Philanthropist; born in
Oxford, Mass., in 1830; was educated in
Clinton, N. Y. Her early life was devoted to teaching.
In 1854 she became a clerk in the Patent Office in
Washington, resigning in 1861, and undertaking the
nursing of sick and wounded soldiers of the army.
In 1864
General Butler made her head nurse of the hospitals in the Army of the James.
Later she was given charge by
President Lincoln of the search organized to find missing Union soldiers, and in 1865 went to
Andersonville to mark the graves of Northern soldiers who had died there.
When the
Franco-Prussian War broke out (1870), she assisted in preparing military hospitals, and also aided the Red Cross Society.
In 1871, after the siege of
Strasburg, she superintended, by request of the authorities, the distribution of work to the poor, and in 1872 performed a similar work in
Paris.
For her services she was decorated with the
Golden Cross of
Baden and the
Iron Cross of
Germany.
In 1881, when the American Red Cross Society was formed, she was made its president, and as such in 1884 directed the measures to aid the sufferers by the
Mississippi and
Ohio floods.
In 1883 she was made the superintendent, steward, and treasurer of the
Reformatory Prison for Women, at
Sherborn.
Mass., and in the same year was special commissioner of foreign exhibits at the
New Orleans Exposition.
In 1884 she was a delegate of the
United States to the Red Cross Conference, and also to the International Peace Conference, both held in
Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1889 she directed the movements for the relief of the sufferers by the flood at
Johnstown, Pa..
and in 1896 went to
Armenia and personally managed the relief measures.
Prior to the war with
Spain she carried supplies to the reconcentrados of
Cuba.
at the request of
President McKinley, and was also active during the war in army relief work.
In 1900, after the
Galveston disaster, she directed the movement for the relief of the sufferers, till her health failed.
She is author of
History of the Red cross; and
History of the Red cross in, peace and War.
