XXII

Clara Barton dressed the wounded of both armies indiscriminately—a practice which first annoyed and sometimes angered the Union officers—from whose headquarters she worked.Ida Tarbell.

Be generous and noble.Clara Barton.

War is in its very nature cruel—the very embodiment of cruelty in its effects—not necessarily in the hearts of the combatants.

Clara Barton.

As the daughter of a Mason my Father bade me to seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God and love mankind.Clara Barton.

Baron Thomas B. Macaulay thought it not a mitigation but an aggravation of the evil that men of tender culture and humane feelings, with no ill will, should stand up and kill each other.

Clara Barton.

It is comforting, in our reflections upon the past, to know that the idea of humanity to an enemy in distress is not entirely modern; for Xenophon in Cyropaedia, about 400 B.C. represents Cyrus the Great as ordering his surgeons to attend the wounded prisoners.

Clara Barton.

A wounded Confederate that Clara Barton had been serving whispered to her, “Lady, you have been kind to me—every street and lane in the city is covered with cannon. When your entire army has reached the other side of the Rappahannock, they’ll find Fredericksburg only a slaughter pen. Not a regiment will escape. Do not go over or you will go to certain death.”

Percy H. Epler.

AT GALVESTON FLOOD

Major McDowell, ex-Union soldier, wounded—assistant to Clara Barton: Comrade, here is some clothing for you.

Ex-Confederate: But, Major (hesitating), I am an ex-Confederate soldier....

Major McDowell: God bless you, poor suffering soul; what difference does that make—here, will this fit you?

Love and tears for the BlueTears and love for the Gray.Frances Miles Finch.

Love and tears for the Blue

Tears and love for the Gray.

Frances Miles Finch.

Quite a number of wounded Confederate officers were brought to us. They shared alike with our own men. They were amazed, said C. M. Welles, at the kindness of northerners, particularly at a Massachusetts lady (Clara Barton) devoting herself to them as freely as to her own neighbors. One of them, a captain from Georgia, needed shirt, coat, stockings and something to eat. After being supplied, he said to me, while tears were streaming down his face, “Sir, I find that I have mistaken you; and, if I live to return, I will never fight against such a people any more.”

An Angel of Mercy,—her touch they will miss,That was felt by the Boys of the Blue and the Gray;But her name is still fragrant with Service, and thisWill inspire their sons in the Cause of Today.

An Angel of Mercy,—her touch they will miss,

That was felt by the Boys of the Blue and the Gray;

But her name is still fragrant with Service, and this

Will inspire their sons in the Cause of Today.

At Fredericksburg a shell shattered the door of the room in which Miss Barton was attending to wounded men. True to her mission, she did not flinch but continued her duties as usual. She found a group of Confederates with their garments frozen fast in the mud.As the wounded were helpless, Miss Barton got an axe and chopped them loose. She then built a fire in a negro cabin and, while the wounded were warming themselves she dressed their wounds, fed them gruel and otherwise cared for them as if they were her “Brothers in Arms.”

Upon my bosom liesA knot of blue and gray;You ask me why; tears fill my eyesAs low to you I say:I had two brothers once,Warm hearted, bold and gay;They left my side—one wore the blueThe other wore the gray.One rode with Stonewall and his men,And joined his fate with Lee;The other followed Sherman’s marchTriumphant to the sea.Both fought for what they deemed the right,And died with his sword in hand;One sleeps amid Virginia hills,And one in Georgia’s sand.The same sun shines upon their graves,My love unchanged must stay;And so upon my bosom lies,The knot of blue and gray.

Upon my bosom liesA knot of blue and gray;You ask me why; tears fill my eyesAs low to you I say:

Upon my bosom lies

A knot of blue and gray;

You ask me why; tears fill my eyes

As low to you I say:

I had two brothers once,Warm hearted, bold and gay;They left my side—one wore the blueThe other wore the gray.

I had two brothers once,

Warm hearted, bold and gay;

They left my side—one wore the blue

The other wore the gray.

One rode with Stonewall and his men,And joined his fate with Lee;The other followed Sherman’s marchTriumphant to the sea.

One rode with Stonewall and his men,

And joined his fate with Lee;

The other followed Sherman’s march

Triumphant to the sea.

Both fought for what they deemed the right,And died with his sword in hand;One sleeps amid Virginia hills,And one in Georgia’s sand.

Both fought for what they deemed the right,

And died with his sword in hand;

One sleeps amid Virginia hills,

And one in Georgia’s sand.

The same sun shines upon their graves,My love unchanged must stay;And so upon my bosom lies,The knot of blue and gray.

The same sun shines upon their graves,

My love unchanged must stay;

And so upon my bosom lies,

The knot of blue and gray.

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