WAR!

The United States entered the Great War -- now known as World War I -- on April 6, 1917. Physicians and hospitals around the country had already been organizing in anticipation President Woodrow Wilson would not be able to holdout against entering the war much longer after his election to a second term in November of 1916.

The American Red Cross, whose relief efforts would become almost synonymous with the war, was just a nascent organization in 1917. Formed in 1881, by 1914 the Red Cross had just 107 local chapters. That number leapt to 3,864 by 1918. Membership grew from 17,000 to over 20 million adults and 11 million junior members in that time.

In the early years of the war the Red Cross worked to raise capital, recruit new personnel, nurses, and medical professionals, and gather medical supplies and other necessary treatments, with limited success since few American lives were at stake. America's entry into the war changed everything and plans already under consideration were quickly called into action.

The Seattle Star, 29 Oct 1917, pg. 2.

The creation of base hospitals to serve overseas as part of the US Army was a large scale endeavor. Hospitals and universities around the country applied for authorization to form a unit. Dr. James Beaty Eagleson, of Seattle, was one of the many physicians who responded to the call and together with the support of the local Red Cross chapter and University of Washington (UW) President Henry Suzzallo, applied for authorization to form a hospital for the purpose of serving overseas.

In some respects the UW was an unlikely candidate. The university did not even have a medical school or nursing program and Seattle was far-removed from major centers of cutting edge medicine and teaching. The response from the Red Cross was formation was dependent on the Seattle's ability to raise $50,000 to outfit the hospital. The city was very successful in their fund-raising efforts and on October 25, 1917, Dr. Eagleson -- already a Major in the Medical Reserve Corps -- received a telegram confirming his appointment as "director of Red Cross Base Hospital No. 50, University of Washington".

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into the war and the centennial of war's end, November 11, 2017, this blog will tell the story of the hospital, its personnel and their experiences from its earliest days to the unit's return in 1919 in the midst the Spanish Flu pandemic. Please join us as we follow in the footsteps of Dr. Eagleson and the men and women who serviced in Base Hospital 50.