 171–80; attitudes toward pediatric patients, 121–22; boredom of, 195–96; Canadian, 196; English, 23–24, 176–78, 183–84; La Motte’s colleagues, 32–37; paradoxical role of, 14–15; soldiers’ gratitude to, 30; uniforms of, 172; unique perspective of, 37–38; as writers, 30–38
war nursing: as “dead-end occupation,” 15, 98–99; standards of, 176–78
War Readings, 28
War That Used Up Words, The (Hutchison), 21
“War Treatment of Wounds and Illnesses” (Kerr), 219–20n50
war zone: English front, 196–97; entry into, 197; hazards of travel in, 195–209; La Motte’s entry into, 181; prostitution in, 134, 135–37; women banned from, 19, 133–34, 199; women in, 131–37
Washington, DC, 80, 81, 86; La Motte’s attendance at Senate hearings, 79; La Motte’s visits to White House, 79
Waugh, Evelyn, 78
Wesselhoeft, Amy von Erdberg, 55, 56–57, 59, 68, 71, 223n35
Western Front, 84, 93n1, 95, 183n6. See also war zone
Western imperialism, La Motte’s criticism of, 72, 75, 77
Wharton, Edith, 19
“While Britain Prays, Her Militants Sing Their Hymns of War” (La Motte), 52–53
wives: banned from war zone, 19, 133–34; of orderlies and surgeons, 133, 135; of patients, 133–34, 135
women: at the front (war zone), 131–37; as hospital volunteers, 24, 176; unmarried, 19; war nurse writers, 30–38; as war widows, 18, 140; “Women and Wives,” 19, 131–37. See also prostitutes and prostitution; suffrage movement; tuberculosis nursing; war nurses; war nursing
“Women and Wives” (La Motte), 16–17, 19, 131–37; tone of resignation in, 22
working class, 16–17, 132, 174
World War I: America’s entry into, 85; beginning of, 57, 84; censorship during, 4; end of, 75, 86; Hemingway on, 29
World War I literature: postwar, 21; war nurse writers, 30–38; wartime, 9, 19–20, 30–32
World War II literature, 22
World Women’s Party, 80
wounded soldiers: in Civil War, 32; desire to live, 139; dying words, 16, 107–8, 141–42, 154; fear of death, 31; fortitude, 31; gratitude to nurses, 30; high-risk, 34–35; La Motte’s descriptions, 15–16, 20–21, 24, 27, 31; La Motte’s first encounters with, 23–25, 27, 58–59, 65–67, 172, 173; as walking wounded, 143–47, 173. See also death and dying; suffering
X-rays: Madame Curie, 116; machines, 116, 174; radiographic cabinet, 66; radiographists, 116, 128
Ypres, Belgium, 119, 121, 122, 200–201; First Battle of, 30–31, 84, 200n11; “joy ride” near front line, 5, 8, 28, 29, 69, 70, 195–209; Second Battle of, 200n11; Ypres Salient, 85
Zeppelins, 134–35