LETTER: ALS to her nephew Samuel Barton.
Clara Barton to her nephew
“I feed and wash hungry and dirty private soldiers”
Barton, Clara. Autograph Letter Signed, to her nephew, Samuel Barton; Hilton Head, South Carolina, September 7, 1863.
Three leaves; ten pages, rectos and versos; creased; minor splitting along folds. In a very clean, clear and legible hand, written on lined paper and embossed with a stationer’s logo on the first pages. In a specially made half morocco slipcase.
In this superb and revealing letter, Barton writes to her nephew Samuel R. Barton – of North Oxford, Massachusetts, the son of her brother Stephen – giving him advice on not resigning his commission at a military hospital in Washington. Underlining her words for emphasis, Barton shares her own experiences in the Civil War in hopes that she can help her nephew find resolution to his dilemma. She describes her struggles and how she overcame adversity. Barton also describes her treatment as a woman working in a military situation and being present at the front of the war.
Barton’s nephew must have met with some frustration in dealing with a fellow colleague, as Barton begins with sympathy, “I know that all officers are not pleasant to deal with, and the more you discover in one that looks like a disposition to thwart you the more careful you must be not to give him the opportunity to find any fault, or pick any flaws” (1-2).
Barton continues to emphasize the virtue of patience, and advises her nephew that “good things come to those who wait.” She gives the example of her own experiences:
People sometimes call me “successful” if I have been it is all due to having smothered my mouth, pocketed injuries, “stooped” as I “passed under the beam” and waited patiently for time the great rectifier to set me right, and after half a life time of experience I have come to the conclusion that I ask no better judge of my motives and actions, no better champion for my rights than Time! (2-3)
Barton realizes that learning how to be patient is not easy, and that it is part of a young adults’ growing and maturation process. She assures Samuel that:
Now every successful man or woman have this lesson in life to learn, and the sooner it is learned and put into every day practice the sooner life brightens to them, and the sooner they have in a measure become arbiters of their own fate, until this is accomplished one rides the race of life as on an unbitted horse, never knowing where the next moment may land him never his own master an instant. (3-4)
Barton spends several paragraphs discussing her nephew’s situation in detail. She appeals to his sense of duty as a husband – “as a conscientious young man you can not afford it – you are right when you say that you have a family wife and “ought” to support her. – this is so” (p.4-5) – and goes on to say that he is fortunate to have such a caring and understanding wife, citing her “cheerfulness under difficulties, and her calmness under opposition or mistreatment.” (5)
Barton considers various financial situations for her nephew to consider:
Now admitting you were discharged from the service, - is there a place in civil business life that you could make better pay than you are doing at present? True, you can use all your salary if you choose in your own living, or you can save nearly all of it, - hospital living is not hotel living – neither is it common soldiers living, it is better than Generals get in the field, far better than I get, - but all this you know about. (5-6)
Barton includes a lengthy paragraph sharing her knowledge of and speculating on the course of the war, mentioning her knowledge of operations at Fort Wagner, Morris Island, international relations, the draft, and the use of black soldiers by the Confederacy:
If it is true that Jeff Davis has called for 500,000 colored troops, with promise of freedom & land, they will respond to it, this is and has been their trump card, which they have been ex
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