CLARA BARTON: Part Two

As tension mounted between Spain and Cuba, President William MacKinley named the American Red Cross as part of the Cuban Relief Committee. Clara arrived in Havana on February 9, 1898. The country was experiencing a terrible drought. The situation became worse when the USS Maine exploded in the harbor on February 15. The Red Cross established orphanages, distributed supplies to hospitals, handed out clothing and set up soup kitchens. At age 77, Clara worked sixteen hours a day to provide relief to victims of war. The Red Cross had to contend with epidemics of yellow fever, malaria, dysentery and typhoid.

In 1902, Clara was presented Silver Cross of Imperial Russia by Czar Nicholas II. On May 14, 1904, she resigned as president of the Red Cross. She retired to her home in Glen Echo and wrote a short autobiography, "The Story of My Childhood." The book was published in 1907.

Clara died on April 12, 1912, at the age of 90. She was buried in the family plot in Oxford, Massachusetts. Clara worked all of her life to help others. A truly remarkable woman.

Resources:

"A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War," by Stephen B. Oates.

"Hospital Days" Reminiscence of a Civil War Nurse," by Jane Stuart Woolsey.

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