If you had asked me who were the most
famous nurses in history when I was in grammar school, I would have answered
Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. Somewhere between eighth grade and
college, I learned that Dorothea Dix was also a famous nurse. Born in Hampden,
Maine, in 1802, Dorothea was raised by her grandmother in Boston because her
parents suffered from alcoholism. As a young woman, she was driven to reform mental
health care across the country. During the Civil War, she served as the
Superintendent of Army Nurses and recruited dedicated women to care for the
sick and wounded. Recently, proving that you’re never too old to learn, I added a fourth nurse to my list. In 1861, Sarah Sampson from Bath, Maine,
followed her husband and his company to the battlefields of the Civil War. The
redoubtable Sarah Smith Sampson was born in 1832 and married in 1855. When her
husband, Captain Charles A. L. Sampson, left for Washington D.C. to serve with Company D of the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry, Sarah
insisted on accompanying him. She told the newly commissioned captain, one of the
best ship carvers in Bath, that she would make herself useful as a nurse. The
Sampsons had no children at that time, so Sarah was determined to take care of all the boys from Maine.
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| Savage's Station Field Hospital (June 1862) |
Mrs. C.A.L. Sampson was thirty-years old
and fearless, but she had no formal training as a nurse. At the time, no one
did. Florence Nightingale had established the Nightingale Training School for
Nurses in London in 1860—after serving as a British nurse in the Crimean War—
but nursing schools in America were still a twinkle in Dorothea Dix’s eye.
Sarah Sampson, however, would develop her healing skills in tents near the
battlefields of Bull Run, Gettysburg, Battle of the Wilderness
(Fredericksburg), Spotsylvania Courthouse, Savage's Station, and other blood-soaked places. She
would spend four weeks caring for the wounded at Gettysburg, she would serve
four years and six months near the frontlines, and she would remain in Virginia
through the summer of 1865 to plan for her “Maine boys” return home. Florence Nightingale once said, “How very
little can be done under the spirit of fear.”
To that point, Sarah Sampson’s courage saved lives, including the life
of a seventeen-year old soldier stricken with diphtheria and declared dead by
two Army surgeons.
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| C.A.L. Sampson, Bath ship carver |
In
1862, Lt. Colonel Sampson became disabled in the swamps of Chickahominy, and he left the battlefield without permission. Later, he was arrested. His disability, however, proved to be genuine, and he was completely exonerated. His wife, Sarah, accompanied him home to Bath, but she quickly returned to the fight and continued to
care for the troops. After the war, having witnessed the death of so many fathers, Sarah
returned to her home and husband determined to establish the Bath
Military and Naval Orphan Asylum. In 1866, her wish was granted. The orphanage opened on Walker Street; a year later, it was moved to a larger
home on South Street.
The mansion on the corner of South and High Streets was
conveyed to the state of Maine in trust by William Rogers on July 21, 1869. The circa-1800 house, built by
Samuel Davis, had been the home of William M. Rogers, the father of
the grantor, for many years. In 1870, responding to a growing need, Sarah brought fifteen orphans from the children's home to Augusta to appeal to the legislature for financial support. Once again,
her wish was granted. Bath’s orphan asylum was made a State institution and the
governor appointed John Patten, J. Parker Morse, General Thomas Hyde of Bath,
and N.A. Farwell of Rockland as trustees.
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| The orphans' home as it appears today |
Because of the determination of Sarah
Sampson and the passion of her board of “lady visitors,” including Mrs. Wm. F. Moses,
Mrs. J.T. Patten, Mrs. G.C. Goss, Mrs. John Shaw, and Mrs. N.F. Gannett, the State Military and Naval Orphan Asylum became a safe harbor
for hundreds of children. The president of the ladies’ board, Sarah Gannett,
reported on the status of the home in 1874: “The number of children in the family at the commencement of
the year was 57. To this number, eighteen have been added, and twenty have been
removed in various ways, as follows: fifteen returned to mothers, four adopted,
and one died.”
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| Col. Sampson's figurehead "Belle of Bath" |
Sarah Sampson served as the director of the orphans' home until 1881. Her husband, Colonel Sampson, is credited with creating some of the most stunning
figureheads for Bath-built ships, like Belle
of Bath, Florence, and Alice M. Minott. After his death, Sarah moved
to Washington D.C. with her adopted daughter, Beatrice, and continued helping
Maine veterans by working for the Pension Bureau.
For
as long as she lived, Sarah Sampson returned to Maine for the reunions of the 3rd
Maine Regiment, and she was regarded as one of the “old comrades of the march.”
At the 1906 reunion, the last before her death, Sarah was interviewed by the Bath Independent
about her choice to serve. She was quoted as saying, “There is a good deal of
the gypsy about me, and I always thought it would be fun to live in a tent.”
She also described her meeting with President Abraham Lincoln: “He was the best
man I ever saw on Earth.”
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| "Tea with Sarah Sampson" at Winter Street 5/9/2020 |
Sarah
Smith Sampson is buried at site 1261 in section one of Arlington National
Cemetery. She is buried with Army nurses, an honor only bestowed to the brave.
If you would like to learn more about Nurse Sarah Sampson, visit the History Room at the Patten Free Library. The room’s manager guided me toward
a wonderful file of articles, letters, and images. She also posed a question: Does Sarah Sampson’s
grave at Arlington receive a Maine Christmas wreath every year? I don't know the answer, but I would like to find out. If you can help, send me a message. And if you happen to be in or around Bath on May 9, 2020, come
to the Winter Street Center at 2:00 p.m. and have “Tea with Sarah Sampson.” Sagadahoc
Preservation, Inc. is sponsoring this inaugural tea as a fundraiser.
Borrowing from Campobello’s “Tea with Eleanor,” two local history buffs will
share their favorite stories about Bath’s lady with the lamp, and in the spirit
of Sarah’s loving heart, homemade cookies will be served.
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