American Red Cross During The Civil War

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Caroline Henry

The Red Cross is a disaster relief and health organization dedicated to saving lives and bettering the community. This organization was founded in America in 1881 in Massachusetts  during the Civil War, by a woman named Clara Barton. (Morrow, Laura. “Clara’s Heart.) Barton, although considered to be the submissive sex, revolutionized medicine and the procedures of disaster control during the Civil War by risking her own life to ensure soldiers had the supplies and medical attention they needed. The Red Cross is still a prominent organization today and continues to demonstrate the heroic ideology that once belonged to Clara Barton.

During the Civil War, the regulations were a mess. Laura Morrow writes in Clara’s Heart “ambulances, medical supplies, and hospital construction were not high priorities for the Union military bureaucracy. Henry Halleck, the Army’s general-in-chief, dismissed them as “effeminating comforts.” He felt the same about shoes and shirts.” Morrow also describes how many people died on the battlefield when they could have been saved if they had gotten treatment sooner. This lit a fire in Barton, who began to gather supplies and distribute them herself. She was horrified by the lives lost for such fixable things and used that anger to create the most influential organization during the Civil War. After several years, Barton finally convinced the army to help gather supplies, she then decided she was best fit on the battlefield tending to wounded soldiers, she became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield”.

The Digital Public Library of America published a picture by Edward Rogers of Red Cross nurses making surgical dressings. This is amazing because in the Civil War time period, the prejudice against women, especially in relation to women on the battlefield was a huge obstacle for the integration of women in the workforce. This picture shows that female nurses not only took to the challenge, they continued to grow until they changed the course of the Civil War for the better and righted the terrible regulations that caused many unnecessary deaths. Another example of the accomplishments of women during the Civil War comes from a poem written by Clara Barton herself called The Women Who Went to the Field. In this poem, Barton first speaks ironically, stating how a woman would not be fit for the battlefield, but then she switches course to say from her own experience the difference women made and the impact that they had during the Civil War. “She staunches his blood, cools the fever-burnt breath, And the wave of her hand stays the Angel of Death; She nurses him back, and restores once again to both army and state the brave leader of men.” This line in the poem shows just how influential the Red Cross was by including women to change the narrative of women not only in the workforce but also society. The intended audience for this poem was the public during this time, Barton wrote this in the wake of all the bureaucratic backlash she received constantly from the male population. The purpose was to show that although the women were seen as out of place on the battlefield, Barton witnessed that they are actually needed there just as much as men and are capable of making a huge difference.

Clara Barton, according to  Clara Barton and the red cross was born on Christmas day 1821, she became a teacher at age 15 and always had a heart for charity. Barton was the first woman to hold a government job, this shows how active she was in the progression of women to a dominant role in society. Even after the war ended she continued to pursue her charitable passions by giving speeches concerning public health. This paved the way for the Red Cross to not only remained devoted to disaster relief, but to also assist in everyday philanthropic opportunities such as blood drives and emergency certifications.

The American Red Cross, seen today as a normal operation, was once the subject of much controversy during its first years. Although the intentions were purely charitable, many disagreed with an institution run by a woman. However despite the feelings of many, Clara Barton redefined medicine during the Civil War by prioritizing the wellbeing of soldiers over the bureaucratic systems only meant to win. The Red Cross has changed medicine not only by fixing the terrible regulations of efficiency over necessities, but also by introducing females to the fold during the Civil War, thus creating the starting line for women to succeed in medical positions down the line into future scenarios.  

Citation

“American Red Cross.” American Red Cross, https://www.redcross.org/?cid=generic&med=cpc&source=google&scode=RSG00000E017&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlJfsBRDUARIsAIDHsWqXm7_FAFiVBicMyPBcWT6-x7yI2cZNvxEw3h5syIv2wFMHgR8d84kaAn06EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds.

Morrow, Laura. “Clara’s Heart.” Policy Review 75 (1996): 64. Web.

Rogers, Edward A. “Doc,” “American Red Cross volunteers of 1917-1918 preparing surgical dressings,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/99245ff725ef7cd4613141131c09be2b.

“The Women Who Went to the Field.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/clba/learn/historyculture/fieldpoem.htm.

University of Texas Health Science Center. “Clara Barton and The Red Cross: A History of This 

Remarkable International Movement in the Interest of Humanity.” UT Health Science Center Library RSS, http://library.uthscsa.edu/2014/09/clara-barton-and-the-red-cross-a-history-of-this-remarkable-international-movement-in-the-interest-of-humanity/.