https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen My life as a Civil War nurse. en-us 2018-05-07 18:36:10 UTC 2025-11-17 22:05:30 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Thunder.png 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259398518 I'm Clara Barton and I was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. I was  the youngest of five children. 
My parents were abolitionists so we became ones too.                      
I was home schooled so my big brothers and big sisters taught me spelling, arithmetic, geography, and athletics. 
When I was eleven my brother David broke his leg and that gave me an opportunity to practice medical aid.]]> 2018-05-09 18:00:59 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259398518 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259404434 I grew up and was very clever but I was extremely shy. My parents thought I should be a teacher because maybe that would build up my confidence. Back then teachers did not need a special degree, all we needed was to have a good education. This wasn't a problem for me, I was an excellent student. I was a teacher at a one-room school house. I pursued teaching and worked at different schools. After I got treated poorly by getting payed half as a man did, she stopped teaching and became a U.S. Patent Office clerk.  ]]> 2018-05-09 18:13:38 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259404434 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259415847 April 19, 1861, troops from the 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia arrived in Washington. They were ragged, wounded, and confused. My sister Sally Vassal and I went to the train station to meet the and see how we could help. We recognized a lot of them from when we were growing up. When I found out that the city had no place for these wounded soldiers I was horrified. They didn't even have a way to take care of them. I took charge right away and brought the heavily wounded soldiers to my sister's house and found other places for the less or not wounded. I went to merchants and convinced the to donate food, clothes, and other supplies for the men. I just wanted to feel useful to others and these men obviously needed help. I knew I couldn't ask the merchants for everything so I asked some friends in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey to donate. Soon  I had established a bunch of support and supplies from different states for the Union army. 
As the Civil War began, I decided to resign from the Patent Office to be a full-time aid. 
 ]]> 2018-05-09 18:41:59 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/259415847 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260048893 At first being a full-time aid meant that I would be using contacts and growing my network to get supplies. But the First Battle of Bull changed that. Instead of getting supplies, I would need to be out on the battlefield helping the wounded soldiers right at the scene. But women were not allowed out on the battlefield, therefor I could not get my job done. They let me ride in the ambulances to nurse the soldiers and later after realizing I could handle myself, let me help out on the field.     ]]> 2018-05-11 18:22:10 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260048893 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260288285 As a nurse you exoperience hectic days, and rather slow days. 
Usually when it is hectic days we are tending to many soldiers at a time, or if we are on the battlefield we are spread out in different sections so we aren't all tending to the same spot. 
Slow days are when we don't have many soldiers to tend to and everything is well taken care of(supplies, food, cleaning, etc...).

]]> 2018-05-13 23:54:13 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260288285 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260288930 I was always devoted to my job and never denied an opportunity to help a soldier or anyone else. 
But after Antietam, I had to be taken back to Washington because I had collapsed from lack of sleep. I also was starting to get typhoid fever. But as soon as I recovered I was back on the battlefield. I had tired myself out again so my doctors said I should take sometime off and go on vacation.]]> 2018-05-13 23:59:39 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260288930 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260292297 One time while I was regularly tending to soldiers on the battlefield I went up to one and offered him some water. While I did this, a bullet flew by so close to me that it had nicked my sleeve. As I was looking at my sleeve I had realized that the same bullet had killed the man I was currently tending to. Instead of freaking out and just sitting there in shock and fear, I rose up and moved on to the next wounded soldier. ]]> 2018-05-14 00:24:22 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260292297 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260293094 The Civil War ended in 1865, but I knew that there was still work to be done. There were still soldiers out there that were missing. Fortunately I wasn't the only one who was interested in finding them. Shortly before President Lincoln's death, he personally charged me with searching for missing Union soldiers. I hoped to find the men and return them to their loved ones. For the soldiers who died unnoticed, I mad sure their deaths were acknowledged and mourned. Later I got help from a young man named Dorence Atwater. He was one of many held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Andersonville, Georgia. Lots of men there had been tortured and most died. Atwater had secretly copied all the names that were dead, and smuggled the list when he was released after war. Working together, Atwater and I published the list. More than 13,00 were found and buried with honors thanks to Atwater and my help.]]> 2018-05-14 00:29:18 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260293094 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260297415 While on vacation I learned about a treaty that included the Red Cross. The Red Cross is an organization that ministered the wounded and made sure no one was mistreated  under the terms  of the treaty. I was interested in this because I had spent my life in the Civil War making sure every Union soldier received the same amount of care. But what if I could bring the Red Cross to the United States? I began working on this as soon as I returned back to the United States. I petitioned for the country to sign the treaty and create its own branch of the Red Cross. I didn't just want this to help for war, I wanted it to cover for any national disasters. It was not easy but the following year, President James Garfield agreed to her proposal and signed the treaty. I was the president of the American Red Cross]]> 2018-05-14 00:57:56 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260297415 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260301493 https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/civil-war-medicine]]> 2018-05-14 01:25:11 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260301493 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260301641 https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/civil-war-medicine]]> 2018-05-14 01:25:59 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260301641 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260450809 Rosenberg, Aaron. The Civil War. Scholastic Inc., 2011.


]]> 2018-05-14 13:16:43 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260450809 803454 https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260583655 Being a nurse during the Civil War was really hard. There were so many wounded and homesick soldiers, plus sometimes we ourselves overworked or got sick. We did much more than help the Union soldiers, some of us were friends or we grew up together. But all in all life as a Civil War nurse was inspiring.]]> 2018-05-14 17:58:38 UTC https://padlet.com/803454/v4wmdrc7fcen/wish/260583655