Chapter IV: Part 3: Guide and Adviser 66 (3)

Barton was humiliated by the President’s clear endorsement of the opposition faction, but she was absolutely devastated by the subsequent decision to have a government committee investigate the Red Cross. The official charges maintained that proper books of accounts were not kept, that funds and contributions were not always reported to the Red Cross treasurer, and that money was distributed in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner. There was also a question about a tract of land located in Indiana that had been donated to the Red Cross but never reported to the organizational board. The charges were serious. Barton knew that she had often used only her own judgment to apportion relief funds and that she seldom kept accurate records in the field. She was so much a part of her organization that she often failed to differentiate between personal and Red Cross expenses—using her own funds for relief work and donations for private needs. Unofficially her foes also contended that she was too old and infirm to lead the Red Cross; they felt new blood was desperately needed.

Barton was deeply wounded by the controversy swirling around her. A loyal and patriotic woman, she felt that her friends and country had deserted her and that she had been scrupulously honest. For a time, she even considered fleeing to Mexico, but she was dissuaded by friends. Though the investigating committee dropped the charges, thereby completely exonerating her from any wrongdoing, she felt the indignity for the rest of her life.

It is ironic that the qualities Clara Barton cherished and exemplified most—loyalty and friendship, honesty and individual action—were the very ones in question during the investigation. She could not admit defeat, or even unconscious wrongdoing of any kind. There is no question that the time had come for her to give up leadership of the Red Cross, but it is sad that her foes could not have eased her out more gracefully or handled the situation with tact and sympathy. In May 1904, at the age of 83, Clara Barton resigned as president of the American Red Cross.

In retirement she broke all ties with the Red Cross but retained a lively interest in its activities. She often felt bitter about the events that preceded her resignation, and she particularly resented the way in which new Red Cross members were prejudiced against her—“ignorant of every fact, simply enemies by transmission.” She was also critical of the way in which the new Red Cross leaders approached relief work, especially during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. A small note of satisfaction is detected in a diary entry: “The President has withdrawn the distribution of public moneys contributed for San Francisco from the Red Cross.... He finds he made a mistake in giving too much power to the Red Cross.”

Still, she usually wished the best for the Red Cross. Her “one great desire” was to “leave my little immigrant of twenty-seven years ago a great National Institution.” And she hoped her successors would be “freed from the severity of toil, the anguish of perplexity, uncertainty, misunderstanding, and often privations, which have been ours in the past.”

One of her last public efforts was the formation, in 1905, of the National First Aid Society, which helped establish community aid programs. “I thought I had done my country and its people the most humane service it would ever be in my power to offer,” commented Barton, “But ... [the Red Cross] reached only a certain class. All the accidents concerning family life ... manufactories and railroads ... were not within its province. Hence the necessity and the opportunity for this broader work covering all.”

_Continues on page 62_

“I Would Never Wear Undeserved Honors”

Clara Barton was one of the most decorated women in United States
history. In appreciation of her courageous humanitarian services she
received ten badges and medals from foreign countries. Many of these
medals were conferred upon her in person by such leaders as Kaiser
Wilhelm I of Germany and his daughter Louise, the grand duchess of
Baden. In one instance, Abdul Mamed, the sultan of Turkey, was so
impressed with Barton’s methods of relief work that he accompanied his
medal with a message to the State Department: if America desired to
send further relief to Turkey, please send Clara Barton and her
workers.

Although she was never officially honored by the United States
government, Barton received many private medals and honorary
memberships from American organizations; the Loyal Legion of Women of
Washington, D.C., the _Waffengenossen_ (German-American soldiers who
took part in the Franco-Prussian War), the Vanderbilt Benevolent
Association of South Carolina, and the Ladies of Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, were among those that honored Clara Barton in this way.
One award she particularly valued was a medal presented to her in 1882
by the International Committee of the Red Cross, when America adopted
the Treaty of Geneva. Barton was also proud of the numerous “royal
jewels” which were gifts of her friends the grand duchess of Baden,
and Augusta, empress of Germany. Barton’s favorite among these was a
large amethyst, carved in the shape of a pansy.

She enjoyed her decorations without apology. They were in old boxes
inside a “simple little wicker satchel,” and she rarely let them out
of her sight. She even took them with her when she traveled. Visitors
to her Glen Echo home were always eager to see the medals, and Barton
was eager to show them. She would spend hours telling stories about
the decorations beginning with a gold Masonic emblem. “My father gave
it to me when I started for the front (during the Civil War),” Barton
would say, “and I have no doubt that it protected me on many an
occasion.”

Many of her favorite tales involved the Iron Cross of Germany; one of
these took place in Massachusetts. She had been invited to a ball at
which she wore a number of her medals. “I was being whirled around the
ballroom by some gallant or other when I saw three German officers
looking curiously at me as I passed. I wondered for a moment but
promptly forgot about it until, as we swung around the room again ...
the music suddenly stopped short. Everyone was gazing about
bewilderedly, when I saw three officers advancing toward me and
stopping, in front of me, gave the full German military salute. I was
thoroughly astonished, but rallied enough to return the salute, which
I fortunately remembered.” Barton thought the whole situation highly
amusing. “They did not know who I was,” she concluded, “they simply
dared not pass the Iron Cross without saluting it.”

Another humorous incident involved one of Barton’s royal jewels. Many
of the decorations were valuable in themselves, for they were
fashioned from gold and silver and set with diamonds, sapphires, and
exquisite enamel work. However, one brooch in particular was precious:
a large smoky topaz set in gold, and surrounded by 24 perfectly
matched pearls, the gift of the grand duchess of Baden. Once Barton
took the brooch to Tiffany’s in New York for repair. She was dressed
simply, as was her habit, and an efficient floorwalker suspected that
perhaps she was not the rightful owner of the jewel. Eventually a
manager was brought in who recognized Barton and cleared up the
matter. He then expressed his admiration of the topaz brooch,
especially the 24 pearls. Clara Barton liked to remember how
astonished the suspicious floorwalker was that “such a shabby woman
should own such remarkable jewels.”

Barton enjoyed wearing her decorations as much as talking about them
and she nearly always pinned on several before addressing an audience,
or attending a meeting. In her later years she was often seen weeding
the garden or milking the cows with one or two medals attached to her
cotton workdress. On one occasion she was nearly weighted down by
simultaneously wearing the Iron Cross, the Red Cross of Geneva, the
Masonic badge, the Silver Cross of Serbia, and the extremely heavy
Empress Augusta Medal. Said Barton: “They do brighten up the old
dress.”

The business of First Aid took up much of her time, but she continued her other interests. She attended and spoke at suffrage conventions and held a party for 400 feminists at her Glen Echo home. But she viewed with a jaundiced eye the arrival of the “suffragettes.” “Huge hats, dangerous hatpins, hobble and harem skirts,” she observed in her diary of 1911, “the conduct of the Suffragettes are [_sic_] hard to defend.” She mourned the death of Susan B. Anthony in 1906, and gave her final public remarks on behalf of women as a tribute to Anthony’s memory: “A few days ago someone said in my presence that every woman in the world should stand with bared head before Susan B. Anthony. Before I had time to think I said, ‘And every man as well.’ I would not retract the words. I believe her work is more for the welfare of man than for that of woman herself. Man is trying to carry the burdens of the world alone. When he had the efficient help of woman he should be glad, and he will be. Just now it is new and strange, and men cannot comprehend what it would mean. But when such help comes, and men are used to it, they will be grateful for it. The change is not far away. This country is to know woman suffrage, and it will be a glad and proud day when it comes.”

Barton was also kept busy by the work of two households—the Glen Echo house and a summer home in North Oxford, Massachusetts. She worked in the gardens, put up fruit and vegetables, did her own laundry, and even milked the cows. She also continued her voluminous correspondence, and wrote a slim autobiographical volume, _The Story of My_ _Childhood_. The book, published in 1907, was intended to be the first of a series. The work of writing was taxing, however, and she never finished the second volume. But she remained active. “I still work many hours, and walk many miles,” she proudly told friends in 1909. In her diary she wrote that she had had “a hard day’s work—but I am so thankful—so grateful that I can do it, and am not a helpless invalid to be waited on.”

Barton knew she was aging but fought it. Privately she conceded that “there is a lack of coordination between the brain and the limbs,” but publicly she resented any allusion to her age. She disliked giving away recent photographs of herself and wished people would accept pictures of her in “strong middle life.” She also fooled nature—and many people—by artistically covering her age. A young relative was amazed to find that Aunt Clara “was very particular about her make-up and in those days there were few people who dared use creams and rouge and powder, but Aunt Clara used them skillfully and the result was most amazingly good. She looked years younger when she had finished ... and her eyebrows were treated with a pencil, if you please.

“Next came the combing of her coal black hair which, by the way, had been dyed. Mother told me once when she was with Aunt Clara when she was sick for a long period and couldn’t have her hair attended to, it was lovely and white, but she would not have it so and wore it dyed black to the very last.

“After her face and hair were finished ... [she] put on her waist, but before buttoning it down the front, she stuffed tissue paper all across the front to make a nice rounded bust.”

She was, in many ways, an eccentric figure. Visitors were amused to see her weed the garden, her chest plastered with the decorations of foreign governments. She was always an individual in matters of dress, but her costumes became more unusual in her later years. Her favorite dress color was green and she enjoyed wearing a dash of red. One outfit had five ill-matching shades of green for skirt, sleeves, collar and bodice, two kinds of lace, red ribbon, “and about the bottom ... was a strip of the most awful old motheaten beaver fur, about six inches wide.” Financially, she was quite well off, but in the best New England tradition she practiced economy in all things.

When a part of her dress wore out, she apparently replaced it with whatever material was on hand.

Most of Clara Barton’s friends and family died before her, and in her last years she was often lonely. She sometimes thought her achievements were worthless beside the importance of friendship. “_What matters the praise of the world?_” Barton asked herself in her journal on February 6, 1907, “_and what matter after we leave it especially? How hollow is that thing called fame._”

Barton’s loneliness heightened what had been a mild interest in spiritualism. She used faith healers and urged them on others. From 1903 on she was a champion of Christian Science and was an outspoken defender of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. She also dabbled in astrology and became a firm believer in spiritualistic seances. Much of her time after 1907 was spent in the company of a medium. With complete sincerity Barton recorded conversations with Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman, with her family, and with old friends Susan B. Anthony, President McKinley, and Empress Augusta of Germany. She relied on these “spirits” for advice and persuaded Dr. Hubbell to depend on them, too. This had unfortunate repercussions. After Barton’s death, Hubbell was taken in by a woman who claimed to have made contact with Barton’s spirit. Hubbell was so under the influence of this woman that he actually gave her the house at Glen Echo. It was several years and court cases later before he got the house back.

Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912, at the age of 90. She had endured double-pneumonia twice in one year and was too weak to recover fully. Her last words, recalled from a favorite poem, were “Let me go, let me go.”

She was a remarkable woman. She was neither the Christ-like figure Dr. Hubbell idolized, nor the grasping Red Cross potentate that others saw. She was an individual capable of firm action, strong beliefs, and an ability to see a need clearly and fulfill it. To everything she did—schoolteaching, Civil War aid, and Red Cross relief—she brought strong idealism and unfailing energy. She was truly exceptional.

Guide and Adviser

Clara Barton National Historic Site: A Saga of Preservation

Clara Barton’s house in Glen Echo owes its existence to two unrelated facts: The 1889 Johnstown Flood and a plan for a housing development at Glen Echo. In 1890, two brothers, Edwin and Edward Baltzley, decided to develop a cultural and intellectual residential community in Glen Echo. The next year they established a branch of the National Chautauqua, an association dedicated to education and productive recreation. The Baltzley brothers approached Clara Barton and offered her a plot of land and the workmen necessary to build a structure if she would locate in their community. They hoped that the attraction of such a well-known personality as Barton would be a testimonial to the soundness of their enterprise.

The proposal suited Barton perfectly, for she was looking for a location on which she could build a new headquarters building for the Red Cross. After the Johnstown Flood she and Dr. Julian Hubbell had had one of the Red Cross warehouses dismantled and the lumber shipped to Washington, D.C., where she hoped to use it for the construction of the new headquarters building. The Baltzleys’ offer came just at the right moment and she accepted immediately. Although it was understood that it was Red Cross property, the land was deeded directly to her. The whole transaction was typical of the confusion that Barton allowed to exist between her private possessions and those of the Red Cross; she could never clearly separate the two.

Dr. Hubbell supervised the construction of the building, clearly following the lines of the Johnstown structure. Here, however, he added an extra flourish: a third floor “lantern” room over the central well. In the summer of 1891 Barton and Hubbell moved in, but she found daily travel to Washington, D.C., every day too taxing and decided to use the house at Glen Echo strictly as a warehouse.

In 1897 electric trolley lines made Glen Echo more accessible to Washington, and she decided once again to try living in Glen Echo. Extensive remodeling made the house livable. A stone facade originally built so that the Red Cross headquarters would harmonize with the nearby Chautauqua buildings, which were never built, was removed and the house was painted a warm yellow with brown trim.

The Glen Echo house was the headquarters of the American National Red Cross from 1897 to 1904. As such it was the scene of much official activity. But it was also a quiet retreat, a farm, and a home. Chickens and a cow provided food for the household that usually included eight or nine staff members. Frequent overnight guests and indigents sheltered by Clara Barton swelled this number further. Her horses, Baba and Prince, were housed in a stable, and cats Tommy and Pussy roamed the grounds. A large vegetable garden furnished fresh produce. The grounds were a profusion of flowers and vegetables mixed together. Visitors noted that carrots and beets edged the walkway out to the trolley stop. Beds of marigolds, corn, roses, and tomatoes grew together. Of particular pride to the owner were the two varieties of Clara Barton rose that were developed independently by two nurserymen: Conrad Jones in West Grove, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Hofmeister in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strawberry plants sent to her by the grateful farmers of Galveston, Texas, in appreciation of her services after the disastrous hurricane and tidal wave in 1900 provided great desserts each June.

In 1909 Barton deeded the house to Dr. Hubbell—perhaps in fear that the Red Cross might try to reclaim the building after her death. When she died in 1912, Dr. Hubbell together with Mrs. John Logan and Gen. W.H. Sears formed the Clara Barton Memorial Association. They hoped to turn the house into a monument to Barton’s memory. They sold memberships in the association to finance the maintenance of the property but the response was poor, and they soon ran into financial problems.

The solution to their problems appeared to be at hand when Mabelle Rawson Hirons came on the scene. A native of North Oxford, Massachusetts, she was an acquaintance of Clara Barton and thus known to Hubbell and his colleagues. She claimed that Barton had appeared to her at a seance and told her to go to Washington and take charge of the Glen Echo house. This message “from the beyond” and Mrs. Hirons’ assurances that she was wealthy and would take care of all the financial problems were all that the Memorial Association members needed to receive her with open arms. Even her demand that Dr. Hubbell sign the deed over to her raised no doubts.

Within a short time it became startlingly apparent that Mrs. Hirons was not about to pay off the debts of the house. Instead she was using the house to pay off _her_ debts by selling Barton’s own furniture and renting out rooms. Dr. Hubbell was evicted by Mrs. Hirons and abandoned by members of the Memorial Association who were disgusted with his failure to understand what Mrs. Hirons was doing. He had to fend for himself until a Mr. and Mrs. Canada, owners of a local grocery store, took him in. They persuaded him to sue Mrs. Hirons in 1922, and four years later the courts returned the house to him.

Dr. Hubbell died in 1929 and left the house to two of his nieces, Rena and Lena Hubbell. Only Rena lived in the house, which she ran as a rooming house. In 1942 she and her sister sold it to Josephine Frank Noyes, who had come to Washington from Iowa. Mrs. Noyes and her sister Henrietta Frank continued to run it as a rooming house. They also urged people to come and see “Clara Barton’s House.” They took care of the remaining original furniture and even managed to acquire some of the pieces that Mrs. Hirons had sold.

In 1958 Mrs. Noyes died and left the property to her four sisters: Frances Frank, Henrietta Frank, Katherine Frank Bronson, and Sarah Frank Rhodes. By 1963 the sisters, being quite elderly, felt that the house was too big for them to keep up and decided to sell it. The amusement park next door offered them $50,000. The sisters feared that the house would be torn down to enlarge the amusement park’s parking lot. Unhappy at such a possibility, they decided to sell the house for $35,000 to anyone who would save and maintain the property even though this would mean a financial loss to themselves.

A group of Montgomery County, Maryland, Red Cross volunteers met and proposed that the American National Red Cross buy the property and preserve it as a historic site. The Red Cross replied that it could not use its money for such a purpose, that its donations could only go for disaster relief. The Red Cross, however, did enthusiastically support the preservation project and in May 1963 passed a resolution urging all Red Cross members to support the fund-raising effort. On May 28, 1963, this group incorporated itself as the Friends of Clara Barton. They agreed to pay the Frank sisters $1,000 by July 1963 to secure the sale. A whirlwind of bake sales, fashion shows, and other events had raised only $800 by the deadline. Several members went to talk to the Frank sisters to get an extension of the deadline. As they were talking, the amusement park’s lawyer walked in and handed one of the sisters a check for $50,000. While they pondered whether to accept the check or grant an extension, one of the Friends ran into the house and burst into the room with a check for $200. The Franks handed the lawyer his $50,000 check and sent him packing.

This was only the initial hurdle, for half of the remaining $34,000, plus the settlement costs had to be raised by January 1, 1964. Public solicitation, two house tours, and two benefits raised the amount and at the turn of the year the Friends took possession. Later the group bought all of Clara Barton’s furniture in the sisters’ possession.

In the succeeding years the Friends continued to raise money and work on the house to repair structural defects. In April 1965 the house was designated a registered national landmark. The Friends made their final payment on the mortgage in early 1975. In April they presented the deed to the National Park Service in accordance with legislation passed by Congress in October 1974 authorizing the establishment of Clara Barton National Historic Site.

In December 1979 the Friends disbanded and donated the $8,435.37 remaining in their treasury to the park to purchase furnishings for the Red Cross Offices in the house. Their generosity contributed substantially to the preservation of this property and ensured its survival.

Since acquiring the property, the National Park Service has done extensive research on the building and its contents to determine the proper course of the preservation efforts. Today, work continues on the building and on acquiring furnishings that reflect these findings.

The process of restoration is simultaneously tedious and fascinating. Bit by bit the materials—wallpaper, partitions, even bathrooms—added after Clara Barton’s time are removed, revealing the original fabric of the building. Newspapers found in the walls as insulation are removed, flattened, and saved. Historic floors, 1908 electrical wiring, and doorways reappear. New questions arise as old ones are answered. The sources are the house itself, Clara Barton’s diary and other writings, and a collection of historic photographs. Each source adds a different perspective to the restoration of her home and to a better understanding of her life.

Clara Barton National Historic Site is open for guided tours on a limited basis. For details call 301-492-6245. Free parking is available. The park offers a variety of special programs on Clara Barton and her times.

National Park Service Sites Associated with Clara Barton

Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville, Georgia 31711. The park is the site of the Confederate prison camp for Union prisoners of war. In 1865 Clara Barton met Dorence Atwater, a former prisoner at Andersonville, while she was involved in her search for missing men. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, approved of her plan to go to Andersonville with Atwater and identify as many of the graves as possible. Atwater’s written record, which he had kept during his imprisonment, listed each man’s name and the number that marked his position in the trench; by comparing this list with the cemetery’s numbered markers Barton had no trouble identifying 12,920 graves; 440 remained unknown. During her stay in Andersonville, Barton wrote to Secretary Stanton requesting that the former prison grounds be turned into a national cemetery. Stanton agreed and on August 17, 1865, Barton raised the flag at the dedication.

The park museum contains an exhibit devoted to the work of Barton and Atwater and further explains their role in the establishment of the cemetery. The park is open daily except for January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25.

Antietam National Battlefield, Box 158, Sharpsburg, Maryland 21782. During the battle of Antietam, Clara Baron attended and helped a Pennsylvania surgeon tend to the Union wounded. The location of this activity has never been precisely determined, though it is known that it did not take place on ground currently owned by the park. Within the park near stop 2 on the driving tour is a monument erected by the Washington County, Maryland, Red Cross chapter in honor of her work during the battle. The park is located north and east of Sharpsburg in west central Maryland and contains the ground on which the bloody September 17, 1862, battle was fought. It is open daily except for January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25.

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park, P.O. Box 679, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401. At Chatham Manor, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, you can visit the house where Clara Barton provided relief and comfort to the wounded during the battle of Fredericksburg. Exhibits in the Manor about Barton’s role include a letter written to a cousin describing the battle scene and her work. Chatham Manor is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed January 1 and December 25. The main visitor center for the park, which contains the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House, is on U.S. 1 (Lafayette Avenue) in Fredericksburg. A self-guiding automobile tour connects all the battlefields.

Johnstown Flood National Memorial, P.O. Box 247, Cresson, Pennsylvania 16630. The park is located along U.S. 219 and Pa. 869 at the site of the South Fork Dam, 16 kilometers (10 miles) northeast of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Located at the dam site are a small visitor center, restroom, interpretive trails, and a picnic area with tables and cooking grills. If you drive to Saint Michael on Pa. 869, which closely follows the shore of the 1889 lake, you will pass some of the Queen Anne cottages and the clubhouse that were part of the resort at Lake Conemaugh. Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown contains the graves of many victims, including 777 who were never identified. The park is open daily except Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1.

Manassas National Battlefield Park, Box 1830, Manassas, Virginia 22110. During the battle of Second Manassas, Clara Barton arrived in Fairfax Station, Virginia, by train with supplies for caring for the wounded. She joined a Federal field hospital that had moved into the hamlet ahead of the Union retreat. At St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Fairfax Station the Union doctors set up a hospital. Barton arrived at the same time and contributed medical help. She never reached the battlefield that is preserved in today’s park. St. Mary’s Church still stands at 11112 Fairfax Station Road, Fairfax Station, Virginia, and a plaque on its wall honors Barton’s work.

National Park Service Sites Commemorating American Women

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, Hyde Park, New York 12538. Eleanor Roosevelt used “Val-Kill” as a retreat from the cares of her busy and active life. At the cottage, built in 1925 in a pastoral setting, she entertained friends and dignitaries and promoted the many causes in which she was interested.

Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, c/o Richmond National Battlefield Park, 3215 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23223. The brick house at 110A E. Leigh Street was the home of the first woman president of an American bank. She was the daughter of an ex-slave.

Sewall-Belmont House National Historic Site, 144 Constitution Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002. Since 1929 this house has been the headquarters of the National Woman’s Party. It commemorates Alice Paul, a women’s suffrage leader and the party’s founder, and her associates.

Related Sites

The American National Red Cross Headquarters, 17th between D and E Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20006. After Clara Barton resigned as president, the Red Cross needed to find a suitable place for its headquarters. After spending some years in various unused rooms in government office buildings, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that provided $400,000 to match an equal amount raised privately by Red Cross officials and that donated a city block of land for a building. The land has remained U.S. Government property although it is in the perpetual custody of the American Red Cross. The main building, which fronts on 17th Street, contains exhibit areas on the ground and main floors. A library on the third floor of the office building contains extensive holdings about the Red Cross and related subjects. The complex of buildings is open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Clara Barton Birthplace, 68 Clara Barton Road, North Oxford, Massachusetts 01537. Clara Barton was born in this house on Christmas Day, 1821, the youngest child of Stephen and Sally Barton. The house, which had been built shortly before her birth, is now a museum and contains memorabilia of Clara Barton and her family. The house is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday in July and August. The remainder of the year it is open only by appointment, primarily for school and private groups. A fee is charged.

Johnstown Flood Museum, 304 Washington Street, Johnstown, Pennsylvania 15901. The museum chronicles the events of the disastrous flood of 1889. Special exhibits detail the role of Clara Barton and the American Red Cross. Here the new organization first demonstrated its ability to respond to a major disaster. The museum continues to work closely with the local chapter of the American Red Cross in maintaining a record of the organization’s relief through the years in this flood-prone valley. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays. It is closed January 1, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and December 25. A fee is charged; group rates are available.

Manuscript Reading Room, Library of Congress, 10 First Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20540. In the 1930s the Hubbell sisters were doing some remodeling on the Clara Barton House. In the process they discovered a boarded-up corridor between two bedrooms. When the corridor was reopened they found the area filled with Clara Barton’s personal papers, diaries, scrapbooks, and other memorabilia of her life and career. Who put them there remains unknown. The two sisters presented the entire cache to the Library of Congress. The collection has been sorted and indexed and is available for the use of scholars only.

Armchair Explorations: Some Books You May Want to Read

Barton, Clara. _A Story of the Red Cross; Glimpses of Field Work._ New
York: D. Appleton and Company, 1904.
——. _The Story of My Childhood._ New York: The Baker and Taylor
Company, 1907.
Barton, William E. _The Life of Clara Barton._ 2 vols. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1922.
Dulles, Foster Rhea. _The American Red Cross: A History._ New York:
Harper, 1950.
Dunant, Jean-Henri. _A Memory of Solferino._ Washington, D.C.: The
American National Red Cross, 1939.
Fishwick, Marshall. _Illustrious Americans: Clara Barton._ Morristown,
New Jersey: Silver-Burdett, 1966.
Flexner, Eleanor. _Century of Struggle: The Women’s Rights Movement in
the United States._ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974.
Leech, Margaret. _Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865._ New York:
Harper, 1941.
Ross, Ishbel. _Angel of the Battlefield._ New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1956.

★ GPO: 1981—341-611/1

Stock Number 024-005-00806-3.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402

Index

_Numbers in italics refer to photographs or illustrations._

A
American Equal Rights Association, 32
American Red Cross, 27, 42;
disaster relief, 6, 11, 33, 34, 48-59 _passim_, 77;
headquarters, 6-7, 13, 52, 68-71, 76;
photos, _51_, _56_, _68-69_, _71_;
under Clara Barton’s leadership, 11, 45, 46, 48-50, 52, 54,
56-59
Andersonville National Historic Site, 6, 33, _72-73_
Anthony, Susan B., 7, _10_, 43, 62
Antietam National Battlefield, 6, 25, _72_
Appia, Louis, 10, 11, 35, 39, 43
Atwater, Dorence, 33-34, 72

B
Baltzley brothers, 68
Barton, Clarissa (Clara) Harlow, 16, 18, 42, 59, 62-64;
and International Red Cross, 43-46, 52;
and women’s rights, 7, 18, 20, 43, 52-53, 62;
as American Red Cross leader, 8, 11, 13, 45-59 _passim_;
as lecturer, 34, 44, 52-53;
biography, 8-13, 16-17, 42, 64, 76;
European travels, 35-37, 40-42;
health, 20-21, 34, 36, 40, 42;
memorabilia and papers, 6, 60-61, 71, 77;
other careers, 17-18, 20, 21-22, 31, 52;
personality, 16, 17, 26-36 _passim_, 43, 46, 47-48, 54, 56;
photos, _8_, _46_, _53_, _64-65_;
publications, 10, 12, 13, 43, 44, 56, 62-63;
relief activities, 11, 12, 13, 22-34 _passim_, 54-56, 72, 74;
retirement, 59, 62-64
Barton Birthplace, Clara, _76_
Barton Memorial Association, Clara, 70
Barton National Historic Site, Clara, 68, 13, 52, 70-71;
photos _12_, _68-69_
Barton, David (brother), 16, _19_, 30
Barton, Dolly (sister), 17
Barton, Edward, 19
Barton, Julia, 17
Barton, Sally (sister), 17, 42
Barton, Sarah Stone (mother), _16_
Barton, Stephen (father), _19_, 23
Barton, Stephen (brother), 16, 19, 30
Barton, William E., 47
Beaver, James A., 50, 52
Bellows, Henry, 36, _43_, 45
Blackwell, Elizabeth, 9
Boardman, Mabel, _13_, 57, 58
Bowles, Charles, 36, 43
Butler, Benjamin, _31_, 52

C
Civil War:, battles, 6, 23, 25, 30, _72_, 73;
relief work, 22-23, 25-29, 30-32
Clinton Liberal Institute, 9, 18

D
Dix, Dorothea, _27_, 29
Dunant, Jean-Henri, 13, _35_-36, 38-39, 44

F
Franco-Prussian War, 10, 37, _40-41_, 43
Frank sisters, 70
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial
National Military Park, 6, 25, _73_
Friends of Clara Barton, 13, 70, 71
Freedmen, 32-33

G
Gage, Frances Dana, 27, _44_
Geneva Convention. _See_ Treaty of Geneva
Glen Echo house. _See_ Clara Barton National Historic Site
Graves, Lucy, 55

H
Harris, Joel Chandler, 57
Hirons, Mabelle Rawson, 70
Hubbell, Julian, 41, 47, 48, 68, 70;
photos _10_, _64-65_
Hubbell cousins, 70

J
Johnstown flood, 6, 12, 50, _51_, 52, 68, _74_, _77_

L
Lapham, Elbridge, 45
Lincoln, Abraham, _9_, 22, 33
Logan, Mrs. John, 70
Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden, _10_, 37, 42, 47, 50, 60, 61

M
Manassas National Battlefield Park, 74.
_See also_ Civil War battles
Margot, Antoinette, 36, 40, 42, 46
Moynier, Gustav, 39, 45

N
Napoleon III, _37_, 38, 43
National First Aid Society, 13, 59, 62
National Park Service, 6, 13, 71
Noyes, Josephine Frank, 70

R
Red Cross, International, 10, 11, 35, 36, 40, 43, 52, 60
Red Cross Relief Committee of New York, 54, 55
Roosevelt National Historic Site, Eleanor, _75_
Roosevelt, Theodore, 55, 58, _59_

S
Sears, W.H., 70
Second Manassas, 6, 23, _74_
Sewall-Belmont House National Historic Site, _75_
Shepard, Hannah, 44
_Souvenir de Solferino, Un_, 35, 36, 38, 39, 44
Spanish-American War, 33
Stanton, Edwin M., 72
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, _10_, 18
Stone, Elvira, 18, 20, 36

T
Treaty of Geneva, 35-46 _passim_, 60.
_See also_ International Red Cross
Tubman, Harriet, _9_

U
U.S. Christian Commission, 27, 29
U.S. Sanitary Commission, 26, 27, 36, 57

W
Walker National Historic Site, Maggie L., _75_
Welles, C.M., 25
Whitman, Walt, 27, _29_
Wilhelm I, Kaiser, _37_, 60
Williams, Sophia W.R., 57
Wilson, Henry, 21, 23, 30, 32, 42
Women’s rights, 7, 8, 32, 44, 62;
and Clara Barton, 18, 20, 43, 52-53

Footnote

[1]_From Clara Barton’s poem, “The Women Who Went to the Field.”_

National Park Service

The National Park Service expresses its appreciation to all those who made the preparation and production of this handbook possible.

Text

Elizabeth Brown Pryor, who wrote Part 2, is a professional historian. She is the author of several journal and magazine articles on nineteenth-century America and lives in Washington, D.C.

Illustrations

The artwork on the cover and on the three double pages introducing the different sections of the book is by Mark English of Fairway, Kansas.

American Red Cross 11 steamboats, 13 Boardman, 39, and 64-65.
Clara Barton Birthplace 76 birthplace.
Johnstown Flood Museum 77 museum.
Library of Congress 8, 9, 10 Anthony, Stanton, and Louise of Baden,
11 Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, 12 Wald and Adams, 16, 19, 21,
24, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 35, 37, 40-41, 43, 44, 46, 51, 53, 56,
60-61.
Museum of Modern Art 59.
New York Public Library 22.
Robert Shafer 68, 69, 71, 75 Sewall-Belmont, 76 American Red Cross,
77 Library of Congress.
Smithsonian Institution 12 ambulance.

All other photographs come from the files of Clara Barton National Historic Site and the National Park Service.

U.S. Department of the Interior

As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that their development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administration.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—Relocated all image captions to be immediately under the corresponding
images, removing redundant references like ”preceding page”.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.