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The Red Cross In Peace And War

Clara Barton

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THE RED CROSS IN PEACE AND WAR

THE RED CROSS IN PEACE AND WAR

By Clara Barton AMERICAN HISTORICAL PRESS 1906 Copyright 1898, by Clara Barton From the President of the United States In his Message to Congress December 6, 1898. It is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American National Red Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Mi

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TO THE PEOPLE.

TO THE PEOPLE.

In recounting the experience of the Red Cross in the Cuban campaign, I have endeavored to tell the story of the events as they succeeded each other, recording simply the facts connected with the work of the War Relief, and refraining from criticism of men and methods. There were unpleasant incidents to relate, and unfortunate conditions to describe, but I have neither said nor written that any particular person, or persons, were to blame. It is not my duty, nor is it within my power, to analyze

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INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

To be called to tell in a few brief weeks the whole story of the Red Cross from its origin to the present time seems a labor scarcely less than to have lived it. It is a task that, however unworthily it may now be performed, is, in itself, not unworthy the genius of George Eliot or Macaulay. It is a story illustrating the rapid rise of the humane sentiment in the latter half of the nineteenth century. On its European side, it tells of the first timid and cautious putting forth of the sentiment o

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CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

On June 24, 1859, occurred the memorable battle of Solferino, in which the French and Sardinians were arrayed against the Austrians. The battle raged over a wide reach of country and continued for sixteen hours; at the end of which sixteen thousand French and Sardinian soldiers and twenty thousand Austrians lay dead or were wounded and disabled on that field. The old and ever-recurring fact reappeared: the medical staff was wholly inadequate to the immense task suddenly cast upon them. For days

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ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF WORK.

ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF WORK.

One of the things considered indispensable, and therefore adopted as a resolution by the Conference of 1863, was the centralization of the work in each country separately by itself. While the treaty must be universally acknowledged and its badge accepted as a universal sign, it was equally essential that the societies of the different countries should be simply national and in no respect international. It was therefore ordained by the conference that all local committees or organizations desirou

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OCCUPATIONS OF RELIEF SOCIETIES IN TIMES OF PEACE.

OCCUPATIONS OF RELIEF SOCIETIES IN TIMES OF PEACE.

Organization, recognition and communication are by no means all that is necessary to insure the fulfillment of the objects of these associations. A thing most important to be borne in mind is that if money be necessary for war, it is also an indispensable agent in relief of the miseries occasioned by war. Self-devotion alone will not answer. The relief societies need funds and other resources to carry on their work. They not only require means for current expenses, but, most of all, for possible

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SERVICES IN TIME OF WAR.

SERVICES IN TIME OF WAR.

Notwithstanding the readiness with which most persons will perceive the beneficent uses of relief societies in war, it may not be amiss to particularize some of the work accomplished by the societies of the Red Cross. Not to mention civil disturbances and lesser conflicts, they participated in not less than five great wars in the first ten years, commencing with Schleswig-Holstein, and ending with the Franco-German. Russia and Turkey have followed, with many others since that time, in all of whi

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HELP FROM NEUTRAL COUNTRIES.

HELP FROM NEUTRAL COUNTRIES.

Neutral countries also during this war were ready and bountiful with help; and those working under the treaty did most effectual service. England contributed 7,500,000 francs, besides large gifts of sanitary supplies; in one hundred and eighty-eight days’ time she sent to the seat of war twelve thousand boxes of supplies through the agents of the Red Cross. To give an idea of the readiness and efficacy with which the committees worked even in neutral countries, one instance will suffice. From Po

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CONSTITUTION.

CONSTITUTION.

Name, Location. Article 1. This Association shall be known as the American Association of the Red Cross, with its office located at Washington, D.C., and shall consist of the subscribers hereunto, and such other persons as shall hereafter be elected to membership; and it shall constitute a Central National Association with power to organize state and territorial associations auxiliary to itself. Objects of Association. Art. 2. The objects of the National Association are, First , To secure the ad

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THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE RED CROSS.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE RED CROSS.

The undersigned, all of whom are citizens of the United States of America, and a majority of whom are citizens of the District of Columbia, desirous of forming an association for benevolent and charitable purposes to co-operate with the Comité International de Secours aux Militaires Blessés of Geneva, Switzerland, do, in pursuance of sections 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550 and 551 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to the District of Columbia, make, sign and acknowledge these:

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THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.

The proceedings of this Conference and what led up to it we learn chiefly from the historical report of the Conference by Mr. Gustav Moynier and Dr. Louis Appia, of the International Committee of the Red Cross. It was the work of this Conference that laid the foundation for the Treaty of Geneva, adopted in the following year. In the year 1864, Europe was covered, as if by enchantment, with a network of committees for the relief of wounded soldiers; and this phenomenon would have led the least di

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THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS TREATY.

THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS TREATY.

For the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies at the Field, August 22, 1864. The sovereigns of the following countries, to wit: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, Würtemberg, and the Federal Council of Switzerland, animated by a common desire of mitigating, as far as in their power, the evils inseparable from war, of suppressing needless severities and of ameliorating the condition of soldiers wounded on fields of battle, having concluded

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ADDRESS BY CLARA BARTON.

ADDRESS BY CLARA BARTON.

To the President, Congress, and People of the United States: A brief statement of how I became acquainted with the Red Cross may serve to explain at once its principles and methods, as well as the present attitude of our government in regard to it. The practical beneficence of the sanitary and Christian commissions of the United States attracted the attention of the civilized world. I had borne some part in the operations of field hospitals in actual service in the battles of the Civil War, and

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ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ACTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The president of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton, in November, 1881, laid before President Arthur the matter of the Treaty of Geneva, and the unfulfilled desire of President Garfield that the United States should give its adhesion to that international compact. To this President Arthur gave a cordial and favorable response, and made good his words by the following paragraph in his first annual message, sent to the forty-seventh Congress: At its last extra session the Senate called for the t

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THE “ADDITIONAL ARTICLES” CONCERNING THE RED CROSS FOR THE NAVY.

THE “ADDITIONAL ARTICLES” CONCERNING THE RED CROSS FOR THE NAVY.

The governments of North Germany, Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Würtemberg, desiring to extend to armies on the sea the advantages of the convention concluded at Geneva the twenty-second of August, 1864, for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers in armies in the field, and to further particularize some of the stipulations of the said convention, proposed and signed the following

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[International Bulletin, January, 1882. THE GENEVA CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

[International Bulletin, January, 1882. THE GENEVA CONVENTION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The friends of the Red Cross are not ignorant that the list of States which have signed the Geneva Convention presents a grave and lamentable lack. One of the most civilized nations of the world, and consequently one of the best prepared to subscribe to the principles of this treaty, that is to say, the United States of America, does not appear there. Their absence is so much the more surprising because the proceedings of the Geneva Convention have only been, in some respects, the partial reprod

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ACCESSION OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE TREATY OF GENEVA AND TO THE ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

ACCESSION OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE TREATY OF GENEVA AND TO THE ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

On the first day of March, 1882, the President, by his signature, gave the accession of the United States to the Treaty of Geneva of August 22, 1864, and also to that of October 20, 1868, and transmitted to the Senate the following message, declaration, and proposed adoption of the same: Message from the President of the United States, transmitting an accession of the United States to the Convention concluded at Geneva on the twenty-second August, 1864, between various powers, for the ameliorati

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A PROCLAMATION.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas , on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, a convention was concluded at Geneva, in Switzerland, between the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Swiss Confederation, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Empire, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Würtemberg, for the amelioration of the wounded in armies in the field, the tenor of which conv

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[International Bulletin for April, 1882.] ADHESION OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE CONVENTION OF GENEVA.

[International Bulletin for April, 1882.] ADHESION OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE CONVENTION OF GENEVA.

Referring to the article inserted in our preceding bulletin, p. 42, we are happy to be able to announce that the act of adhesion which we presented was signed at Washington the sixteenth of March, in pursuance of a vote by which the members of the Senate gave their approval with unanimity. Our readers will doubtless be surprised, as we are, that after the long and systematic resistance of the Government of the United States against rallying to the Convention of Geneva, there cannot be found in t

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INTERNATIONAL CIRCULAR. INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE. FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE RED CROSS. Fiftieth Circular to the Presidents and Members of the National Central Committees.

INTERNATIONAL CIRCULAR. INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE. FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE RED CROSS. Fiftieth Circular to the Presidents and Members of the National Central Committees.

Geneva , September 2, 1882 . Gentlemen : When on the twenty-third of August, 1876, we announced to you by our thirty-fourth circular, that the American society for aid to the wounded had had only an ephemeral existence, and had finished by dissolution, we still entertained the hope of seeing it revive, and we asked the friends of the Red Cross to labor with us for its resuscitation. To-day we have the great satisfaction of being able to tell you that this appeal has been heard, and that the Unit

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THE RE-INCORPORATION OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.

THE RE-INCORPORATION OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.

Know all men by these presents, that we, Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, Peter V. DeGraw and George Kennan, all being persons of full age, citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the District of Columbia, being desirous of forming an association to carry on the benevolent and humane work of “The Red Cross” in accordance with the Articles of the International Treaty of Geneva, Switzerland, entered into on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, and adopted by

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ADDRESS. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RED CROSS IN ITS RELATION TO PHILANTHROPY?

ADDRESS. WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RED CROSS IN ITS RELATION TO PHILANTHROPY?

I am asked to say something upon the “Significance of the Red Cross in its Relation to Philanthropy.” I am not sure that I understand precisely what is desired. If a morning paper should announce that three or four of the greatest political bosses or greatest railroad kings in the country had quietly met somewhere, and sat with closed doors till long after midnight, and then silently departed, people would ask, “What is the significance of that? What mischief have they been devising in secret?”

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THE MICHIGAN FOREST FIRES.

THE MICHIGAN FOREST FIRES.

It may be necessary to recall to the mind of the person reading these pages hastily, the fact that the National Red Cross of America was formed nearly a year before the accession to the treaty. This was done by the advice of President Garfield, in order to aid as far as possible the accession. “Accordingly a meeting was held in Washington, D.C., May 21, 1881, which resulted in the formation of an association to be known as the American National Association of the Red Cross.” Several years of pr

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MISSISSIPPI AND OHIO RIVER FLOODS—1882.

MISSISSIPPI AND OHIO RIVER FLOODS—1882.

The spring rise of the waters of the Mississippi brought great devastation and a cry went over the country in regard to the sufferings of the inhabitants of the Mississippi valley. For hundreds of miles the great river was out of its bed and raging madly over the country, sweeping in its course not only the homes but often the people, the animals, and many times the land itself. This constituted a work of the relief clearly within the bounds of the civil part of our treaty, and again we prepared

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MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA CYCLONE

MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA CYCLONE

In less than a month occurred the fearful cyclone of Louisiana and Mississippi, which cut a swath clear of all standing objects for thirty miles in width and several hundred miles in length, running southeast from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Our special agent for the South, Colonel F.R. Southmayd, took charge of the Red Cross relief in this disaster, and so efficient was his work that societies struggled for organization under him and the Red Cross was hailed as a benediction wh

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Down the Mississippi.

Down the Mississippi.

Down the Mississippi all was changed. Two worlds could scarcely differ more. The ofttimes shoreless waste of waters; the roaring crevasse through the broken levees; the anxious ebony faces and the hungry animals that “looked up and were not fed,” among whom and which we floated, could not fail to carry our thoughts back at times to the history of the Deluge and the Ark. The simile, however, had this important difference; we were by no means so good as to be preserved, nor they so bad as to be de

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“THE LITTLE SIX.”

“THE LITTLE SIX.”

It is possible that some readers may recall the story of the “Little Six,” which was locally published at the time, but which I venture to reproduce, as an extract from the Erie Dispatch , of Monday March 24, 1884: Dispatch readers doubtless recollect its account some weeks ago of the manner in which six children of Waterford gave a public entertainment for the benefit of the Ohio flood sufferers; how they themselves suggested it; how their efforts were crowned with success; and how they brought

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THE TEXAS FAMINE.

THE TEXAS FAMINE.

Occasional rumors reached us in the years 1885 and 1886 about a drouth in Texas and consequent suffering, but they were so contradictory and widely at variance that the public took little or no heed of them. During the year of 1886 the Rev. John Brown, a North Presbyterian minister, located at Albany, Shackelford County, Texas, began making appeals by circular and oral address to the people of the Northern States, in which he asserted that there were a hundred thousand families in northwestern T

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ILLINOIS.

ILLINOIS.

Sunday, February 19, 1888, will ever be a memorable day in the annals of the little town of Mount Vernon, Ill.—a day of supreme horrors, destruction and death. There had been thunder and lightning during the afternoon, followed by rain and hail, which had given away to an ominous stillness. The sky was covered with a wierd light, and the air was strangely oppressive. The clouds rapidly changed color, rolling and whirling, and dropping nearer to the earth, until suddenly they assumed the dreaded

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“THE MacCLENNY NURSES.”

“THE MacCLENNY NURSES.”

A HOLIDAY TRIBUTE TO RED CROSS WORKERS, IN Warm appreciation and grateful acknowledgment of the faithful hands that toiled, and the generous hearts that gave. BY Clara Barton , President of the American Association of the Red Cross . During the fourth week in November a dispatch to National Headquarters announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the MacClenny nurses, had finished their work at Enterprise, and would come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days’ quarantine and go ho

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Arrival at Johnstown

Arrival at Johnstown

It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped the fate of their fellows, were gazing over the scene of destruction and trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle m

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Appointment of Committees

Appointment of Committees

It now became possible to more fully systematize the work; and a committee of Johnstown ladies of every denomination was formed, at our request, to receive the people and ascertain their greatest wants, which were carefully noted on printed blanks to be returned to us. These wants we undertook to fill without further trouble to the people themselves. The result of this committee’s work was the written requests of three thousand families, aggregating eighteen thousand persons, to be served, in ad

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The Work of Relief

The Work of Relief

The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many of their articles, as for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand dollars’ worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension tables, chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The Mail and Ex

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FAREWELL TO MISS BARTON.

FAREWELL TO MISS BARTON.

How shall we thank Miss Clara Barton and the Red Cross for the help they have given us? It cannot be done; and if it could, Miss Barton does not want our thanks. She has simply done her duty as she saw it and received her pay—the consciousness of a duty performed to the best of her ability. To see us upon our feet, struggling forward, helping ourselves, caring for the sick and infirm and impoverished—that is enough for Miss Barton. Her idea has been fully worked out, all her plans accomplished.

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“THE DREAD CONEMAUGH.”

“THE DREAD CONEMAUGH.”

The incidents attending a field of relief—some pathetic and sorrowful, others laughable and ludicrous—so loom up in the memory when the subject is opened, as almost to encumber the pen as one writes. Referring to our landlady at Locust Street Hotel, Mrs. Henrie, one recalls her wonderful experience during the night of the flood. By some means, entirely alone, she floated down the stream, not only through Johnstown, but miles below in the darkness of the night, until some time next day perhaps sh

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Count Tolstoi on the Character of the Peasants.

Count Tolstoi on the Character of the Peasants.

Count Tolstoi gave up his whole time to mitigating the suffering caused by this great disaster, and to understanding the situation broadly. He went into the homes of the people, and studied their needs sympathetically; he placed himself by their side, and with his dramatic instinct understood them, ascertained where the hurt was felt, and how it could be cured, if it could be cured at all. At that time the Count wrote of these poor, unfortunates: “I asked them what sort of a harvest they had had

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The Beginning of the American Relief.

The Beginning of the American Relief.

The work of the American National Red Cross in the Russian famine of 1891-92 was comparatively less than in some others of the conspicuous fields in which it had done its work. The impulse to help in the work of that relief sprang up simultaneously in many American hearts and homes, in New York, in Philadelphia, in Minnesota and Iowa. In Iowa it took the form of a veritable crusade for a most holy cause; beginning in the fervid and indomitable spirit of Miss Alice French—the “Octave Thanet” of l

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Appreciation of American Sympathy.

Appreciation of American Sympathy.

That the substantial sympathy of the American people was fully appreciated by the Russian people may be gathered from what follows. The mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to American donors, declared: The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never quarreled, but on the contrary, wished each other prosperity and strength always, these feelings of sympathy shall grow only stronger

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Dr. Hubbell’s Report.

Dr. Hubbell’s Report.

Arrived in St. Petersburg. It would be a week or ten days before we could expect the arrival of the “Tynehead,” with its cargo for the famine sufferers; but we had a copy of her manifest and knew what she would bring. There was something of anxiety, amounting even to consternation, among those who would have to do with the reception of the ship, for reports from the United States had been circulated that persons were on board the vessel who were objectionable, if not avowed enemies to the Russia

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Coast of South Carolina.

Coast of South Carolina.

It is probable that there are few instances on record where a movement toward relief of such magnitude, commenced under circumstances so new, so unexpected, so unprepared and so adverse, was ever carried on for such a length of time and closed with results so entirely satisfactory to both those served and those serving, as this disaster, which, if remembered at all at the present day, is designated as the “Hurricane and Tidal Wave of the Sea Islands off the Coast of South Carolina.” The descript

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Admiral Beardslee’s Description of the Hurricane.

Admiral Beardslee’s Description of the Hurricane.

Mrs. Beardslee and I were participators in the events and shared the dangers brought to the inhabitants of the Sea Islands of South Carolina by the terrific West India hurricane, with accompanying tidal wave, which desolated those unfortunate islands in August, 1893. Since our recent return and while on the journey, and at New York, friends whom we have met, and new acquaintances, have almost universally exhibited much interest in the description of the situation of affairs on those islands, bef

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RELIEF WORK SOUTH OF BROAD RIVER.

RELIEF WORK SOUTH OF BROAD RIVER.

Next to the account of Admiral Beardslee, I desire to place that of Mr. John MacDonald, who, from having faced death in the rigging of the ill-fated “Savannah” for three days, enduring every privation and danger that could be endured, still lived to come to us, and to generously volunteer his services to the Red Cross as one knowing how to feel for those with whom he had suffered in common. After a visit to the northern end of the islands, and a full verbal report to us of their conditions and n

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Report by Mr. McDonald.

Report by Mr. McDonald.

On the night of August 27, 1893, while en route from Boston to Savannah on the steamer “City of Savannah,” the terrible devastating cyclone, which swept over the Sea Island Coast of South Carolina, was experienced by me in all its awfulness, terminating in the wreck and complete break up of that magnificent ship, and the terrible suffering and endurance of three days lashed to the rigging, without food or water and facing and hourly expecting death. Where could help come from? All the boats and

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CLOTHING BRANCH, HILTON HEAD DISTRICT. REPORT BY MRS. MACDONALD.

CLOTHING BRANCH, HILTON HEAD DISTRICT. REPORT BY MRS. MACDONALD.

Accustomed as I had been, in Chicago and other large cities, to see a miscellaneous assortment of rags worn under the name of clothing, I was little prepared for the sight of the almost nude condition of the great mass of people, which came to my notice on first entering on the relief work of the Sea Island Sufferers. After a couple of days and nights spent in the clothing room in Beaufort, packing barrels and boxes for the Hilton Head District, we proceeded there and amid loud exclamations of “

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MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT. BY E. WINFIELD EGAN, M.D.

MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT. BY E. WINFIELD EGAN, M.D.

The storm had left the sanitary condition of the islands in a very unhealthy state, and it became necessary to establish a medical and surgical department at headquarters. Dr. Magruder of the United States Marine Hospital Service had done very efficient work in the vicinity of Beaufort, but many of the wells refilled with a brackish red-colored water and there were many cases of illness, two-thirds of which were fever, which, in the healthiest times, exists upon the islands. It required many emp

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RELIEF METHODS IN THE FIELD.

RELIEF METHODS IN THE FIELD.

However brilliant may be the scintillations lighting up the descriptions of the worker who sees a field for the first or the first few times, it is always to the steady-burning flame of the veteran of all the fields from the earliest to the latest, that we look for the steady light, by which we shall see the calm facts, and so far as possible, the machinery that moves the whole. It will be remembered that Dr. Hubbell was the agent of the Red Cross in the Michigan fires of the North in 1881. We s

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ON THE CHARLESTON GROUP.

ON THE CHARLESTON GROUP.

Among those who lived the storm and later brought their experience and quickened sympathy to us for such help as they could give to their still suffering companions in danger and woe, was our tireless and faithful assistant, Mr. H.L. Bailey, of Charleston. It has never been my good fortune to find one who—entirely new to the work and to its conception—has grasped more readily the field of labor presented to him. The success attending his work and the satisfaction attested by his beneficiaries ar

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THE CLOTHING DEPARTMENT.

THE CLOTHING DEPARTMENT.

Whilst food for the nourishment of these thousands of human bodies was of the first and highest importance, it was followed so closely by the necessity of something to cover them, that the two seemed well nigh inseparable; and while our men stood over the boxes of meats and the bags of grain, by the carload and the trainload, it was no less imperative, that some one stand by the boxes and barrels of clothing sent from, everywhere—sent by the great, warm, pitying hearts of our blessed, generous c

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THE SEWING CIRCLES.

THE SEWING CIRCLES.

There are many points in the administration of relief that will never present themselves until forced upon the mind by the absolute necessities of the case. It was not long until we were confronted with a condition of things that called for ingenious methods and diplomatic action. All foods sent or purchased were always of good quality and in readiness for immediate distribution and use—these could be given to the committeeman, who in turn sent them out as veritable rations a specified quantity

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A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

For my 30,000 Sea Island Friends. A Loving Greeting and Merry Christmas. — Clara Barton....

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CLOTHING DEPARTMENT—Continued.

CLOTHING DEPARTMENT—Continued.

As the work dropped from the weary hand of Mrs. Gardner, another, stronger, more fresh and new in the work, took it up. Mrs. Harriette L. Reed, of Boston, who, while never permanently with us, seldom allows a field to escape her. We regard it as a loss to any field where her genial presence, clear perception and sound judgment take no part. Mrs. Reed, like our beloved and brilliant countrywoman, Mrs. Logan, went to the civil war of 1861, a bride. Her gallant young husband, Captain J. Sewall Reed

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Mrs. Reed’s Report.

Mrs. Reed’s Report.

The preceding account of the distribution of clothing, relates to the early part of the work covering a period of several months, and was under the charge of Mrs. Dr. Gardner, of Bedford, Ind., who was called home. Coming upon the scene about this time, I was more than glad to take up her work to a small extent, and for three months it was my privilege to labor in this field of the Red Cross work, bringing so often to my mind the words of the Master, “for I was naked and ye clothed me.” And what

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LEAVING THE FIELD.

LEAVING THE FIELD.

If it be desirable to understand when to commence a work of relief, to know if the objects presented are actually such as to be benefited by the assistance which would be rendered, it is no less desirable and indispensable that one knows when to end such relief, in order to avoid, first, the weakening of effort and powers for self-sustenance; second, the encouragement of a tendency to beggary and pauperism, by dependence upon others which should be assumed by the persons themselves. It has alway

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Letter to the “News and Courier”

Letter to the “News and Courier”

The Sea Islands were no exception, and at the last moment of our stay a well-drawn petition was discovered (for it was to be kept concealed until we were gone), and was checked only by the vigorous aid of the Charleston News and Courier , of June 25, 1894, always our stay and friend in time of trouble. I append a letter to that journal which followed a visit from their able correspondent. The last weeks of our stay in that place were passed in Charleston, hence the letter dates from there: To th

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Circular to Clergymen and Committees

Circular to Clergymen and Committees

Although the claims upon our time are more than we can meet by working all the day and much of the night, the memory and the interest of our faithful Sea Island friends with whom we worked last year, through the months that followed the great storm, still claim much of our thoughts. Another planting season is approaching, and we are hoping that your people have been doing the preparatory work of ditching for the raising of good crops. If any have not begun this work, will you see those who would

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PRO-ARMENIAN ALLIANCE.

PRO-ARMENIAN ALLIANCE.

ITS WORK TO BE EXTENDED TO THE REMOTEST SECTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES—GOVERNORS OF STATES WILL AID. [Special dispatch to the Sunday Herald .] The pro-Armenian Alliance, with headquarters in this city, says the Evening News , which is working hand in glove with Miss Clara Barton and the Red Cross Society for the relief of the Armenians, is rapidly completing arrangements for extending its work to the remotest sections of the United States. The permanent organization of the alliance was perfected

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Distances and Difficulties of Travel, Transportation and Communications.

Distances and Difficulties of Travel, Transportation and Communications.

For the convenience of the closely occupied who have not time to study as they read, I have thought it well to condense the information above referred to in a paragraph, which can be taken in at a glance, in connection with the map. The one great port of Asia Minor is Constantinople. To reach the centre, known as Anatolia or Armenia, there are two routes from Constantinople. One by way of the Mediterranean Sea to Alexandretta, the southern port or gateway; the other by the Black Sea, to reach th

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Communications.

Communications.

As will be seen, the sending of a letter from Constantinople to the interior, requires at the best six weeks, or forty-six days with no delays. Only the large and more important towns have telegraphic communication. This requires two, three, four days of a week, according to circumstances. These dispatches are all sent and must be answered in Turkish. [Translation of above Telegram.] Miss Barton : Since three days we are attending with our doctors and their attendants to one hundred sick per day

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Funds.

Funds.

It should be distinctly understood by contributors that neither their letters, nor any individual contributions came to us; these were received by the committees or parties raising the funds in America. The letters were doubtless faithfully acknowledged, and the various sums of money placed in the general fund forwarded to us by them. All contributions received by us directly at Constantinople are acknowledged in our report. Although an account of the disposition of all funds is rendered in the

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The Committees.

The Committees.

On behalf of the wretchedness and suffering met through Asia Minor, we return heartfelt thanks to the committees who labored with such untiring zeal toward their relief. We were never unmindful of the difficulties which they were constantly called to encounter and to overcome. Not having in hand the funds desired or even guaranteed, they must raise them, and this largely from persons whose sympathies outran their generosity, if not their means. This naturally opened the door for excuses for with

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To the Press of the United States.

To the Press of the United States.

Among the dark hours that came to us in the hopeless waste of work and woe on every side, the strong sustaining power has been the Press of the United States. While naturally compelled to give circulation to unauthorized reports from other sources, it has evidently done it with regret, and hastened by strong editorials, in words of no uncertain sound, to set right before its readers any errors that may have crept in. The American press has always been loyal to the Red Cross and to its work, and

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To the Contributors of the United States,

To the Contributors of the United States,

Whose sympathy, God-like pity and mercy prompted them to the grand work of relief for the half million suffering and dying in a land they had never seen, whose purses were opened, whose own desires were repressed that they might give, not of their abundance, but of their scantiness ofttimes, whose confidence made us their almoners, whose whole-hearted trust has strengthened us, whose hearts have been with us, whose prayers have followed us, whose hopes have sustained us, and whose beckoning hand

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To our Government at Washington;

To our Government at Washington;

To its cordial sympathy so warmly expressed through its honored Secretaries of State and Navy, and through whose ready access we were at all times able to reach the public, our earnest and respectful thanks are rendered, begging our warm-hearted people to bear in mind that our rulers are a part of, and like themselves; that the security of the government lies largely in the fact that responsibility tends to conservatism—not necessarily less sympathetic, but less free, more responsible and more t

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To our Legation in Constantinople.

To our Legation in Constantinople.

Our thanks are due to our genial minister, Hon. A.W. Terrell, his accomplished secretary, and chargé d’affairs , J.W. Riddle, his interpreter and dragoman, Gargiulo; our Consul General, Luther Short, Esq.; the consular interpreter, Demetriades, from every one of whom we received unremitting care and attention during all the months of our residence at Constantinople, and without which aid we could not have succeeded in our work. There was not an hour that their free service was not placed at our

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To the Ambassadors of Other Nations at Constantinople.

To the Ambassadors of Other Nations at Constantinople.

To these high and honorable gentlemen our thanks are due. To Sir Philip Currie of England, there seemed to come no difference in sentiment between our people and his own; a tower of strength where-ever he took hold. Germany and Russia were cordial and ready to aid, as also our English Consul, R.A. Fontana, at Harpoot, and C.M. Hallward, at Diarbekir; and following these, may I also name the ready help of Reuter’s Express and the United and Associated Presses of both Constantinople and London....

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Commendatory.

Commendatory.

Here is a phase of our work which should not be entirely passed by, and yet, if only partially taken up would overrun our entire report. Only one or two excerpts must suffice to show what the others might mean. From Rev. Dr. H.O. Dwight, one word among the many so generously spoken: Miss Barton has done a splendid work, sensibly and economically managed. Wherever her agents have been, the missionaries have expressed the strongest approval of their methods and efficiency. The work done has been o

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MARMORA.

MARMORA.

Reports are always tedious. If some reader, having persevered thus far, if such there be, shall find himself or herself saying with a little thrill of disappointment, “But this does not give the information expected, it does not recommend any specific course to be pursued, whether emigration for the Armenians, and if so, where, and how; or autonomy, and if so, how to be secured, and assured; if more ships should be sent, and what they should do when there; if greater pressure of the Powers shoul

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REPORT OF THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY.

REPORT OF THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY.

The following financial report, of necessity, has to deal with the currencies of five different countries, viz.: American, English, French, Austrian and Turkish, but as nearly all except expenses of travel and maintenance are in Turkish money, and as American, English, French and other moneys received were naturally reduced to the coin of the Ottoman Empire, we were obliged to make our accounts to correspond. As the report is made on the gold basis of 100 piasters to a lira, our friends may easi

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GENERAL FIELD AGENT’S REPORT.

GENERAL FIELD AGENT’S REPORT.

Anatolia, Asia Minor. To Miss Clara Barton , President : In speaking of the relief work in Asia Minor, may I be allowed to begin at Constantinople, at which place, while waiting for the necessary official papers for our work, we were all busy selecting and purchasing relief supplies, camping outfit, cooking utensils, and making other preparations for interior travel; and also securing competent interpreters and dragomans. Although the Irade of the Sultan granting permission to enter Asia Minor h

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MEDICAL REPORT.

MEDICAL REPORT.

Dr. Ira Harris, resident American physician at Tripoli, Syria, a gentleman of high attainments, Christian character, scholarship and service, who directs a large private hospital and practice of his own, honored the Red Cross and contributed largely to the beneficence of his and our own people’s efforts to relieve and rebuild the people of Asia Minor, by accepting a commission to command an expedition for the relief of the fever-stricken thousands, residents and refugees, crowded into the cities

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HOME CAMPS AND AMERICAN WATERS. D.L. Cobb.

HOME CAMPS AND AMERICAN WATERS. D.L. Cobb.

During the summer of 1897 there began to appear reports of great suffering among the unfortunate people of Cuba, since familiarly known as the “reconcentrados.” They were the non-combatants, men, women and children, ordered from their homes and plantations in the interior and concentrated in the seacoast towns under control of the Spanish arms. Thousands were dying, hundreds of thousands were in want; the terrible story of their misery and awful distress was re-echoed throughout the country, and

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Appointment of the Central Cuban Relief Committee

Appointment of the Central Cuban Relief Committee

This appeal was sent out through the Associated Press and distributed through the mails, and met with a most generous response from the public. It soon became apparent, however, that to inaugurate a thorough system of relief, to concentrate and administer the varied contributions of the people, a central committee would be required who should be charged with the duties of organization, collection and shipment. A conference was held at Washington, between President McKinley, the Secretary of Stat

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The Red Cross Requested to Administer Relief in Cuba

The Red Cross Requested to Administer Relief in Cuba

The Central Cuban Relief Committee , Appointed by the President of the United States and acting under the direction of the Department of State. Miss Clara Barton , President, American National Red Cross, Washington, D.C. : Dear Miss Barton : In confirmation of the verbal request by the chairman and treasurer of the Central Cuban Relief Committee, in conjunction with the Hon. Wm. R. Day, Assistant Secretary of State, that you proceed to the island of Cuba, there to carry on the work of distributi

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Taking Command of the “State of Texas”

Taking Command of the “State of Texas”

With these credentials, the President and staff of the American National Red Cross immediately proceeded to Key West, and, after reporting to the commandant of the naval station and to the representative of Admiral Sampson, the party boarded the “State of Texas” and awaited an opportunity to carry out the mission of the Red Cross. During the year prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Spain, Cuban families were fleeing from the island, and this exodus continued until

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Relief Work at Tampa and Key West

Relief Work at Tampa and Key West

Committees and agents of the Red Cross were established in both Tampa and Key West, and acting as the distributing agencies for the supplies forwarded by the Central Cuban Relief Committee, the refugees were cared for. In Key West the number supplied with food from the warehouse and kitchen of the Red Cross were over seventeen hundred people, and the distribution still continues. Key West has been one of the most important distributing stations, and from the beginning has been under the efficien

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Feeding Spanish Prisoners of War

Feeding Spanish Prisoners of War

Before the “State of Texas” arrived at Key West, war had been declared between the United States and Spain, and soon after the prize ships, schooners, steamers and fishing smacks, captured off the Cuban coast began to come in, in tow, or in charge of prize crews. The navy worked rapidly and brought in their prizes so quickly that the government officials were not prepared to feed the prisoners of war. On the ninth of May the United States Marshal for the southern district of Florida made the fol

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Correspondence with Admiral Sampson

Correspondence with Admiral Sampson

While waiting for an opportunity to get into Cuba, the reports which reached us showed that the distress among the reconcentrados was daily increasing, and it was determined to make an attempt to land with the “State of Texas,” or at least to show the willingness of the Red Cross to do so, if permitted. As the ship was under the direction of the Navy Department, the following letter was addressed to the admiral in command of the blockading fleet: Admiral William T. Sampson , U.S.N., Commanding f

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Appointment of the Executive Committee of the Red Cross and the Relief Committee of New York

Appointment of the Executive Committee of the Red Cross and the Relief Committee of New York

Following the usual custom, the American National Red Cross was about to issue a statement to the American people for funds and materials to support its ministrations to the sick and wounded, when a resolution was passed by the board of directors of the New York Red Cross Hospital, of which institution Mr. William T. Wardwell is president, proposing the formation of a Relief Committee. The purpose of this committee was to raise funds and supplies, in the name of the Red Cross, and to act as a na

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Communication from the Secretary of State Acknowledging Official Status of the American National Red Cross

Communication from the Secretary of State Acknowledging Official Status of the American National Red Cross

On May 24, the above communication was transmitted by the Secretary of State to the Department of War, in the following letter in which he explains the position of the American National Red Cross and its national and international status: The Honorable the Secretary of War : Sir : I have the honor to transmit to you copy of a letter addressed to the President under date of the twentieth inst., by Messrs. Levi P. Morton, Henry C. Potter, D.D., William T. Wardwell, George F. Shrady, M.D., and A. M

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The Modus Vivendi with Spain

The Modus Vivendi with Spain

Although the Additional Articles had not yet been formally ratified, the Swiss Government, acting as an intermediary, and with a view to securing their observance by both belligerents during the war, opened a diplomatic correspondence between the governments of the United States and Spain, proposing the adoption of a temporary agreement, or modus vivendi , during the continuance of hostilities. The official correspondence on the subject between the Secretary of State and the Swiss Minister will

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Services of the Red Cross Field Agents for the Camps

Services of the Red Cross Field Agents for the Camps

Clara Barton , President of the American National Red Cross, Washington, D.C. : The tender of the services of the American National Red Cross, made to this department through the Department of State under date of May 25, 1898, for medical and hospital work as auxiliary to the hospital service of the Army of the United States, is accepted; all representatives and employes of said organization to be subject to orders according to the rules and discipline of war, as provided by the 63d Article of W

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Appointment of Red Cross Field Agents for the Camps

Appointment of Red Cross Field Agents for the Camps

In the meantime, war was officially proclaimed, and the President had issued his call for volunteers. As the troops responded to the call, they were assembled in camps in various sections of the country, principally in Washington, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, Jacksonville, Tampa and Port Tampa in Florida. Soon after the formation of the camps it became evident that the auxiliary service of the Red Cross would be necessary in caring for the men, and a formal tender of such service was made to the g

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CAMP ALGER.

CAMP ALGER.

Among the first of the Red Cross field agents appointed was Mr. B.H. Warner, of Washington, to whose special charge was assigned the field known as “Camp Alger.” Mr. Warner makes the following report of the work done by himself and the committee of which he was chairman: On June 10, 1898, I was notified by letter of George Kennan, Esq., first vice-president of American National Red Cross, that I had been appointed as its representative, at Camp Alger, Virginia, and was requested to report to Chi

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CAMP THOMAS.

CAMP THOMAS.

The agent first appointed for Chickamauga Park, was Dr. Charles R. Gill. Shortly afterwards, however, Dr. Gill expressed a desire to go to Cuba, and he was relieved, Mr. E.C. Smith being placed in charge of this field, which proved eventually to be one of the most important stations of the Red Cross. As the demands of the camp increased, Mr. A.M. Smith was sent to assist his brother in the work. Their services have been eminently satisfactory to all concerned, and many voluntary expressions of a

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JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.

At Jacksonville, Fla., the work at the camp was under the direction of the Rev. Alexander Kent, of Washington, D.C., who has been a member of the American National Red Cross for many years. He began his duties about the middle of June and, assisted by his son, continued until the order for the abandonment of the camp was issued. The territory covered by this agency included also the camps at Miami and Fernandina. The affairs of the Red Cross in this field were most efficiently conducted and with

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FORT MCPHERSON, GA.

FORT MCPHERSON, GA.

Early in August Mr. D.L. Cobb, on a tour of inspection, arrived at Fort McPherson, Georgia, to see if any assistance was required at the post, and if an agency could be established. It was found that Mrs. Anna E. Nave, wife of Rev. Orville J. Nave, chaplain of the post, and their daughter, Miss Hermione Nave, had established a small dietary kitchen and were supporting a table for convalescents. The object of the kitchen was to provide light and nutritive diet for the soldiers in the barracks who

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CAMP HOBSON, GA.

CAMP HOBSON, GA.

At Camp Hobson, Lithia Springs, Ga., a diet kitchen was also maintained, under the direction of Miss Junia McKinley, assisted by the Atlanta Committee of the Red Cross, of which the following account is received: The diet kitchen was opened here on Monday, August 9, and remained in operation three weeks, at the expiration of which time the camp broke up. During the first week after the kitchen was established, when detachments from the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth regime

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ST. PAUL, MINN.

ST. PAUL, MINN.

The story of the Red Cross of St. Paul, Minn., is briefly told in the report by Miss Caroline M. Beaumont, the recording secretary: The St. Paul Red Cross Aid Society was organized on the ninth of May, 1898, shortly after the beginning of the war, pursuant to a general call for aid, with Mr. A.S. Tallmadge as president, and a full board of officers. It was at first intended to form a regular auxiliary of the Red Cross, directly tributary to the National Organization, and distribute supplies thro

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MONTAUK POINT, L.I.

MONTAUK POINT, L.I.

At the request of the New York Relief Committee, the executive committee of the Red Cross appointed Mr. Howard Townsend as the field agent at Montauk Point, Long Island, under whose supervision the work of the Red Cross at this important station was admirably conducted. Mr. Townsend in his report says: The Red Cross appeared on the ground on Sunday, August 7, 1898, and its representative remained there permanently after August 10. The first, and in some respects the most important work, was the

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THE PACIFIC COAST.

THE PACIFIC COAST.

The States of the Pacific coast, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and others, have taken a very prominent part in the relief work during the war, under the Red Cross. It is yet too soon to write the story of the great service they have rendered, for the work still continues and only partial reports are at hand. In the latter part of June the following letter was received by the chairman of the executive committee of the Red Cross, from Mrs. L.L. Dunbar, secretary of the Red Cross of San Fr

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THE RED CROSS OF CALIFORNIA.

THE RED CROSS OF CALIFORNIA.

The Red Cross of California has, perhaps, been the most prominent in war relief on the coast, and in the islands of the Pacific. To add to the comforts of the men, and to assist in the care of the sick and wounded, the people of the State of California have contributed, and expended through their own auxiliaries of the Red Cross, over one hundred thousand dollars. I here insert, as an example of the work done by the people of the Pacific Coast, the report of one of the leading central State orga

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THE RED CROSS OF OREGON.

THE RED CROSS OF OREGON.

From the Red Cross of Oregon, comes the following report, forwarded by Mrs. Levi Young. In transmitting the report Mrs. Young says: “While it may be longer than desired, still we feel that the eyes of our country have been more particularly turned toward Cuba and the relief work done by the eastern branches, while the Pacific Coast has been doing a work second to none. Conditions here make it difficult to raise the necessary funds, and every dollar expended represents untiring devotion to the ca

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THE RED CROSS OF WASHINGTON STATE. Extract From the Official Report.

THE RED CROSS OF WASHINGTON STATE. Extract From the Official Report.

The tocsin of war started in each community, from which went out the brave defenders, a desire to benefit and make soldier life more comfortable. As emergency corps, relief corps, or without name, the women went to work to do something for the soldiers. The Red Cross was a name to most known only in an indefinite way, until reports began to come in of grand work done. Not knowing how to proceed, groping in the dark, feeling our own way instinctively, we organized in Tacoma and Seattle. The Seatt

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Report by Horace F. Barnes.

Report by Horace F. Barnes.

Red Cross relief work for Porto Rico began with the arrival of a detachment of female nurses before the American and Spanish armies had ceased hostilities. These nurses, however, were ordered back to the States at once as attendants for returning sick and wounded soldiers. On the tenth of August the Executive Committee commissioned me as the Red Cross field agent for Porto Rico, and put me in charge of a cargo of relief supplies then on the steamship “Concho,” which sailed from New York on Augus

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SHIPMENTS BY TRANSPORTS.

SHIPMENTS BY TRANSPORTS.

By the courtesy of the War Department, the Executive Committee were enabled to make several shipments, both to Cuba and to Porto Rico, on the United States transports. With the exception of the first cargo by the “Port Victor,” the larger part of these supplies which should properly have been consigned to the Red Cross at the front, were sent direct to the commanding officers, or to the officers of the medical department of the army, upon request. The consignment of the “Port Victor,” although r

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THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS RELIEF COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK.

THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS RELIEF COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK.

The origin of this great volunteer emergency committee has already been explained in these pages. But the story of their wonderful work can never be fully told. With their co-operation much suffering has been prevented or relieved, and many lives have been saved; through the ministrations made possible by their efforts, the humblest private in the ranks now realizes that “the great heart of the nation will not let the soldier die.” No words can express the gratitude of the Red Cross for their po

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EXTRACTS OF REPORTS FROM CAMPS.

EXTRACTS OF REPORTS FROM CAMPS.

Field Agent, Rev. Alexander Kent. Headquarters opened June 16, 1898. The hospital was found in a very distressing and unhealthful condition. Most of the patients were indeed on cots, but few had either sheets or night shirts to cover them! It was also found that the sick had no suitable food, and when the suitable food was provided it was found that there was no provision for preparing it! The government provided many sheets, many cots, many pillows, but the demand ever outran the supply, and th

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THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARIES OF THE RED CROSS.

THE WOMAN’S AUXILIARIES OF THE RED CROSS.

By special authority from the American National Red Cross, these auxiliaries were organized under the auspices of the Relief Committee in New York, acting in conjunction with the Executive Committee of the Red Cross. Therefore, full reports of what they have accomplished have not been sent direct to the national headquarters. Among the woman’s auxiliaries it was the custom for each to organize for some special work, and devote their entire attention to it. It is a pleasure to be able to insert h

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THE WOMEN WHO WENT TO THE FIELD.

THE WOMEN WHO WENT TO THE FIELD.

The following poem is here inserted because of its prophetic application to those women who, during the Spanish-American War, went bravely to field and camp to minister to the sick and the wounded. The poem was read by Clara Barton at the farewell Reception and Banquet by the Ladies of the Potomac Corps, at Willard’s Hotel, Washington, D.C., Friday evening, November 18, 1892, in response to the toast: “ The Women Who Went to the Field. ” [At this point, as by one impulse, every man in the room s

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HAVANA.

HAVANA.

“We reached Havana February 9, five weeks ago, and in all the newness of a strange country, with oriental customs, commenced our work.” The above entry I find in my diary. In speaking of conditions as found, let me pray that no word shall be taken as a criticism upon any person or people. Dreadful as these conditions were, and rife as hunger, starvation and death were on every hand, we were constantly amazed at the continued charities as manifested in the cities, and small, poor villages of a pe

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Los Fosos

Los Fosos

We were met at the dock and driven to Hotel Inglaterra, where letters of welcome awaited us. After paying our official respects, our first business was to meet the committees appointed for the distribution of food. We found them pleasant gentlemen. We were notified of the arrival of the steamship “Vigilancia,” with fifty tons of supplies, sent by the New York Committee; took carriage and drove to the dock. It was a glad sight to see her anchors dropping down into the soil of that starved spot of

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The Orphanage

The Orphanage

“The Consul General has named a desire to have an orphanage created, and asked of me to find a building, and establish such an institution. I commence a search among the apparently suitable buildings of the town, but regretting always that I have not his knowledge of the city and its belongings. Up to this time the search, although vigilant, has been fruitless. Still there are only three days of it all since our arrival, and to-morrow will be Sunday.” This hopeful entry ended the first half week

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Destruction of the “Maine.”

Destruction of the “Maine.”

The heavy clerical work of that fifteenth day of February held not only myself but Mr. Elwell as well, busy at our writing tables until late at night. The house had grown still; the noises on the streets were dying away, when suddenly the table shook from under our hands, the great glass door opening onto the veranda, facing the sea, flew open; everything in the room was in motion or out of place—the deafening roar of such a burst of thunder as perhaps one never heard before, and off to the righ

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Jaruco.

Jaruco.

It was a clear warm day. I had retired early to be ready for a five o’clock start for the town of Jaruco, some twenty miles away. It was as dark as night when we stepped into the carriage to go to the ferry and the train—damp, heavy, just a morning for chills. Some members of the committee joined us at the train, and as daylight and sunrise came, the sight, in spite of neglect and devastation, was magnificently lovely. The stately groves of royal palms looked benignly down on the less pretentiou

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Matanzas.

Matanzas.

Among the welcome, notable persons who from time to time visited us, led by their interest in the great suffering reported through the press, were Senator Redfield Proctor and his friend, Hon. M.M. Parker, of Washington, D.C. They had come imbued with the desire, not only to see the condition of the island and the people, but to try to find as well, what could be done for them,—to gain some practical knowledge which could be used for their benefit. There seemed to be no more certain way of their

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ARTEMISA.

ARTEMISA.

Whilst these various provisions and improvements in and around Havana, in the little orphanage and Los Fosos were going on, food was going out from the great warehouse upon requisition, to thirty or forty towns and villages in number, which no one had yet had the time to visit; and their first distribution must be made on trust. From many sources we had heard of the needs of Artemisa, several miles to the east by rail. As usual, there was but one train daily from Havana, and that, like the road

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SAGUA LA GRANDE.

SAGUA LA GRANDE.

Referring again to the diary I find the following record: Sagua la Grande and Cienfuegos yet remain within our limits to be reached at once. We have not a day to lose, and again leave at six o’clock for Sagua la Grande. This means the usual morning ride in the dark, the ferry and the beautiful opening of the day speeding on through a strange land of waste and desolation. Our same company assembled, and as we neared Sagua we were met by our friend, Consul Barker, and later on the mayor, Senor Mac

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CIENFUEGOS.

CIENFUEGOS.

Although a rather early train on the next day would take us to Cienfuegos, the visit to the kitchens with their great, steaming cauldrons of food must not be passed by. Although it was simply beans, rice, such other dry vegetables as could be obtained, and the little meat or lard that came with the ration, slowly and thoroughly cooked, it was still a food that any good appetite could appreciate—wholesome, clean and as abundant as the circumstances would permit. It was a pleasure to see the child

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BACK TO HAVANA.

BACK TO HAVANA.

Our journey through the three or four districts had shown us the worst of human suffering, the greatest of desolation, and a degree of discouragement as hard perhaps to rally the people from as the absolute physical conditions under which they existed. We had arranged for food for all. The ships with their various consignments were already on the way, the “Fern” to Matanzas, a shipment from the Philadelphia Red Cross on the “Bergen,” also bound for Matanzas, from both of which supplies could go

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LEAVING HAVANA.

LEAVING HAVANA.

It is needless to say that the strong talk went on—well or ill, wise or unwise, welcome or unwelcome—it went on. Evidently the blockade was near at hand and a declaration of war liable to follow. What should one do but to ask counsel of all within reach? I have given the result of my interview with the Spanish authorities; cabling to American authorities brings the answer, “The consul should know best. Take no chances.” Reference to the consul brings the kindly reply, “I am going myself.” The or

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On Board the “State of Texas”

On Board the “State of Texas”

By the authorities at Washington, the “State of Texas” had been consigned to the protection of the navy, and accordingly we must report our arrival. This was done to the senior officer, representing Admiral Sampson, in the port, Captain Harrington, of the monitor “Puritan.” This brought at once a personal call from the captain with an invitation to our entire staff to visit his beautiful ship the following day. The launch of the “Puritan” was sent to take us, and not only was the ship inspected,

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TAMPA.

TAMPA.

Tampa became the gathering point of the army. Its camps filled like magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America; the great ships gathered in the waters; the monitors, grim and terrible, seemed striving to hide their heads among the surging waves; the transports, with decks dark with human life, passed in and out, and the great monarchs of the sea held ever their commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this

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Arrival at Santiago

Arrival at Santiago

The twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water of Santiago. Our transports and battleships were gathered there, and the advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been some fighting at Guantanamo. The “Solace” was there. Its harbor was fine, and the run of forty miles was made by noon of that day. Whoever has enjoyed the quiet, sheltered harbor of Guantanamo will not require to be reminded of it—

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Siboney

Siboney

Nine o’clock of the same night, June 26, found us in Siboney and anchored in its waters, which can scarcely be called a harbor. It seems to be rather an indenture in the coast. Shall I be pardoned if I again revert to the diary which, by some means, I found time to hastily pencil: We were wakened at daybreak to see the soldiers filing up over the hill in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, in and out among the hills, higher and higher, like a great anaconda. As w

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Hospital Work at Siboney

Hospital Work at Siboney

Our Red Cross sisters and surgeons were all busy at the Cuban Hospital, when the following letter from Major Le Garde was received: To Miss Clara Barton , President American National Red Cross : I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on the shore shall be transferred to the “Iroquois” and “Olivette,” but the facilities for carrying out this or

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Relief Work at the Front

Relief Work at the Front

The operating tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken off and brought on his litter and laid beside other men and something given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing out. All night it went on. It grew cold—for naked men, bitter cold before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only as we tore off from a cut of cotton cloth, which by some means had gotten on with us, strips six or seven feet long, and giving them to our men, asked them to

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Entering the Harbor of Santiago

Entering the Harbor of Santiago

The diary at this point says: On returning from our fruitless journey to Guantanamo we stopped at Siboney only long enough to get our dispatches, then ran down directly in front of Santiago and lay with the fleet. A personal call from Admiral Schley, Captain Cook and other officers served to show the interest and good will of those about us. Between three and four o’clock in the afternoon a small Spanish steamer—which had been among the captures of Santiago—ran alongside and informed us that an

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Unloading the “State of Texas”

Unloading the “State of Texas”

It has been remarked that Mr. Elwell had been a resident of Santiago and connected with its shipping for several years. It was only the work of an hour after landing to find his old-time help. A hundred and twenty-five stevedores were engaged to be on the dock at six o’clock next morning, to work for pay in rations. The dock had its track and trucks running to its open warehouses. As we had entered we saw it bare of every movable or living thing. Want had swept it of all that could be carried aw

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Feeding the Refugees

Feeding the Refugees

Word went back to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney at once back to Santiago;—we were there and could feed them—that the “State of Texas” had still on board twelve hundred tons of supplies for the reconcentrados. That day poured in upon us all that had strength to make the journey, of the thirty thousand starving wrecks of El Caney. If there were any at night who had not received food, no one knew it. The fires were rekindled in the great steam soup kitchens of Mr. H. Michaelsen—that

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Departure of the “State of Texas”

Departure of the “State of Texas”

The “State of Texas” discharged her cargo and left for New York on the fifth day, leaving us without a particle of transportation, and in the pressure and confusion none could be obtained. Let those who tried it testify. The two railroads leading out of the town were destroyed. The ports were not open, and the country portions of the province reached only by pack mules. Later, forty large, fine healthy mules were shipped to us, but the half score of fully equipped ambulances, harnesses and betwe

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The Transport “Clinton” at the Disposition of the Red Cross

The Transport “Clinton” at the Disposition of the Red Cross

At this juncture news came that Havana was open. In all the country I knew but one person who had the power to order one of those waiting transports to take myself, staff and some supplies to Havana, and my dispatch went to President McKinley, with the suggestion kindly and thoughtfully made by Major Osgood who had just come in on the “Clinton,” that in order to economize time and labor, possibly the President might furnish a ship already loaded with government supplies, and let us repay from ou

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Leaving Santiago for Havana

Leaving Santiago for Havana

The reloading was quickly accomplished, the direction of our remaining affairs placed in proper hands, and on the twenty-first of August, just five weeks to an hour since entering the harbor, we retraced the waters we had sailed over coming from Siboney to Santiago. The same golden sunshine rested on the hills and tinged the still waters of the bay, but we were no longer the only ship. The transports to take our soldiers home lay there; the great Spanish liners to take the Spanish soldiers to Sp

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Departure from Havana

Departure from Havana

No commissioners had arrived, and feeling that we might become a source of irritation to them by remaining, and being unable to distribute our supplies, we decided to withdraw. Our captain, having been trained in the merchant service and being unaccustomed to military shipping, had neglected some little formality on leaving Santiago, which admitted, or perhaps called for, a fine of five hundred dollars. This we promptly paid, and with the best understanding with all parties, Spanish, Cuban and o

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REPORT OF DR. A. MONAE LESSER.

REPORT OF DR. A. MONAE LESSER.

In response to a call from the president of the American National Red Cross, I left this city with Mrs. Lesser for Key West on June 15. On my trip South, a train of recruits commanded by First Lieutenant Heavey, First Infantry, joined us on their way to Tampa. There were a number of sick on this train; I offered my services to the lieutenant, which he accepted, and I attended the sick. Most of them had bowel troubles; either diarrhœa or constipation; several had fever, and some sore throats. One

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RELIEF WORK IN CUBA. REPORT OF C.H.H. COTTRELL, FINANCIAL SECRETARY.

RELIEF WORK IN CUBA. REPORT OF C.H.H. COTTRELL, FINANCIAL SECRETARY.

Early in February, 1898, after the President of the United States had called Clara Barton to several conferences on the question of relieving the sufferings of the Cuban reconcentrados; and the Central Cuban Relief Committee had been formed to take charge of the funds and supplies which it was known that the generous American people were anxious to donate for this purpose, it was decided that Miss Barton should go to Cuba at once to assist in the prompt and efficient distribution of the succor w

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The Schooner “Mary E. Morse”. Distribution of the Ice

The Schooner “Mary E. Morse”. Distribution of the Ice

There was at both Siboney and Santiago a great congestion of government steamers, causing much confusion and consequent delay in getting commissary and quartermaster stores ashore. The government, of course, had charge of everything, including wharves and lighters; and as we were unable to command these facilities several shipments of goods sent to the Red Cross at Santiago were never allowed to land there and were returned to the United States. They were not needed, however, as we had an ample

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Immense Stores in Santiago.

Immense Stores in Santiago.

The Red Cross had at that time in its warehouse at Santiago about eight hundred tons of stores, and the New York committee was sending more all the time. The government warehouses and wharves were overcrowded with quartermaster and commissary stores, although the troops, both sick and well, were being sent North as fast as steamers could be secured to carry them. General Wood, the military governor, was devoting all of his time to the betterment of the general condition of the people; and in add

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President McKinley Furnishes Transportation.

President McKinley Furnishes Transportation.

Having heard that the port of Havana was open, it was natural that our party should be eager to return there and take up the work that we had been compelled to relinquish during the previous spring. The only means of transportation that was at our disposal to use in reaching Havana was the schooner “Mary E. Morse,” and as she had been already destined for another port, and was withal so slow that she would not have served our requirements, we had no other recourse than to appeal to the governmen

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Financial.

Financial.

It is a very hard matter to express in dollars and cents the value of the relief distributed, as it was all donated in either material or money which was turned into material; and the kinds were so varied, the market value so fluctuating, and the data so scattered, that only an approximation can be ventured. It is probably underestimating the amount of relief stores that have been sent to Cuba by the Central Cuban Relief Committee and the American National Red Cross to place it at six thousand t

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LETTER OF SANTIAGO COMMITTEE.

LETTER OF SANTIAGO COMMITTEE.

Miss Clara Barton , President of the American National Red Cross, Santiago de Cuba : Madam :—The undersigned, who have had the honor to form your committee to assist you in the distribution of relief to this city during the permanence in it of the Red Cross, desire on the eve of your departure to “give an account of their stewardship,” presenting at same time in a condensed form an idea of the work that has been done. It would probably be difficult to cite an instance in which a relief vessel ha

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REPORT OF E. WINFIELD EGAN, M.D.

REPORT OF E. WINFIELD EGAN, M.D.

When the Red Cross was asked by the Department of State, and the Central Cuban Relief Committee, to go to Cuba in charge of the relief work among the reconcentrados, the members of Miss Barton’s personal staff, who had worked on other fields, were called to join the expedition. On the twentieth of February, while in my office in Boston, a telegram arrived containing the usual call to service in the field. Six days later, I reported at headquarters in the city of Havana. Already the preliminary w

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CLOTHING DEPARTMENT.

CLOTHING DEPARTMENT.

Report of Miss Annie M. Fowler. [G] On July 26, in the large back room on the ground floor, and opening out upon the flagged courtyard of the warehouse, Casa Buena Santiago, was undertaken, under the direction of Mrs. Gardner, the work of the Department of Clothing, to sort out the garments as to kind and quality, and to re-pack them for distribution among the people of Santiago, and the outlying districts and towns. On August 1, Mrs. Gardner returned to the States, and the responsibility of car

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THE RED CROSS OF OTHER NATIONS. THEIR SYMPATHY AND ACTIVE CO-OPERATION.

THE RED CROSS OF OTHER NATIONS. THEIR SYMPATHY AND ACTIVE CO-OPERATION.

It is with feelings of pleasure and satisfaction that I record the fact that the Red Cross of the United States is, in its relations with all the foreign branches of the International Society, on terms of mutual confidence and esteem; and that the utmost cordiality is maintained through a constant interchange of correspondence. During many years, before our organization received the attention and official recognition in this country that it was entitled to, coming as it did with the prestige of

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TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

The following address was prepared to be read before a special meeting of members of Congress as early as the summer of 1888. The news of the death of General Sheridan prevented the meeting, and no other opportunity having ever presented, the remarks have waited all the intervening years. What were the facts then are none the less true now, either for the Congress or the people, and I adopt the usual custom in such cases, and ask “leave to print.” Gentlemen :—While proceeding to lay before you t

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TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE RED CROSS. An Acknowledgment.

TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE RED CROSS. An Acknowledgment.

To our tireless Executive Committee, and to the great and energetic Red Cross Relief Committee of New York, who undertook the concentration of the war relief and the administration of the generous gifts of the people, and who have so faithfully stood by me in the work during all these months, no words can adequately express my gratitude and the appreciation of the National Committee. For them no task was too great; no requisition was ever refused. To their zealous labors is due, in a great measu

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A Tribute to the Red Cross Nurses.

A Tribute to the Red Cross Nurses.

By Franklin B. Hussey , of Chicago. The war is over. Now let us rejoice. Now erect your tablets and monuments to the heroes of the war—the living and the dead. Write their names on the long roll of honor: Dewey, Schley, Hobson and Wainwright, Roosevelt, Lee, Wheeler and all the rest, and alongside their names write those of the private soldier and the “man behind the guns.” They “remembered the Maine.” And while we rear our symbols of marble and of bronze to commemorate their brave deeds, there

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UNWRITTEN THANKS.

UNWRITTEN THANKS.

Dear readers, I pray you accept this last word from me: “Poor even in thanks”—the thanks with which the heart is burdened but cannot speak. The acts of kindness shown during these waiting, and oft weary years, that crowd and clamor for expression, would duplicate this volume many times, and the cherished names that the hand struggles to write, would turn these pages into a biographical dictionary. Let me pray, then, that every person who takes up this volume and recalls a kind act done me, or a

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A WORD OF EXPLANATION.

A WORD OF EXPLANATION.

May this book before quite leaving the hands of its author be permitted this word of explanation. Its subject took its rise in, and derived its existence from, war. Without war it had no existence. The watchword, indeed one might almost say, the “war cry” of our country and of our people was “ peace .” War was obsolete—out of date—out of taste—in fact, out of the question: hence there existed no need for providing relief for it; and thus the Red Cross has stood, unrecognized in the shadows of ob

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CONCLUSION.

CONCLUSION.

In the foregoing pages is outlined the history of the American National Red Cross in peace and in war. We have seen it grow year by year, from the persistent, almost unaccountable rejection of the Treaty of Geneva by our government for eighteen years. We have seen it beginning in the cordial recognition of Blaine, and Garfield, and Arthur, gradually increasing in the amount and scope of its labors, growing, in the slowly gained influence and support of public confidence, to its present condition

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American National Red Cross.

American National Red Cross.

The Red Cross is often referred to by the press and by many of our friends in correspondence, as a “society.” From this practice, it appears that a misapprehension exists regarding the official title of the national organization in this country, and a few words of explanation seem necessary. As contemplated by the Treaty of the Red Cross, and provided by the regulations of the International Committee, there is formed in each of the countries adopting the Treaty of Geneva, one Central National Co

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Relief of Wounded in War.

Relief of Wounded in War.

The Central National Committee of the Red Cross in each country, being duly accredited by the International Committee and officially recognized by its own government, is the lawful means of communication between the people and the armies in the field, acting as the administrator of the contributions of the people for the relief of the sick and wounded in war....

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Correspondence in Time of War.

Correspondence in Time of War.

When hostilities are in progress, and the usual means of communication between the belligerent countries are suspended, prisoners of war are enabled to communicate with their homes through the medium of the Red Cross of neutral nations. Thus, for example, during the late Spanish-American war the prisoners on board the prize ships at Key West were, by an arrangement made with the authorities of the United States Government, permitted to write to their friends and relatives. The letters were, of c

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Wounded as Prisoners of War.

Wounded as Prisoners of War.

Formerly a wounded man, as such, had no particular rights which any one was pledged to respect. Now, however, the Treaty of Geneva provides that the wounded immediately become neutral and are entitled to the care and consideration of their captors. There is also preserved to them the right to send messages through the lines, informing their friends of their whereabouts and condition....

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The Red Cross and Local Charity.

The Red Cross and Local Charity.

The National Committee of the Red Cross and its branches, not being a local benevolent institution, the Red Cross takes no part in the distribution of local charity, when the distress is such that it is within the power of the community itself to relieve. Therefore, members of auxiliary societies when engaged in the usual charities of a local nature, should not act as the representatives of the Red Cross. The Red Cross in times of peace can only be called into action when a disaster occurs which

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No Reflection Upon the Government.

No Reflection Upon the Government.

By their adhesion to the Treaty of Geneva, and by their recognition of the National Committees in each country, the nations of the world have declared that, no matter how extensive the preparations, nor how complete may be the organization of the medical department of an army, it is beyond human possibility to provide for all contingencies. For this reason the National Committees of the Red Cross were created. The necessity for auxiliary aid by the people, through the Red Cross, existing as it d

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Membership in the Red Cross.

Membership in the Red Cross.

In the past many applications have been received for membership in the American National Red Cross, to all of which it has been necessary to make the same reply. The central organization being a National Committee, membership thereon is only conferred by election and appointment, not by application. Membership in the Red Cross may, however, be obtained through the auxiliary societies. During the Spanish-American war many auxiliaries were formed for temporary work, but have not yet been received

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Transcriptions of autograph documents.

Transcriptions of autograph documents.

p. 40 EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON. Will the Secy of State please hear Miss Barton on the subject herein referred to J.A. Garfield Mch 30, 1881. p. 165 Clara Barton, Prest. Nat. Red Cross of America. J.B. Hubbell, General Field Agent....

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