Welcome back to our look at Ordinary Women, who were called
by God to act bravely and make changes that impacted their world, and the lives
of others for generations. We met Frances Perkins, who was instrumental in
labor rights and Social Security. Last week, we visited the world of Esther,
queen of Persia who stood up to racism and saved the Jewish people.
Today, we meet Clara Barton. From the very first time I
learned about her, I have been fascinated by this woman who risked her life on
the battlefield to help wounded men during the Civil War and who started the
American Red Cross. I was probably in 4th or 5th grade
when my grandmother sent me a biography of Barton. Her courage is inspiring. Early
on, Barton realized, “we are God's
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) She followed the path God set
before her, even through danger and opposition.
Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on Christmas Day 1821 in
Oxford, MA as the youngest of 5 children. Her first experience with nursing was
as a girl when she tended her older brother who had a head injury. At 15 years
old, Clara became a teacher and in 1948 founded a free public school in New
Jersey.
After that school board replaced her with a man, she moved
to Washington DC, where she became a clerk for the U.S. Patent Office.
Surprisingly, she was paid the same as the men in the office. She noted, “I may sometimes be willing to teach for
nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a
man’s pay.”
Then came the Civil War. Barton was appalled by the
conditions for battlefield hospitals. Starting in 1862, she traveled with the
Union Army bringing surgical supplies, cooking, and tending the wounded. The
tale is told of Barton holding an injured soldier when a bullet ripped through
her sleeve and into the man, killing him. She later pondered, “I have never mended
that hole in my sleeve. I wonder if a soldier ever does mend a bullet hole in
his coat?”
One essential service Clara performed was to record personal
information of the soldiers. She wrote to family members of missing, wounded,
or dead soldiers. Even after the War, she continued this task as Lincoln’s General
Correspondent for the Friends of Paroled Prisoners. She could not do this alone
and formed the Bureau of Records of Missing Men of the Armies of the United
States. With her team of 12 clerks, she researched the status of tens of
thousands of soldiers. In 1869, her final report to Congress noted that
although 22,000 missing soldiers had been identified, she thought there were at
least 40,000 more.
Barton then traveled to Switzerland for rest. It was there
that she learned of the International Red Cross. She helped this group in 1870
during the Franco-Prussian War. Upon
returning to the United States, she lobbied for the formation of an American
branch, which happed when President Chester Arthur signed the Geneva Treaty
in 1882. Originally the organization focused on disaster relief during the
Johnstown, PA flood and after hurricanes in South Carolina and Texas.
Clara Barton had her own vision of what the Red Cross should be,
which put her in conflict with others in the growing organization. In 1904 she resigned. She died 8 years later in Glen Echo, Maryland at 91.
She supported equal rights and was willing
to help anyone regardless of race, gender, or station. She lived out the
Galatians 3:28 reminder, “There is
neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Her
tireless work brought aid and comfort to men on the battlefield, to families in
disasters, and helped provide supplies for first responders during her life and
beyond.
Clara Barton inspired me when I first read about her as a
child. She did not let being a woman in the mid 1800’s prevent her from
following her path. She persevered, trusting that “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until
it is finally finished…” (Philippians 1:6)
Have you read about someone whose work inspired you?
Is there someone who you would like to emulate?
Do you have a vision for helping in some way that you
haven’t acted on?
Sources and further info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton
