10 x 14"
Watercolor, ink, chalk

Clara Barton

1821-1912

During the Civil War, Clara Barton, the “Angel of the Battlefield,” dedicated herself to nursing soldiers at the front:

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?

President Lincoln appointed her superintendent of Union nurses, enabling her to hire assistants and have supplies sent from all over the country delivered to the front.

After the war, he put her in charge of finding missing soldiers. A sign on the door said:

MISSING SOLDIERS OFFICE
3RD STORY ROOM 9

Through this office thousands of people learned the fate of loved ones and where they were buried.

Then Barton went to Europe for a rest. In Switzerland she learned about the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent as outlined in the Treaty of Geneva. Its purpose was to provide care for sick and wounded soldiers. Its emblem was a red cross on a white ground — the Swiss flag with its colors reversed.

When Barton returned to the United States she lobbied until we joined the Geneva treaty. Then she formed the American Red Cross and served as its first president, augmenting its function to provide disaster relief in peacetime as well as war.