Clara Barton (December 25, 1821-April 12, 1912) organized The American Red Cross on May 21, 1881. She had been a schoolteacher, and moved to Washington at the outbreak of the Civil War. The first woman to be a clerk at the U.S. Patent Office, Clara Barton distributed relief supplies to wounded soldiers and, at the request of President Lincoln, aided for nearly four years in searching for missing soldiers.
One day after carrying a wounded soldier off the battlefield of Antietam, September 17, 1862, Clara Barton said:
<A ball had passed between my body and the right arm which supported him, cutting through the sleeve and passing through his chest from shoulder to shoulder. There was no more to be done for him and I left him to his rest. I have never mended that hole in my sleeve. I wonder if a soldier ever does mend a bullet hole in his coat?> 1821CB001
After the being at some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including, Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Second Manassas, Virginia, Antietam, Maryland, and Fredericksburg, Virginia, Clara Barton, stated:
<What could I do but go with them [Civil War Soldiers], or work for them and my country? The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.> 1821CB002
The National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spottsylvaina has records that Clara Barton first visited Chatham or 'Lacy House' in early August, 1862, bringing food and hospital supplies to help "her boys." She returned to Chatham during the Fredericksburg Campaign, December, 1862.
Watching soldiers build pontoon bridges, she experience the city's bombardment on December 11. As wounded men were brought into the house, she comforted soldiers from both sides. Later that day, a physician requested her help in the city, requiring her to cross the pontoon bridge. As she stepped off, an officer offered her his hand. Suddenly a shell passed under their arms, tearing away part of her skirt and his coattail. Shortly afterward, Clara saw the dead body of this officer.
She set up a soup kitchen in town and spent much of the next day at the Lacy House, which had become a hospital for the Union 2nd Corps. As doctors were too busy to keep medical records during battle, Clara wrote in her diary the names of the men who died and where they were buried. Her diary is at the Clara Barton National Historic Site in Maryland.
On December 13, the heaviest fighting of the battle occurred. Her diary is one of only two sources that mention a shot striking the Lacy House. She watched in horror from the doorway as a fragment from an exploding shell severed a soldier's artery. She applied a tourniquet that saved the man's life.
Crossing the river, a Union provost marshall thought she was a civilian and volunteered to escort her to safety. Looking at the thousands of Union soldiers around her, she politely turned down the offer saying that she was the best protected woman in the world. When a shell struck the door of the room she was in, "she did not flinch, but continued her duties" of assisting the doctors.
For the next two weeks at Chatham, she saw "hundreds of the worst wounded men I have ever seen." They occupied every room of the house and "covered every foot of the floors and porticos." She wrote that they lay on the stair landings and a man "thought himself rich" if he laid under a table where he would not be stepped on. She saw five men stuffed onto four shelves of a cupboard. Still the 12,000 square-foot building did not contain enough space to hold all the wounded of the 2nd Corps. Many were placed on blankets in the muddy yard where they shivered in the cold December air as they waited for someone inside to die creating a space for them. Clara set up a soup kitchen in a tent in the yard to help them.
The Library of Congress has a letter Clara Barton wrote to her cousin from Chatham:
<Head Quarters 2nd Div. 9th Army Corps-Army of the Potomac Camp near Falmouth, Va.
December 12th, 1862 - 2 o'clock A.M. My dear Cousin Vira:
Five minutes time with you; and God only knows what those five minutes might be worth to the many-doomed thousands sleeping around me. It is the night before a battle. The enemy, Fredericksburg, and its mighty entrenchments lie before us, the river between - at tomorrow's dawn our troops will assay to cross, and the guns of the enemy will sweep those frail bridges at every breath. The moon is shining through the soft haze with a brightness almost prophetic.
For the last half hour I have stood alone in the awful stillness of its glimmering light gazing upon the strange sad scene around me striving to say, "Thy will Oh God be done." The camp fires blaze with unwanted brightness, the sentry's tread is still but quick - the acres of little shelter tents are dark and still as death, no wonder for us as I gazed sorrowfully upon them. I thought I could almost hear the slow flap of the grim messenger's wings, as one by one he sought and selected his victims for the morning.
Sleep weary one, sleep and rest for tomorrow toil. Oh! Sleep and visit in dreams once more the loved ones nestling at home. They may yet live to dream of you, cold lifeless and bloody, but this dream soldier is thy last, paint it brightly, dream it well.
Oh northern mothers wives and sisters, all unconscious of the hour, would to Heaven that I could bear for you the concentrated woe which is so soon to follow, would that Christ would teach my soul a prayer that would plead to the Father for grace sufficient for you, God pity and strengthen you every one.
Mine are not the only waking hours, the light yet burns brightly in our kind hearted General's tent where he pens what may be a last farewell to his wife and children and thinks sadly of his fated men. Already the roll of the moving artillery is sounded in my ears. The battle draws near and I must catch one hour's sleep for tomorrow's labor. Good night near cousin and Heaven grant you strength for your more peaceful and less terrible, but not less weary days than mine. Yours in love, Clara.> 1821CB003
Clara Barton stated:
<In time of peace we must prepare for war, and it is no less a wise benevolence that makes preparation in the hour of peace for assuaging the ills that are sure to accompany war...I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better...I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past.> 1821CB004
Clara Barton helped in hospitals in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and in Europe during the Franco-German war, working with Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross. Clara Barton established the first permanent American Red Cross society and headed the organization until 1904. She stated:
<An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness.> 1821CB005
<I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.> 1821CB006
<I am well and strong and young - young enough to go to the front. If I cannot be a soldier, I'll help soldiers.> 1821CB007
President William McKinley stated regarding Clara Barton in his Second Annual Message, December 5, 1898:
<It is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American National Red Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and later, under the able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba.
Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support which it has received at the hands of the American people.
To the members and officers of this society and all who aided them in their philanthropic work the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public is due and is freely accorded. In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us and His safe guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers humble prayer for the continuance of His favor.> 1821CB008
President Woodrow Wilson mentioned the Red Cross in his Proclamation of a Contribution Day for the aid of stricken Jewish people, January 11, 1916:
<Whereas in the various countries now engaged in war there are nine millions of Jews, the great majority of whom are destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; and...have been driven from their homes without warning, deprived of an opportunity to make provision for their most elementary wants, causing starvation, disease and untold suffering; and
Whereas the people of the United States of America have learned with sorrow of this terrible plight of millions of human beings and have most generously responded to the cry for help...Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States...do appoint and proclaim January 27, 1916, as a day upon which the people of the United States may make such contributions as they feel disposed for the aid of the stricken Jewish people. Contributions may be addressed to the American Red Cross, Washington, D.C., which will care for their proper distribution.> 1821CB009
Opening the Second Red Cross Drive in New York City, President Woodrow Wilson stated, May 18, 1918:
<Being members of the American Red Cross...a great fraternity and fellowship which extends all over the world...this cross which these ladies bore here today is an emblem of Christianity itself...When you think of this, you realize how the people of the United States are being drawn together into a great intimate family whose heart is being used for the service of the soldiers not only, but for the long night of suffering and terror, in order that they and men everywhere may see the dawn of a day of righteousness and justice and peace.> 1821CB010
On December 8, 1918, in an appeal of support for the American Red Cross just a month after the fighting in World War I had ceased, President Woodrow Wilson stated:
<One year ago, twenty-two million Americans, by enrolling as members of the Red Cross at Christmas time, sent to the men who were fighting our battles overseas a stimulating message of cheer and good-will...Now, by God's grace, the Red Cross Christmas message of 1918 is to be a message of peace as well as a message of good-will.> 1821CB011
On May 1, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt greeted the chairman of the American National Red Cross, Norman H. Davis, in Washington, D.C.:
<The great International Red Cross organization, founded 76 years ago to bring mercy to the battlefield...I am confident that whatever may be the problems which intensification of warfare may bring, the American people will respond to any appeal for funds when the Red Cross deems it necessary to call upon them for additional aid. By such response we can aid in sustaining the spirit and morale of those in distress abroad until the happy day we all pray for, when hostilities shall cease.> 1821CB012
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1821CB001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. September 17, 1862, statement after carrying a wounded soldier off a battlefield at the Battle of Antietam. http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/clarabarton.htm http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bartonclara/a/clara_barton_quotes.htm http://thinkexist.com/quotes/clara_barton/2.html
1821CB002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. Statement, September 17, 1862. Statement inscribed on the Clara Barton monument at the Battlefield of Antietam. http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/clarabarton2.htm
1821CB003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. December 12th, 1862, 2 o'clock A.M., letter to her cousin, Vira, from the Union Head Quarters 2nd Div., 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, Camp near Falmouth, Virginia.
1821CB004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. http://www.savannahtah.com/resources/barton/Clara_Barton_Unit.pdf http://www.tjedonline.com/free-article.php?id=178 Jone Johnson Lewis' Collection of Clara Barton Quotes. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bartonclara/a/clara_barton_quotes.htm http://www.savannahtah.com/resources/barton/Clara_Barton_Unit.pdf
1821CB005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. Statement. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bartonclara/a/clara_barton_quotes.htm
1821CB006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. Statement. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bartonclara/a/clara_barton_quotes.htm
1821CB007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. Statement. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bartonclara/a/clara_barton_quotes.htm
1821CB008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. William McKinley, December 5, 1898, in his Second Annual Message to Congress. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1789-1902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. X, pp. 173, 189-190.
1821CB009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, January 11, 1916, in a Proclamation of a Contribution Day for the aid of stricken Jewish people. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 20 vols. (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., prepared under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, of the House and Senate, pursuant to an Act of the Fifty-Second Congress of the United States, 1893, 1923), Vol. XVII, p. 8174-8175.
1821CB010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Baron. (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, May 18, 1918, at the opening of the Second Red Cross Drive in New York City. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 20 vols. (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., prepared under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, of the House and Senate, pursuant to an Act of the Fifty-Second Congress of the United States, 1893, 1923), Vol. XVII, pp. 8503-8504.
1821CB011. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. December 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson stated in an appeal of support for the American Red Cross just a month after the fighting in World War I had ceased.
1821CB012. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Clara Barton. May 1, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt greeted the chairman of the American National Red Cross, Norman H. Davis, in Washington, D.C.