The Red Cross: Some Facts Concerning Clara Barton’s Work
Booklet
By Walter P. Phillips
Bridgeport, Conn.
1903

Page 4 of 8

Transcript:
“look was distinctly dismal and I told her so, but she had much more to say and said it so convincingly that although all my intuitions were against the following of such a forlorn hope, she gradually communicated her enthusiasm to me, as she did to many others, for the reason that whether the effort continued to fail or achieved the hoped for success, the object was so noble and elevated that it appealed to us as nothing else had ever done.  Together we all worked on the problem, she with a degree of vigor, patience and persistency that was simply grand, and the rest of us in an uncertain and ineffective way that often brought the blush to our cheeks when we realized what tyros we were.  But everybody who has worked with Miss Barton knows how perfect a leader she is and how natural it is for event the most assertive to be content to act the common soldier in the campaigns which she directs.  Her generalship is more a source of inspiration than an assumption of power.  Every one working with her feels that she is one born to plan, to command, to execute.  We very soon learned that she was grateful for even such small assistance as we could give her, and I for one have never faltered for a moment in my loyalty to, and my belief in, her.”

Clara Barton National Historic Site, CLBA 4497