Monument to heroic nurse to be rededicated

A monument to Reubena Hyde Walworth, an upstate native who traveled to Montauk to care for quarantined soldiers during the Spanish-American War in 1898, is being rededicated Saturday to mark the refurbishment of the structure.

The 41-foot granite monument to a young woman with a patrician upbringing, the granddaughter of the last chancellor of New York State, stands in Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs.

Over the years, it had gone into disrepair, the brass letters falling off, moss clumping on its surface. The Daughters of the American Revolution, which was founded by Walworth's mother, Ellin Hardin Walworth, paid for the upgrade.

Reubena Walworth is part of both Montauk and Saratoga lore as a nurse who helped care for soldiers who had contracted typhoid fever and were quarantined at Camp Wyckoff in Montauk Point.

She eventually caught the disease, too, and died in 1898, being laid to rest with military honors. The monument was erected in 1899.

"She knew well that every generation of her esteemed family had served this nation in its hour of need," said Denise Doring VanBuren, New York State Regent for the Daughters of the American Revolution. "She had no brothers who could fight, and so she volunteered to serve."

Lisa J. Doan, Saratoga monument chairwoman, said the event will have dozens of guests including veterans, active-duty military and local politicians.

Doan will read a letter from one of the wounded soldiers who wrote to Ellin Hardin Walworth, saying that Reubena Walworth's gentle touch had comforted the soldiers at the facility.

"She gave service to our country with the Army as a nurse and as we honor and remember her we're taking this time to say 'thank you' to these veterans," Doan said.