THE FORERUNNERS OF THE RED CROSS
When Clara Barton began her ministry in the Civil War, she had
practically no knowledge concerning work that had been done in America
or elsewhere for the relief of wounded soldiers. She did not remember
even to have heard of Florence Nightingale until she was actually
engaged in work of a similar character. When, at Port Royal, she was
serenaded and hailed as “the Florence Nightingale of America,” she
knew what it meant, but she had not known very long. She took up the
duty just as Dorothea Dix and other brave women did, in an earnest
effort to do the thing that needed to be done, and she learned how to
do it by doing it. She discovered the defects in other systems then
employed, but did not criticize them. She realized the difficulties
under which volunteer workers were working, and she carefully refrained
from passing any unkind judgments upon organizations that were laboring
under almost insuperable difficulties. But she found her own method of
work, and she performed it with a success which, without robbing any
other brave woman of any portion of her due fame, wrought for Clara
Barton a crown of unfading laurel.
Not until she found herself in Switzerland, and was asked by Swiss
representatives of the Red Cross why America had refused to join in
that movement, had she found occasion to study the history of movements
for the relief of wounded on the battle-field.
The sick and wounded in the wars of the Crusades were cared for,
inadequately but nobly, by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of
Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. These Christian knights ministered
alike to Christian and Saracen. In some of the subsequent wars of
Europe the Sisters of Charity of the Roman Catholic Church rendered
such service as they were able.
And yet the history of the care of the wounded in all the wars, from
the dawn of history, is one of cruel and, in many respects, of needless
suffering.
During the Crimean War Florence Nightingale with thirty-eight nurses
went from England to Scutari, across the Bosphorus from Constantinople,
and rendered service which made her name a household word the world
around. It was Clara Barton’s lifelong regret that she did not meet
Florence Nightingale during her long stay in England, but she was sick
and so was Miss Nightingale, and neither thought of the other as being
within call.
The real beginning of the movement which resulted in the organization
of the Red Cross began with Henri Dunant, who was born at Geneva in
1828. When he was thirty-one years of age, in 1859, the forces of
Sardinia and of Victor Emmanuel, with the allied army of France under
Napoleon III, waged war against Austria for the freedom of northern
Italy. At the battle of Solferino, forty thousand soldiers were killed
or wounded. The defeated Austrians retreated, and the French and
Italians pursued, leaving the wounded almost deserted. Surgeons at that
time were not protected from attack, and the surgeons of each army
moved on with the army. Dunant gathered women of the neighborhood and
gave what relief he could without distinction of nationality.
On his return to Geneva, filled with tragic memories of the scenes of
horror he had witnessed, he issued a pamphlet entitled “Souvenir de
Solferino.” In this he described the scenes which he had witnessed,
and propounded this question: “Would it not be possible to found and
organize in all civilized countries volunteers which in time of war
would render succor to the wounded without distinction of nationality?”
Geneva had an organization for philanthropic and humane work, known as
the “Society of Public Utility.” Its president was Monsieur Gustave
Moynier. He was deeply moved by Dunant’s pamphlet, and sent out an
invitation for a conference to organize “An International Conference
for Investigating Means to Supplement the Inadequacy of Medical
Services of Armies in Campaigns.”
This led to the conference of August, 1864, to which reference has
already been made, in which the United States was unofficially
represented by Mr. George C. Fogg, American Minister to Switzerland,
and Mr. Charles S. P. Bowles, European Agent of the Sanitary Commission.
All this Clara Barton learned as she studied the history which lay
behind a movement in which she was to have so important a share. Of
movements in the United States she already knew.
The United States Sanitary Commission was organized in New York City on
May 18, 1861, with the Reverend Henry W. Bellows, D.D., as president.
The good which it did in the Civil War was incalculable. In cooperation
with it was the Western Sanitary Commission, organized in St. Louis on
September 5, 1861.
The Young Men’s Christian Associations of the country led in the
organization of the United States Christian Commission, which was
formed in New York, November 16, 1861. Besides these were innumerable
societies which were formed by women for the furnishing of supplies,
the establishment of rest homes, and the distribution of comforts to
soldiers.
When, in 1864, the United States was asked to participate in the work
of the Red Cross, there was very little inclination on the part of
Government officials, to treat this request with any more courtesy
than official etiquette required. The Government did not feel very
kindly toward European Governments for their attitude during the war of
our rebellion. We had established our own agencies for the relief of
suffering, and had no inclination to add another.
When the war was over, however, Dr. Bellows was confident America would
join in the International Red Cross. He issued a long letter addressed
to Monsieur Henri Dunant, who was acting as “Secrétaire du Comité
International de Secours aux Militairet Blessés.” This Dr. Bellows did
as President of “The American Association for the Relief of Misery of
Battle-fields.” On its title-page was emblazoned a Red Cross as the
insignia of the organization, the first time that symbol was used in
America, and, until Clara Barton’s day, the last.
In this long and earnest and discriminating letter, intended to arouse
public sentiment in America, Dr. Bellows told, with great plainness of
speech, of the inadequacy of even those splendid organizations with
which he himself had been associated. He said:
Good intentions and humane sentiments are not alone qualifications for
this duty.... Volunteer agents are the dearest that can be used.... It
is useless to expect correct information on the wants of the soldier
from the Government, or the Medical Bureau, or even the General
Officers. The last thing to which a Government attends in an active
war is the sick and wounded. The Medical is the least interesting
bureau to it, and as a rule army surgeons have hard and coarse views
of humanity to soldiers. General officers seldom see with their own
eyes the details of want and suffering.
He paid a high tribute to the work of the women in the war. He said
that virtually the whole womanhood of the Nation was engaged in it. He
spoke of the women in hospitals, and said that some of them had done
well, but that “detailed men are the appropriate nurses in military
hospitals. Women are rarely in place at the front, or even at the base
of armies.” He said that, of the women who went to the front, “most
of them were in the way, with a few rare exceptions, where tact and
humanity were united with force and endurance.” His letters to Clara
Barton leave no doubt as to one whom he considered in the forefront of
these exceptions, combining, as she did, tact and humanity with force
and endurance.
Dr. Bellows’s effort fell completely flat so far as the organization of
the society was concerned. He became thoroughly discouraged and gave it
up, and years afterward rejoiced when he saw Clara Barton accomplish
what he had vainly striven to do.
This was the situation as Clara Barton learned it, when returning
health brought back to her the strong purpose of proceeding at once to
the organization of an American Red Cross.