appreciation of the services rendered,—of the thousands of letters
received by Miss Barton are appended the following:
GRATITUDE OF A BROKEN-HEARTED MOTHER
“Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan,
July the 5th, 1865.
“MISS CLARA BARTON,
“_Dear Madam_:—Seeing a notice in the paper of the effort you are making
to ascertain the fate of missing soldiers from Michigan, I hasten to
address you in regard to my son. His name is Eugene P. Osborne. He was a
private in the 13th Michigan Regiment, Co. H Infantry; was in Sherman’s
Army; left Atlanta last November with the Regiment, became lame soon
after leaving there, and fell out the first day of December, near
Louisville, Georgia. Since that time we have never been able to learn
anything of him, or what has become of him. Those that went with him
from this place, and were in the Company with him, have returned, but
they know not what has become of him, or what his fate may be. We have
endeavored to learn something of him by writing to various persons and
places, but as yet we have heard nothing reliable.
“Will you, Oh! will you, aid me in the search for my loved but
unfortunate son; if so, the prayers and gratitude of a heartbroken
Mother shall be yours. Please answer without delay and tell me if you
know aught concerning him, for this cruel suspense is dreadful.
“Respectfully yours,
“Address
“Mrs. C. A. OSBORNE,
“Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan.”
I never for a moment lose sight of the mothers and sisters and
white-haired fathers, and children moving quietly about, and dropping
the unseen, silent tear in those far-away saddened homes.
CLARA BARTON.
THANK YOU FROM MY VERY HEART, HIS POOR HEART-BROKEN MOTHER
“MISS BARTON:
“_Dear Angel of Love and Mercy_:—I address these few lines to you hoping
to get some information in regard to my son’s remains. He died in August
in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville. I think it was about the
ninth day of the month. Did you find when you were there on the list the
name of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, 57th Regt. Massachusetts Volunteers? If
so, you will confer a great kindness on me, his poor heartbroken Mother,
by giving me what information you can. He went from Worcester, Mass.
“Please let me know if you think I could obtain his remains if I should
send for them, as I am very anxious to get them. I shall ever remember
your great kindness and labor in thus giving me the comfort that you
have seen the remains of the poor murdered ones decently buried. I thank
you from my very heart and may heaven bless you while you live and when
you have done on earth may the richest of heaven’s blessings be yours
through that never ending eternity for which thousands of mothers will
pray.
“Very respectfully,
“Your humble servant,
(Signed) “MRS. DOLLY WALTON,
“Worcester, Mass.
“Mother of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, Fifty-seventh Regt. Mass. Vol., died
at Andersonville Prison in August, ’64.”
Nor has morbid sympathy been all; out amid the smoke and fire of our
guns, with only the murky canopy above and the bloody ground beneath,
I have not lost sight of those saddened homes.
CLARA BARTON.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU
“LaFayette, Ind., March 30, 1866.
“DEAR MISS BARTON:—
“Will you please excuse a bereaved Mother again addressing you. I have
seen by the papers that you have visited Andersonville. Can you give me
any information respecting my dear lost son, my poor boy, as you have
visited the graves of the precious dead; did you find the name of John
Newton Strain? Oh! it would be a satisfaction, although a melancholy
one, to know where his dear remains rest and oh! if I could only have
them brought home, my noble boy, no better son a Mother ever had. If he
had died on the field of battle it would not have been so hard. He
belonged to the New York 2nd Cavalry Co. I. Dear Miss, if you can give
me any information it will be most thankfully received and the best I
can say is, may God bless you and be your great reward.
“From your afflicted friend,
(Signed) “ELIZA FORESMAN.
“Lafayette, Ind.”
“Please answer.”
I have too often wiped the gathering damp from pale anxious brows and
caught from a shy quivering lip the last faint whispers of home, not
to realize the terrible cost of these separations.
CLARA BARTON.
The history of Andersonville is the most sad, and at the same time the
most discouraging to our confidence in man’s inhumanity to man, of all
the episodes of the Civil War.—_Harper’s Weekly_, Oct. 7, 1865.
The name of Clara Barton will be held in grateful remembrance whenever
and wherever human needs are weighed in the scales of human
want.—_Washington Gardner._
[Illustration:
_By permission of “Harper’s Weekly.”_
CEMETERY AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA
The Department of Georgia, Grand Army of the Republic, early secured
title to the Andersonville stockade, which it later transferred to
the National organization, Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the
Grand Army of the Republic. This body, after having purchased very
considerable additions and improved and beautified the whole through
a period of sixteen years, deeded the entire property to the United
States Government which, together with the cemetery, will be held in
trust perpetually as the most tragic and hallowed plot of ground
under the flag. WASHINGTON GARDNER, Post Commander-in-Chief, G. A.
R., in his memorial address, May 31, 1915.
The number of graves marked is 19,920. Scattered among the
thickly designated graves stand four hundred tablets, bearing
only the number and the touching inscription “Unknown Union
Soldiers.”—(Signed) CLARA BARTON, in an official report to the
people of the United States of America, in 1865.
]
The winds will blow, the skies will weep,
Where fair Columbia’s heroes sleep,
And Clara Barton’s name is known
Where waves our flag or stands a throne;
The work she did fills every heart
Wherein affection hath a part;
A woman to her country true,
She marked the graves where sleep the Blue.
—From the dedicatory poem _Clara Barton_, by T. C. Harbaugh.
MY PRAYERS FOR YOU
_“Miss Clara Barton_:
“Please give me some information, if you can, of Frank Pearson of the U.
S. Str. _Mackinaw_, North Atlantic Squadron. He was from New York State.
I have not heard from him since the last of March. They were then on the
Appomattox River and I suppose he fell when Petersburg was captured. I
wrote to him the first of April, and not getting any word from him I
wrote to his Captain but never heard from him. I had given up all hopes
of ever hearing what has happened my _best friend_. When I saw your
name, that you were trying to find our lost friends, I took courage, but
whether I will have any better luck to hear just a word about _Poor
Frank_. Three years and a half on the _Blockade_. Oh! how fast the time
was passing; only six months from April until he would have been once
more free. I would have willingly died for him, but God has ordered it
otherwise and I am not the only one that is mourning for a _Dear
Friend_.
“If you can find anything about him please let me know as soon as you
can conveniently. My prayers for you. Oh! how lonely! how sad I feel all
alone in this cold world. ‘Would that I were resting too!’
“Pardon me and excuse the writing. My eyes are dim. Please answer soon.
I am
“Your friend,
(Signed) “MATTIE C. BEATTY,
“Coal Bluff, Washington County, Penna.”
LXXXVIII
Clara Barton is Clara Barton. DR. SAMUEL WOODWARD.
Clara Barton went to Russia, in 1892, to carry food to the famine
sufferers there;—the most widely known American of today.
_Central Christian Advocate._
The total value of contributions from America to Russia in 1892 was
estimated at about $800,000. Through all sources, here and in Europe,
upwards of 35,000 people were saved from starvation.
PERCY H. EPLER, Author.
Clara Barton gave to the world a greater influence than Catherine of
Russia with her millions of subjects—her name will be remembered when
that of Catherine shall have been forgotten.
Parsons (Kan.) _Sunday_.
The sign of the Red Cross, in crimson red, had come nearer its true
significance under Clara Barton’s direction than it ever did before,
whether by Constantine, named, or borne by crusader bands in assaults
upon the Crescent. Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.
When stricken Armenia called for help in 1896, it was Clara Barton who
led the relief corps of salvation and sustenance.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Herald_.
Resolved, That we regard Miss Barton the highest representative and
purest embodiment of the Christian humanitarian spirit in America. The
Church of Martyrs (Armenian Congregational Church). Worcester, Mass.
They knew, in Turkey, we had taken our lives in our hands to come to
them, with no thought of ourselves. CLARA BARTON.
No American will hereafter in foreign lands feel any less security
since the American National Red Cross has been before them in Russia
and Armenia. CLARA BARTON.
When the cry came from Turkey, what man was there in all this land
brave enough to lead where Clara Barton went, like an Angel of Mercy?
The boundless love of that woman’s heart! God bless Clara Barton! MRS.
ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY.
When the wail of the Armenians and downtrodden of the Oriental World
was heard, Clara Barton was among the first to raise the banner of the
Red Cross, like the crusader of old and push forward to the scenes of
anguish and carnage.
MRS. GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.
The work Clara Barton did in Asia Minor, and which Col. Hinton
designated as the Statesmanship of Philanthropy, was similar to the
work along this line she did at the Sea Islands flood, in the
Carolinas. THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton, in Asia Minor, has done a splendid work, sensibly and
economically managed. HENRY C. DWIGHT, D.D., American Board of Foreign
Missions at Constantinople.
The difficulties of the work in Asia Minor, the perils and discomforts
would surely have appalled a less courageous heart than Clara
Barton’s. JOS. K. GREENE, Resident Missionary in Armenia.
To Turkey and Armenia—a mission so difficult and perilous that all the
world wondered, watched, waited, hoped and prayed for her success, and
her safe return to her native land. W. H. SEARS.
To us who have seen so much and worked so long and so hard, it would
seem that the Red Cross movement has some “significance”—some
connection with philanthropy. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross flag has no Christian sense that many suppose. It is
broader than Christianity itself, because it has neither prejudice nor
bounds; Christian, Mohammedan and pagan are the same in the eyes of
the Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.
The principal nations of earth are bound together by the bands of the
highest international law that must make war in the future less
barbarous than it has been in the past. CLARA BARTON.
Bakashish is the substitute for our “tip” system. To make any headway
in Turkey with a hoard of beggars, two words must be mastered:
“Yok”—No; and “Hide-git”—Be off with you.
GEORGE H. PULLMAN, Secretary to Clara Barton in Turkey.
The moral support given in Asia Minor was far beyond any valuation. At
such a money valuation then, the aggregate value of the relief
distribution is nearly $350,000. GEO. H. PULLMAN.
Reticent, constant and efficient, Clara Barton has won the confidence
of every government under whose flag she has labored—as in the land of
the Crescent and Scimitar—and has done honor to her native land. B. H.
WARNER.
No matter how far from home, how lone and desolate, the soldier knows
the Red Cross for his own; the glazing eye can discern it and next to
God or “Allah” it is his Saviour, the American Annie Laurie of the
wounded soldier. CLARA BARTON.
There is, we are happy to believe, a warmth and an appreciation of the
Red Cross that brings added honor to the country.
CLARA BARTON.
TURKEY—STATESMANSHIP OF PHILANTHROPY—ARMENIA
“Alone, bereft, forsaken, sick and heartbroken, without food, raiment or
shelter, on the snow-piled mountain sides and along the smiling valleys
they wander and linger and perish. By scores, by hundreds, they die; no
help, no medicine, no skill, little food and, as if common woes were not
enough, the Angel of Disease flaps his black wings like a pall.” Such
the condition, says Clara Barton, in Asia Minor in 1896; and “Help or we
perish,” the cry of the people.
[Illustration:
DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN
THE DEMOCRACY OF ARMENIA
Armenian Legation,
January 17, 1922.
After the great massacre of 1895, thanks to the personal testimony of
Clara Barton, we came to learn of another Christian Power, a nation
dedicated to the lofty principles of our common religion, a champion
of liberty and justice, and a helpful friend to all oppressed and
suffering peoples. We are indebted to Clara Barton in the sense that
she was the first among other Americans to inspire us with this
faith.
DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN,
Minister from Armenia to United States.
]
[Illustration:
I. H. R. PRINCE GUY DE LUSIGNAN
Last of the Royal Line
THE ROYALTY OF ARMENIA
The Armenian Decoration
I have received a decoration, officially described as follows:
Brevet of Chevalier of the Royal Order of Melusine, founded in 1186,
by Sibylle, Queen and spouse of King Guy of Jerusalem, and
reinstituted several years since by Marie, Princess of Lusignan. The
Order is conferred for humanitarian, scientific and other services
of distinction, but especially when such services are rendered to
the House of Lusignan, and particularly to the Armenian nation. The
Order is worn by a number of reigning sovereigns, and is highly
prized by the recipients because of its rare bestowal and its
beauty. This decoration is bestowed by His Royal Highness, Guy of
Lusignan, Prince of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia.—CLARA BARTON.
See pages between 326–7; decoration No. 22.
]
To enter Turkey at this time was an undertaking _too great_ for man;
this must be the work of woman. There was one woman equal to the
emergency, and she seventy-five years of age. All eyes were turned
toward that woman. She was chosen unanimously. Her assistants were to be
men but she stood sponsor for man’s conduct, a responsibility the
greatest in life woman ever assumes. The deference paid to this
woman—_Mirabile dictu_—was some years before a woman was regarded even
capable of sitting as member of the American House of Representatives or
as Member in the English House of Commons. Did she accept? Nothing too
hazardous for her to undertake; she ever was seeking for something to do
that no one else would do, no one else could do.
Florence Nightingale sailed for Crimea “under the strong support of
England’s military head and England’s gracious Queen;” Clara Barton set
sail for Turkey, “prohibited, unsustained either by governmental or
other authority,”—destined to a port five thousand miles away, from
approach to which even the powers of the world shrank in fear. As Clara
Barton, with her four assistants, left New York City, on the S. S. _New
York_, “crowded were the piers, wild the hurrahs, white the scene with
the parting salutes, hearts beating with exultation and expectation;”
longing the anxious eyes that followed far out to sea that band of five
fearless American crusaders, on humanity’s mission.
Would she reach Constantinople? The Turkish Minister, resident at
Washington, forbade her and her Red Cross band to enter the land of the
Moslem. Her Christian presence there was not desired; would not be
permitted. Unperturbed, she proceeded on her way. She arrived at
Constantinople. She stopped at Pera Palace hotel. She asked for an
audience with Tewfik Pasha, Minister of State. She explained; she begged
the privilege of self-sacrifice. The High Official listened attentively,
then said: We know you, Miss Barton; have long known you and your work.
And you shall have it. We know your position, and your wishes shall be
respected. Such aid and protection as we are able to render, we will
cheerfully render you. I speak for my government. I extend to you my
cordial good wishes in your work among our distressed people.
At the interview Clara Barton thus assured Tewfik Pasha: “We have no
newspaper correspondent, and I promise you I will not write a book on
Turkey. What we see and hear will be confidential—not repeated.” But she
didn’t keep faith with the Government—she reported on the dogs. Dogs in
Constantinople are held sacred, but not because decorated with a
brassard they serve in Red Cross work or otherwise are useful. The
streets and plazas day and night are filled with dogs, colonies of dogs.
Fond of dogs, she enjoyed telling this story. About to be overpowered by
other dogs the Turkish dog flops over on his back, his feet in air to
serve as the dog’s Red Cross flag, over a hospital. In the “hospital” he
remains until there is an opportunity of escape when, without so much as
“by your leave,” he invalids himself home.
The British Legation had a blooded rat terrier, also _sacred_. By chance
the terrier slipped out of the yard. Unsuspecting he was “ambushed” and,
not knowing Turkish dog strategy, was foully slain. The secretary, in
righteous wrath, forthwith imported from England “Bull Brindle,” of a
famous fighting breed. The British “warrior” also strolled out on the
plaza, _but not by chance_. A colony of several hundred dogs, with
confused noises as terrifying as of a “pack of coyotes” hunting prey,
massed an attack on the lone “Britisher.” Victory this time was not with
the largest battalions. Bull terrier was killing mongrels without mercy
or shame, and with as much ease as the terrier had killed rats, and so
continuing until four score or more lay dead on the field.
As ranged
Achilles in his fury through the field
From side to side, and everywhere o’ertook
His victims, and earth was dark with blood.
_By chance_, through an opening in the walled fence of the embassy,
the secretary was an eye-witness. The natives in numbers, aroused,
watched the uneven contest but no one dared to lay hands on the
“achilles.” Alarmed over the possible consequences to himself, the
secretary rushed to the scene, grabbed Brindle by the collar, led him
to the embassy, chained him. A diplomat, the secretary returned to the
plaza—explained—expressed regrets—almost _heartbroken_, apologized,
but to Miss Barton he confidentially said: “That’s one time I got even
with the unspeakable Turk.”
Aghast and horrified had stood the world over the news of the then
recent terrible massacres; of the contagious diseases that windswept
Asia Minor, leaving thousands and tens of thousands dead and dying in
its wake. But proud was America. Her heroine was at the Moslem Capital,
the foreign representative of the one country there on guard for
humanity. This, her picture of the trip to Killis, the scene of one of
the many terrible massacres: “Our security, the official order, ‘Go and
we protect,’—camels heavy-laden not with ivory and jewels, gold in the
ingots and silk in the bales, but food and raiment for the starving, the
sick, the dying. Onward toward dread Killis—the wild tribes’ knives
before, the Moslem troops behind—till at length the spires of Aintab
rise in view. Weary the camels and weary the men.” In fear that the
means might not be at hand to do all she would, in anguish of soul Clara
Barton writes to her friend Frances Willard: “My heart would grow faint
and words fail to tell the people of the woes here and the needs. In the
name of your God and my God, tell them not to be discouraged in the good
work they have undertaken.”
She was then on the site of Ancient Byzantium whose history reaches back
six hundred years before the Christian Era, a city with its successor
Constantinople, the rival of Athens and Rome and Jerusalem, in service
to civilization. She might have said, as did the proud Roman General, “I
have come, I have seen, I have conquered.” But no word then,—neither
before nor since—escaped her lips. She was there, having taken her life
in her hands, not thinking of self, knowing no race, no creed, no
religion, no nationality; there to distribute to the needy in such a way
as an American President said she only knew how.
[Illustration:
_Permission D. Appleton & Co._
ABDUL-HAMID
1876–1899
Some months after returning home I received through our State
Department at Washington, the Sultan’s decoration of Shefacat and
its accompanying diploma in Turkish. The translation is here given:
“As Miss Barton, American citizen, possesses many great and
distinguished qualities and as recompense is due to her, I am
pleased, therefore, to accord to her the second class of my
decorations of Shefacat.” CLARA BARTON (in 1897).
See pages between 326–7; decoration No. 12.
]
Strange and startling must have been the sensation to the Moslem as, on
an eventful reunion of the Crusaders, through the open windows of
[10]Red Cross headquarters there came from his foreign benefactors, in
chorus, strains of sweetest music: “Home, Sweet Home,” of which the
native was merely dreaming; “Sweet Land of Liberty,” of which he had
only read; “Nearer My God to Thee,” which was wholly foreign to his
religious teachings. It was on the patriotic Fourth at Constantinople,
at the time of her carrying a message to the Turkish people, that in a
poem entitled “Marmora,” of her own country Clara Barton sung:
Footnote 10:
Red Cross work in Turkey is under the name of Red Crescent.
MARMORA
It was twenty and a hundred years, oh blue and rolling sea,
A thousand in the onward march of human liberty,
Since on its sunlit bosom, wind tossed and sails unfurled,
Atlantic’s mighty billows bore a message to the world.
And weary eyes grew brighter then, and fainting hearts grew strong,
And hope was mingled in the cry, “How long, oh Lord, how long?”
The seething millions turn and stir and struggle towards the light;
The free flag streams, and morning gleams where erst was hopeless night.
Four expeditions through Turkey, Armenia and other parts of Asia Minor
were planned and successfully carried out. Coasting boats were used to
reach the interior, as were caravans of camels over the deserts and
other almost waste places—the expeditions supplying the destitute with
food, medicine, clothing, seed and farming implements. For this, the
greatest undertaking of its kind in history, she was decorated by the
Sultan of Turkey, by the Prince of Armenia, and from each of these
rulers also she received a Diploma of Merit.
She was then in the hey-day of her popularity. Abdul-Hamid was on the
throne of Turkey. Twelve years later the Sultan was dethroned and by his
people put into prison. Oh! the irony of fate! About that time she draws
this picture: “The Sultan was locked in and I locked out, but my whole
country seemed my prison and I struggled to free myself of it.” Unfair
the comparison! The “Young Turks” (a political party), representing the
people, had dethroned, then imprisoned, Abdul-Hamid. Not so Clara
Barton, by her people.
She was dethroned by methods that would shame a Turkish brigand; her
prison-keeper was not the people, but
Man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority.
On her return from Turkey Clara Barton was accorded a most wonderful
reception at the nation’s Capital, and was acclaimed a world-heroine by
the whole American people.
LXXXIX
Clara Barton, friend and counselor of Abraham Lincoln. KATE BROWNLEE
SHERWOOD.
Already the pale messenger waits at the gate, and his weird shadow
falleth near. CLARA BARTON.
Treason must be made odious. ANDREW JOHNSON.
Treason is ever odious. J. HALL.
Treason doth never prosper. SIR JOHN HARRINGTON.
Treason is one of the greatest crimes possible. T. DWIGHT.
Treason seldom dwells with courage. W. SCOTT.
Treason always operates, if possible, by surprise. W. H. SEWARD.
Treason and murder ever kept together as two yoke-devils, sworn to
either’s purposes. HENRY IV.
Washington brought the United States of America into being; Lincoln
made that being immortal. GEORGE H. SMYTHE, JR.
The life of Lincoln should never be passed by in silence by young or
old. DAVID SWING.
His biography is written in blood and tears.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Lincoln—not thine the sorrow, but ours, sainted soul!
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Lincoln now belongs to the ages. EDWIN M. STANTON.
TREASON—LINCOLN ASSASSINATED—GRANT PROTECTS CLARA BARTON