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Clara Barton’s Civil War and the Creation of the Missing Soldiers’ Office



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Clara Barton was known as the Angel of the Battlefield for her service as a nurse and relief worker during the Civil War. In March of 1865, with written permission from President Lincoln, Barton established the Missing Soldiers Office in her boarding house on 7th Street in Washington, D.C. As the Civil War was coming to a close, over 40 percent of the dead remained unidentified. Tens of thousands of grieving families did not know the fate of their loved ones. From the time she first went onto the battlefield Barton was acutely aware, and deeply concerned, for the fate of the men whom she cared for and their families. With the opening of the Missing Soldiers’ Office, Barton dedicated herself to the search for the missing and the identification of the dead. By the time the office closed in 1868 and before the advent of typewriters or computers, the office had published five separate rolls containing over 6,500 names. Her office had processed over 60,000 inquiries. More than 23,000 unknown dead had been identified. By 1868, Barton had worked herself into exhaustion. She left for Europe to recover her health. Upon her return to the United States Barton would dedicate herself to the founding of the American Red Cross, and by the end of her life in 1912, her work touched millions of lives around the world, and continues to do so today.

Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator and independent historian. She writes and speaks frequently on American History in a variety of formats and venues. Her book, “We Fought at Gettysburg”, scheduled for publication in 2022, features first-hand accounts by the survivors of the 17th Connecticut Infantry and their experiences on the greatest battlefield of the American Civil War.
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