Cuba: 1898

Barton's relief work benefitted various types of individuals in need of her help. Her efforts in Cuba centered around Cuban children left orphaned by war. At the time, she was in the Havana Harbor and paid a visit to U.S. soldiers stationed on the U.S.S. Maine. Her Cuban Relief mission ended up benefitting Americans and Cubans and dislplayed the nonbias way that Barton helped people, never caring their age or nationality but deciding to help all those who needed her help.

Barton was in Cuba aiding orphans and others in the poor population before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.  Her efforts in Cuba came from a call for help from the American President: “Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the doubtful response.  At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of the Red Cross on a call to the country.”[1]  For this relief mission, it was a call on Barton’s patriotic duties that brought her to Cuba, not just for humanitarian relief, but a call from her country to go and help people who were in need.Days before the USS Maine exploded in a Cuban Harbor, Barton found herself aboard talking to the sailors and making sure that all their needs were being met.[2]  She had been in Cuba to help Cubans, but growing tensions encouraged her to check on her children, the American soldiers. 
Red Cross workers in 1898

Future President Theodore Roosevelt encountered Red Cross volunteers in Cuba and offered to purchase supplies from the Red Cross for his “Rough Riders.”  When Dr. Gardner, a doctor with the Red Cross, refused to sell supplies, Roosevelt grew anxious to get help for his men.  The efforts of the Red Cross were still not completely understood as a charitable organization offering to help those displaced by war or disaster, but Gardner responded, “Just ask for them,”[3] and Roosevelt did.  He received a collection of food to take back to his men to rebuild their strength, thanks to the generosity of people donating food and the ideas of Clara Barton for bringing the Red Cross to Cuba.

A collage of pictures from the Red Cross hospital in Cuba

 

The task in Cuba, part household service and part keeping track of boarders, fell under the role of Clara Barton.  Inside the home, Barton would make sure food was ready for meals and beds were made for all family and guests.  Likewise, in Cuba, Barton volunteered at orphanages to make sure the children had adequate living arrangements and made sure that Roosevelt’s men had food to survive their mission.  Barton’s work aligned with the ideals for women as previously mentioned, and took the style outside of the house and into the world to administer to others.

Clara Barton among the children at a Cuban orphanage