LETTER: Autograph letter signed to Wells.
Clara Barton as Diplomat
Barton, Clara. Autograph letter signed, “Clara Barton,” to “Mr. Wells,” November 29, 1905, 4 pages.
I send you a scrap of a letter from Genl. Albert Van Schelle of Brussels, Belgium. The Genl. is doubtless one of, if not the leading Red Cross man of Belgium for active work. He was sent by Belgium to study the Red Cross work in the Cuban War and came direct to me in Santiago and remained some months, and finished by selecting one of my accomplished young lady assistants for a wife … The General desired to introduce some important business into Cuba, if feasible and wishes me to aid in the forwarding of his Communications which I have done …You will observe that I am always ‘President’ to the General — and he would be glad to hear through you that I could not be allowed to remain otherwise, and that it is the intention that the future shall outdo the past. The General, on leaving for home, would not accept his introduction to President McKinley and the cabinet from anyone but me — ‘His President,’ and I had that pleasure….
The most significant act of Barton during her closing years as head of the American Red Cross was to take Red Cross supplies and services to Cuba during the Spanish-American War on a specially chartered ship. Aid was given to the American forces, to prisoners of war and to Cuban refugees. This effort was the first step toward the broad programs of service to the armed forces and to civilians during wartime that have become traditional in the American Red Cross. On resigning as president of the organization in 1904, Barton left an impressive foundation of service to humanity for others to build upon.
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