A Revolutionary Asset to the World: Clara Barton and her Impact on Medicine, Women's Rights

and Education

Eliza Borysenko

Senior Division, Historical Paper

1,800 words

Introduction

“You must never so much think as whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not; you

must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it." 1

In 1833, during a barn raising, Clara’s younger brother, David, fell from the rafters of

their family barn. It was at this time Clara was called to her first act of duty. At the young age of

11, Clara became David's nurse, taking off two years of school to care for him. She administered 2

medicine to him and even applied and removed leeches to her brother’s wounds when the doctor

proposed it might help to “bleed” David. Before the doctors could even begin to treat David, 3

Clara began to treat him, without anyone asking her to do so. This was something she did

herself, relying on her own innate behavior. This was just a stepping stone of Clara’s

revolutionary career.

Five years later, in 1838, when Clara was sixteen, she was paid a visit from the famous

Fowler brothers, renowned phrenologists. The brothers studied the brain, an organ of the mind;

however, they specifically examined the bumps on one's head in order to, supposedly,

determine the future of that person. Once examining Clara through this process, they came to 4

the conclusion that Clara should become a teacher, and that this would help, additionally, to

abate her shyness, as she was very shy. She used this insight to the best of her advantage and 5

took a stand by becoming a teacher in a one-roomed schoolhouse. As a teacher, Clara excelled.

1 Padgett, Ken, “Clara Barton The Angel of the Battlefield.” agilewriter. Accessed September 18, 2016. https://agilewriter.com/Biography/ClaraBarton.htm 2 “Clara’s Life.”Clara Barton Birthplace Museum. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://clarabartonbirthplace.org/site/?q=node/13 3 Ibid 4 Peggy, Baker, The “First Family” of Phrenology (Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum) http://www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org/pdf/Phrenology.pdf 5“Clara Barton” HistoryNet, Accessed September 18, 2016. http://www.historynet.com/clara-barton

She was able to encourage the imagination of her students so that they were excited to learn. She

continued to hone her pedagogical skills by working with younger children. Barton also began to

develop relationships with her students, another key skill she would need as she later developed

relationships with everyone from the hopeless of the battlefield to the supreme executives in the

Oval Office. As her life would progress, Barton took her stand in history by sacrificing herself to

the care and betterment of the lives of others through her gifts of medicine, intellect, pedagogy

and feminism.

1862: The battle of Antietam

Before the commencement of the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, Barton knew

her gifts would be most useful where the suffering was occurring the most: on the battlefield of

the American Civil War. Being a woman, she knew she would encounter obstacles in serving on

a man’s battlefield. She eventually stood up for herself and persuaded the U.S government to

allow her to bring her voluntary, pro bono services and medical supplies to the battleground. In 6

so doing, she was defining and taking a stand at what was, at the time, a man’s job.

At Antietam, Barton was never fulfilled simply manning the medical units at the rear of

the wagons for hours, sometimes days, which were stationed away from the action of the war.

Eventually she became so dissatisfied that she ordered the drivers of the supply wagons she was

serving to follow the cannons, causing them to travel all night. During their journey through the 7

night, Barton felt “There was a sense of impending doom”. By the time they arrived at 8

Antietam, around noon on September 17th, the surgeons had run out of bandages and were trying

6 “Founder Clara Barton.” The American Red Cross. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton 7 Ibid 8Barton, Clara. Clara Barton and the International Red Cross Association. (Library of Congress), https://www.nps.gov/clba/learn/historyculture/antietam.htm

to wrap the soldiers with corn husks. In Clara's urgency, she quickly brought her wagons of 9

medical supplies and assisted and taught men who were able-bodied to perform first aid, carry

water and prepare food. As the war raged, she and her assistants continued to help aid the men 10

of the battlefield. At times of battle, Clara wrote: “I always tried... to succor the wounded until

medical aid and supplies could come up - I could run the risk; it made no difference to anyone if

I were shot or taken prisoner.” Barton also set up lanterns, which were supplied by her, to 11

enable army medical personnel to work through the night. As soldiers were amidst trauma, 12

Barton took the men in as her own, sitting with them, comforting them, reading letters from

loved ones and writing to loved ones on their behalf. Many times Barton took the initiative by

herself, making quick, executive decisions, caring and aiding the soldiers ( e.g., at Antietam)

whilst taking a stand for herself as a woman.

Said Barton: “The conflict is one thing I've been waiting for. I’m well and strong and

young -- young enough to go to the front. If I cannot be a solider, I’ll help soldiers.” 13

Eventually, through her first - hand experiences on the battlefield, Barton evolved from a shy

woman to one who was becoming increasingly self assured.

1865, “Missing Soldiers Office”

In January, 1865, Barton returned to Washington D.C., where she started to do careful 14

research of the missing soldiers of the Civil War in the hope of finding them. During the war,

9 Ibid 10 Ibid 11“Things you may not know about Clara Barton”, The Chronicle of Nursing . Published January 1, 2008, http://www.asrn.org/journal-chronicle-nursing/267-things-you-may-not-know-about-clara-barton.html 12Barton, Clara. Clara Barton and the International Red Cross Association. (Library of Congress), https://www.nps.gov/clba/learn/historyculture/antietam.htm 13 Linda, Case, Bold Beliefs in Camouflage (Neche, North Dakota: Friesen Press, 2013), p. 202 14 Maclean, Maggie. “Clara Barton (The Angel of the Battlefield). The Ohio State University History Department. Published June 23, 2013. https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield

Barton wisely had recorded information pertaining to the “soldier boys” and the divisions to

which they belonged, which, in turn, provided her an abundance of data about them. She was 15

thus able to write to the families who inquired about the soldiers who had been missing.

With President Abraham Lincoln becoming aware of her advancement, service and the

stand she took towards the Civil War, “In March, he appointed her General Correspondent for

the Friends of Paroled Prisoners.” Her appointment to this lofty purpose by none other that the

President himself served as an aspirational model for other young women of her generation. 16

Her duty was to locate missing soldiers and respond to the families of the lost men, which then

required her to do more research, as her own collective data was not enough. This being the 17

case, she then established The Bureau of Records Of Missing Men of the Armies of the United

States and hired twelve assistants to assist her in the overwhelming task of responding to over

63,000 letters from families of missing sons, grandsons, husbands, and friends. 18

Her writings later led to the publication of the Rolls of Missing Men , which were

distributed across the country so that anyone with any knowledge of the men’s whereabouts or

of their deaths could contact her. By the time Barton and her assistants sent the letters, they 19

had identified more than 22,000 soldiers; sadly, however, many were never accounted for. 20

15 Ibid 16 Ibid 17 Wheeler, Linda, and Sarah Richardson. "Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office Unveiled." Civil War Times 51, no. 4 (2012): 14. U.S. History in Context (accessed November 19, 2016). http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A295446220/UHIC?u=gree82036&xid=294c7340. 18 Maclean, Maggie. “Clara Barton (The Angel of the Battlefield). The Ohio State University History Department. Published June 23, 2013. https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield 19 Ibid 20Padgett, Ken, “Clara Barton The Angel of the Battlefield.” agilewriter. Accessed September 18, 2016. https://agilewriter.com/Biography/ClaraBarton.htm

Upon completion of her research, she wrote her final report in 1869 for the US Congress about

the soldiers who were still missing.

Barton and her assistants conducted their research in what was the “Missing Soldiers

Office” in a small attic , later discovered by Richard Lyons of the General Services 21

Administration (GSA). Barton rented the space to live in during the war. She also used the space

to store medical supplies donated for the battlefield. 22

1882: The American Red Cross

In 1865, after Clara's tremendous service in trying to locate missing soldiers, her doctor

prescribed that she go to Europe and rest for a while, which she did. In addition to restoring her 23

health while in Europe, she found herself discovering more about service work. In 1869 Barton

discovered the Red Cross of Geneva, Switzerland. Eventually, this led Barton to read A 24

Memory of Solferino , a book by Henry Dunant , founder of the International Red Cross. In his 25 26

memoir, he describes the proceedings of the Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 . Dunant relates: 27

“One man had a fractured leg, and it seemed almost completely severed from his body, so that

each jolt of the cart [he was in] made his suffering more agonizing.” Dunant took notice of 28

these excruciating events that he witnessed and then later explained the need for neutral

21 See figure 1 in Appendix A. 22 Wheeler, Linda, and Sarah Richardson. "Clara Barton's missing soldiers office unveiled." Civil War Times 51, no. 4 (2012): 14. U.S. History in Context (accessed November 19, 2016). http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A295446220/UHIC?u=gree82036&xid=294c7340. 23 Maclean, Maggie. “Clara Barton (The Angel of the Battlefield). The Ohio State University History Department. Published June 23, 2013. https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield 24 Ibid 25 See figure 2 in Appendix A. 26 “Founder Clara Barton.” The American Red Cross. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton 27 Frederick, Schneid, The Second War of Italian Unification 1859–61, (Great Britain: Osprey Publishing, 2012), p. 19-31 28 Henry, Dunant, A Memory Of Solferino (Geneva, Switzerland: American Red Cross, 1939) p. 54

international agreements to protect the sick and the wounded in times of war through the Ten

Articles of 1864, also known as the Geneva Convention . 29

After reading Dunant’s book, Barton, now as an advocate for the United States, stood up

for what she believed to be right and fought hard for the US to become a signatory of the Geneva

Convention. The ratification of the Geneva Convention in the United States would allow the 30

United States to have its own Red Cross as well as be subject to the Ten Articles of the [First]

Geneva Convention with the intent to prevent future suffering to the degree that those articles

might be able. In 1882, President James Garfield's successor, Chester Arthur, signed the 31

Geneva Convention and it was approved by the US Senate several days later. 32

Thereafter, Barton and her Red Cross focused on disaster relief. Barton and her team 33

did everything from sending steamers up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to sending

supplies to accommodate flood victims in 1884 to sending roadcars of Iowa cornmeal and flour 34

to the Russians suffering of starvation during the famine of 1892. In 1893, Barton and her 35

American Red Cross devoted ten months in helping an African-American population rehabilitate

and recover their agriculture after a deadly hurricane and tidal wave had left over 5,000 dead on

29 Ibid p. 142-145 and figure 3 in Appendix A. 30 “Founder Clara Barton.” The American Red Cross. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton 31 Henry, Dunant, A Memory Of Solferino (Geneva, Switzerland: American Red Cross, 1939) p. 142-145 32 “Founder Clara Barton.” The American Red Cross. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton 33 Ibid 34 Padgett, Ken, “Clara Barton The Angel of the Battlefield.” agilewriter. Accessed September 18, 2016. https://agilewriter.com/Biography/ClaraBarton.htm 35 “Founder Clara Barton.” The American Red Cross. Accessed September 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton

the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Barton not only stood up for the missing void that constituted 36

the US not yet being a signatory of the Geneva convention, but eventually went on to lead the

Red Cross through many complex and devastating situations.

Conclusion

The result of Barton’s influential actions were such that she led and took a stand in what

might be called the United States medical revolution; but she also took a stand globally, aiding

and teaching others through times of worry and hopelessness. She took initiative and sacrificed

to help the wounded and teach the uneducated amidst deadly situations. Barton modelled an

example of selflessness by putting herself on the frontline to help and advocate for others. She,

by defying the status quo system of medicine, education and male leadership of her time,

advocated for young girls, young people in general and for the United States in her founding of

the American Red Cross, using her gifts of medicine, intellect and feminism. Her philosophy

was that if one cares, one ought to put others before of oneself and use one’s gifts to help others.

The result of such selfless behavior is that one, inevitably, takes a stand in history and leaves a

mark on the world.

36 “The Monthly: The 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane.” Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute. Published July 4, 1014. http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/feature/aug2013_dom.aspx also see figure 4 in Appendix A.

Appendix A

Figure 1: Henry Dunant, Swiss author and philanthropist, founder of the Red Cross Society,

between 1935 and 1945. Image, Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Division.

Figure 2: Dunant, Henry A Memory Of Solferino. Image, Courtesy of The International

Committee of The Red Cross.

Figure 3: The Twelve States. The Geneva Convention from A Memory Of Solferino . Image,

Courtesy of International Committee of The Red Cross.

Figure 4: Hurricane Hugo. 1893. Image, Courtesy of University of South Carolina Arts &

Sciences.

Annotated Bibliography

Eliza Borysenko

Primary Sources

Barton, Clara. Antietam: An excerpt from Clara Barton and the International Red Cross

Association. National Park Service, 1862.

This is a primary source written by Barton herself. There are many quotes and feelings

that are very readable and which contribute to the understanding of Barton as a person

and her time at Antietam. I found it easy to see the who, what, where, why and how of

the scenario taking place through her thorough descriptions in the excerpt. Said

descriptions also reveal the many different ways in which she took a stand in history; e.g.,

her gifts of medical know- how, education and feminism. What particularly struck me

was Clara's incredible strength to persevere and her determination to solve the many

conflicts that were thrown her way.

"Clara Barton | American Red Cross Founder | Who Is Clara Barton." American Red Cross.

Accessed November 19, 2016. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/clara-barton.

Given that Barton founded this association, this makes it a primary source. A descriptive

timeline of Barton's life is described in this page, including her time as a recording clerk

in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., until her death on April 12, 1912.

The subcategories that contained the most useful information were Civil War Service ,

The International Red Cross and Founding and Leading the American Red Cross . One

subcategory in particular to which I was drawn was the book A Memory of Solferino by

Henry Dunant. This book inspired Barton to emulate the ideologies of said author, which

led to her establishing the American Red Cross.

"Clara's Life | Clara Barton - Birthplace Museum." Clara's Life | Clara Barton - Birthplace

Museum. Accessed November 23, 2016. http://clarabartonbirthplace.org/site/?q=node/2.

The Birthplace Museum is an actual museum which contains the home where Clara grew

up as a child. They also have a website with an abundance of valuable information on

Barton and her life. While viewing this primary source, I was able to find most of my

information on the “Clara’s Life” page and “Clara’s Family” page. Both provided me

with most of my information on how she took a stand on the world early on in her life.

The site also provided me with primary images and background information on the Civil

War.

Dunant, Henry. A Memory Of Solferino. Geneva, Switzerland. International Committee of The

Red Cross. 1939.

Vividly, Dunant describes the scenery of men fighting and of not being properly taken

care of. This leads him to the notion of wanting a change. Dunant explains the changes he

wishes to see in the aid of wounded soldiers in the 10 Articles of the Geneva Convention,

a revolutionary set of ideas which provides that anyone of

any decent, race or profile is to be properly cared for (Articles five and six). This

source includes images of the Geneva Convention , signed by the Twelve States,

a primary source that was very useful for me.

Secondary Sources

Case, Linda. Bold Beliefs in Camouflage . Neche, North Dakota: Friesen Press, 2013

In this source I found some interesting quotes by Clara Barton and people of her time

which gave me more of a perspective of what Clara's life was like. A particular quote I

found that was very impactful was “The conflict is one thing I've been waiting for. I’m

well and strong and young -- young enough to go to the front. If I cannot be a solider, I’ll

help soldiers.” This quote helped me to understand Barton's feminist views and

perspective, the ways in which she took a stand in history.

HistoryNet. "Clara Barton | HistoryNet."History Net.Accessed September 30, 2016.

http://www.historynet.com/clara-barton.

Similar to the descriptions of Barton in the American Red Cross’s website, this site

contains an even more detailed timeline of Barton's life, from year by year. This

source includes information from childhood to death. I got most of my information about

Civil War missing soldiers in the the sections about the missing soldiers. From this

source, I also got my information regarding her outreaches, including the Russian

Famine of 1892. What stood out to me was that even after such a short time of being the

founder of a national society, Barton was already helping the global community.

Fortin, Elaine. "Early Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Women and Their Roles as

Represented By Literature Popular in Worcester, Massachusetts."

Early Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Women and Their Roles as Represented By

Literature Popular in Worcester, Massachusetts | Teach US History. Accessed November 23,

2016.http://www.teachushistory.org/detocqueville-visit-united-states/articles/early-19th-century-

attitudes-toward-women-their-roles.

In order to clearly explain how Barton was a women's rights activist at this time, and the

way in which she took a stand in the world, I had to find evidence that showed women

were discriminated against during her lifetime. Through this source, I was able to explain

that when Barton wanted to help in war, she was opposed by an all-male dominance at

the time. This sources exposes the demeaning attitudes toward women of the day. This

source also describes women’s roles in society, which were mainly domesticated, home

jobs. Barton defied these social mores and did what was a man's job at the time.

"Henry Dunant (1828-1910)." ICRC. Accessed November 23, 2016.

https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnvq.htm.

In this source, I was provided information on Henry Dunant with a brief description of

Dunant's life, starting with when he was born and where he grew up. As young as 25, he

was already approaching Napoleon with different concerns. Later, Dunant sought out the

Emperor commanding the Franco-Sardinian troops, which was how he appeared

at the end of the battle of Solferino. In Durant's return to Geneva, Dunant wrote A

Memory Of Solferino, which eventually led to the establishment of the International

Committee of the Red Cross, the most significant achievement of Dunant. This was the

information I primarily used when writing my essay regarding the establishment of the

American Red Cross.

MacLean, Maggie. "Clara Barton (The Angel of the Battlefield)." Clara Barton (The Angel of the

Battlefield) | EHISTORY. Accessed November 25, 2016.

https://ehistory.osu.edu/biographies/clara-barton-angel-battlefield.

I found this source to be the most interesting source I read because of the thorough and

fact-filled descriptions of the the many battles in the Civil War in which Barton

participated. In the section “At Antietam”, there was a very useful and interesting

primary source: The 40th U.S. Congress in 1869 , written by Clara Barton in which she, in

her own perspective, describes “The Missing Soldiers” situation.

Padgett, Ken. "Clara Barton." Biography of Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross.

Accessed November 22, 2016. https://agilewriter.com/Biography/ClaraBarton.htm.

This source, similar to another I have, gives a very brief description of a year to year

chronology of Barton's life, starting with the time she with her birth. The author includes

a primary quote said by Barton that I used in my essay to help describe the personality of

Barton: "You must never so much think as whether you like it or not, whether it is

bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it."

This quote displays the self sacrificing personality of Barton as well as her go-getter

attitude. Barton let nothing get in her way, as the author describes, which was

unprecedented for the women of her time and, as such, left Barton a revolutionary in the

retrospect of history. Schneid, Frederick. The Second War of Italian Unification

1859–61.

Great Britain: Osprey Publishing, 2012. Schneid does an amazing job describing the

proceedings of the Second War of the Italian Unification in the section “Revolutions,

Plots, and Planning.” The author follows by describing the events after the Second War

of

the Italian Unification in The Portrait of a Soldier: Giuseppe Cesare Abba and Garibaldi’s

Thousands. This source was useful primarily for the section regarding the Second War of

the Italian Unification. It was also useful for its mentioning of Henry Dunant and his

writings of A Memory of Solferino.

"The 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane." The 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane. Accessed November 28,

2016. http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/feature/aug2013_dom.aspx.

Although this source was mostly just useful for its image of Hurricane Hugo, it also

provided me with some context of the hurricane and the mortalities it caused. It also

describes the aftermath of the hurricane and the devastation it caused to the community.

The photo provided by University of South Carolina Arts and Sciences, is a picture of

wreckage caused by the hurricane which was essential for explaining the laborious work

contributed by Clara Barton and her Red Cross to clean and restore this community.

"Things You Should Know About Medicine Cabinets." Nursing 25, no. 1 (1995): 29-30.

doi:10.1097/00152193-199501000-00018.

This source included great information on the “Missing Soldiers Office” and some

specifics of the event. Barton’s fervent effort to find the missing soldiers was evident in

this source which was useful for the purposes of describing the stand Barton took and

importance of the tasks Barton and her Red Cross fulfilled. This was also another very

interesting source I read due to the fact that it empowered me as a person to want to do

good through the model of her achievements.

Wheeler, Linda, and Sarah Richardson. "Clara Barton's missing soldiers office unveiled." Civil

War Times 51, no. 4 (2012): 14. U.S. History in Context (accessed December 12, 2016).

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A295446220/UHIC?u=gree82036&xid=294c7340.

Herein the location of Clara Barton's missing soldiers’ office was unveiled, as this source

provided the interesting site of where Barton and her team worked whilst attempting

to locate missing soldiers. Barton established her team in a rented attic . She initially

rented the space after the First World War and used the attic as a place to store her

medical supplies as well as an office to investigate missing soldiers.