Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-29

L
woman. after lifetime spent among
| moving accidents by flood and field,
to come upon evil days in the time of
| her old age Clara Bartons retirement
from the presidency of the American
| Red Cross Society, the disputes and
| the determinations that attended it, are
| still matters of too recent occurrence
| TO be regarded in the calm light of his
| tory. She had her savage detractors
| and her imprisoned defenders, but her
| death in 1912. following swiftly upon
| her practical deposition from office, ST.
| fenced the one and only added to the
| loyalty of the others. The story of
| Miss Bartons life of activity and help
| fulness is long enough and stimulating
| enough. 1t would be futile here to try
| to clear the turbid waters in which her
| sun set.
Her Earlier Services.
| Miss Barton did not find her vocation
| early in life. She was forty years old
| before the civil war broke out. The
| Massachusetts troops were fired on in
Baltimore, and she volunteered to so to
the scene and nurse the wounded. Her
earlier life had been spent as a school
teacher and as a clerk in the patent
office at Washington. In the former
vocation she some local repute by
fitting up through her own efforts the
first public school in BordentoWn, n ).
She commenced with six BOYS in
building that had been deserted. teach
| ing at her own expense; she ended the
| year with 600 and q school building
erected at public cost. The townspeo-
pie who thought there was no demand
or need for public school were shown
| their error. From Bordentown she
went to Washington and spent three
| miserable years III the patent office
| Woman clerks were little seen and
less desired the men doing all they
could to drive them out of the service.
Was New Clara Barton. :.
| The civil war created a new Clara
| Barton. the New Jersey school teacher,
| the ploddng compiler and copyst Of
|. patent office records. became ma
| tional character. figure well known in
| the camp hospitals and on the battle
| fields. Shortly before the battle of
| Bull Run her brother, who was engaged
| i'm business within the Confederate
| lines, was captured by the Federals.
| Miss Barton determined to go to his aid,
but thinking that a visit TO the front
might be made useful to others, put a
small notice in a Worcester. Mass.
paper, saying that she would carry any
stores or money that the folks at nome
might want to send to wounded soldiers.
| The reply SO generous that she
presently had building at Pennsylvania
avenue and 18th street. Washington.
filled with goods she had promised to
| deliver to the soldiers at the front How
| to fulfill her promise was the problem.
and it remained her problem until the end
| of the war, for from that day Clara
Barton was the recognized agent of
communicate ton between home folks and
| the boys in the trenches. There were,
| it was true the United States sanitary
commission and various state commits
sons engaged in the same errand of
mercy but Miss Barton's work was in
dividual, personal. and seemed especially
| to touch the hearts of the people. This.
| of course, was all before the days of the
Red Cross.
Present at Big Battles.
To tell the story of her activities
during the war void fill a book. She
was present at such savage battles as
| Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks
burg and the Wilderness. Though she
held no commission and represented
nobody, she was recognized by the gov
eminent and men, and teams and a safe
conduct everywhere were supplied to
her. She, herself, seemed to put the
first value however, on her work in
the Identification of the dead listed as
| missing, and in marking their burial
places.
While all human foresight had been
employed during the war to secure the
names of the dead and to discover the
missing, 1t inevitable that III so
colossal a conflict and time of such eX-
element and disorder all systems would
fail. At the close of the letters
poured in upon the authorities from peo-
pie begging for intelligence of husbands
| sons or fathers. The more mercifui af-
Fiction had fallen upon those who knew
that their loved ones We're dead-the curt
report missing carried with it the pos
sbility of such a multiplicity of woes.
Learning that nearly 5000 such let
tiers of inquiry had been received. Miss
Barton went personally to President Lin
coin and asked that she be designated to
receive and answer them. An order to
that effect was promptly promulgated
and bureau organized Even after its
accomplishment this task seemed one to
battle the most painstaking and keen
searchers Men had fallen in battles like
that Of the Wilderness and their bodies
were consumed in the fires that swept
away the underbrush. They had been
shot down crossing streams, only to be
swept away by the torrent. They had
persisted miserably III the prisons or hos
pitfalls of the enemy, where records were
but careIessly kept or were destroyed
when the ConfederateS fled before the
advancing Union armies. Fortune some
times favored the searchers. Such was the
case with the Atwater records of Ander
Sonville.
Kept Prison Record.
Dorance .Nwater Was Il New England
soldier who was confined in the grea
Confederate prison at AnderSonville. lie
had been detailed there by the prison
authorities to keep the record of the
deaths and burials. Foreseeing that these
records might be destroyed, and feeling
sure that there would be a demand in
the north for them he began with
secrecy and ingenuity, to copy all the
lists he prepared. He was hard put to it
to secure paper and would sometimes
mark down the days list of deaths on a
rag, but in 1855 he was freed with a
fairly complete list in his possession. |
This the War Department, with incred- |
blc stupidity, pigeonholed, while giving |
the compiler government job re- /
ward for his industry. When Miss Bar
tons mission Was announced he informed |
her of the information ready to hand |
She secured it. and with the necessary |,
assistants FASTENED to AndersonviIe |
Here the graves We're marked with head |
boards and the full list of dead compiled !
To Miss Barton fell the honor of first /
raising the United States flag over the |
government cemetery at AnderSonVile.
After a profitable year on the lecture |
platform she went abroad in 500 to rest |
The nature of her rest was to nurse the |
wounded in the Franco Prussian war and |
do it with such devotion that from queens /
and governments she received gifts of |
Jewels and decorations. Queen Victoria !,
decorated her with her own hands