Galveston, Texas became the epitome of Barton's career as her last major relief mission and her last trip to the fields. In making the journey, Barton traveled 1500 miles by train, organized supplies and used the strawberry plant to rebuild the town economy. I consider the effort the epitome of her career because it culminated all the work she had done in founding the American Red Cross and helping people worldwide. While it was just another relief mission to her, the wide-scaled effort brought together the families she created for herself in Johnstown, Sea Islands, and across the country banded together to send supplies and aid to Galveston. Below is a more detailed account of her efforts in Galveston and the relief aid that poured in from the country.
Rebuilding the Economy
Because of the extensive loss in Galveston, the economy was drained and the town lost all money coming in and all goods going out; while Barton’s relief directly aided the people, there was more that she needed to do before leaving the city. She wanted to rebuild the economy in order for the townspeople to continue the recovery process and bring money back to Galveston. Later, Barton noted, “The storm had taken from these husbandmen their only means of subsistence.” [1] The economy was based on farming districts, and Barton “directed intelligent inquiry to be made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their owners. All was swept away… these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our Northern market. For miles not a plant was left.” [2] Without any income to support an economic growth, Barton used the strawberry plants as the key to economic stimulation.
Strawberry crops were harvested twice a year, and though the crop was washed out by the hurricane, if more plants were acquired, strawberries would be ready for the next harvest. Barton contacted nurseries across America to receive strawberry plant donations, “if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half crop could be grown this year and the industry restored.” [3] North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana nurseries all agreed to send shipments to Texas, totaling one and a half million strawberry plants. Though “thirty-eight thousand plants were injured in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers” and a third of the plants were able to be harvested that season. [4] Barton predicted in her report on Galveston that in the spring, “one-half the readers of this little sketch will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields.” [5]
While strawberries seem insignificant in the larger scope of devastation, they played a major role in rebuilding the spirit of the town and depicting Clara Barton as a woman who cared for the people and their lives. Replacing the strawberry crop allowed farmers to sell their plants in northern markets, thus creating a profit that was brought back to Galveston and spent. Spending money in the Galveston stores returned it to circulation and encouraged people to stay and rebuild their homes, rather than leave and start over elsewhere. Barton worked hard and researched the area to find the plant that would help the farmers and businessmen back on their feet. During initial relief efforts, she cared for their health and safety. While the relief could have ended once all was safe, she cared about the Galvestonians’ well being. She wanted them to be able to stand strong on their own once the Red Cross left Galveston, once the recovery effort was over. The rebirth of the strawberry crop, so soon after the devastation was an important step to allowing Galveston to stand on its own feet.
The people of Galveston were thankful to Barton and sent her a certificate of appreciation. On November 13th, 1900, the Central Relief Committee acknowledged “the assistance and the inspiration of Miss Barton…hereby express the everlasting gratitude of a community which has been lifted out of its sorrows into the dawn of new hopes and out of its losses into the resolution of a new life.” [6] The powerful words spoken by the committee reveal undying love and devotion to Barton and the Red Cross. In passages where Galvestonians praise Barton, they “especially thank and render homage to the woman who is the life and spirit of the Red Cross,” [7] recognizing the aid and support was two-fold. The first being the woman “who is the embodiment of the saving principle of laying down one’s life for a friend,” [8] departing from her home to take on relief efforts in the most overwhelmed and stricken areas for months at a time, even in her elderly state. The second recognition is of the Red Cross, an organization for the people and supported by the people through volunteers and donations. Galveston, recognizing the need to thank Americans for those donations, “commend to the world the great organization whose efficiency and tenderness have been demonstrated to us during the last two months” and urge “to civilization for the maintenance of this surpassing institution which knows no country but the desolate places and no class or race but stricken humanity wherever it is found upon the globe.” [9] By 1900, the Red Cross has helped thousands of people affected by war and natural disaster, creating unity among all as Americans remember each other and the perils of life and offer help and support to other Americans.
At a meeting of the International Red Cross in 1902, Barton reflected on the American Red Cross’s involvement in Galveston, noting that “no greater disaster than this has fallen to our charge to relieve.” [10] For the committee, Barton simplified and summed up the effort, almost breezing through the list of duties, as if it were just another day at work; “Eight thousand are supposed to have been drowned…ten thousand made utterly homeless. The Red Cross was so fortunate as to be able to render most acceptable service…helping to build up temporary homes, in furnishing them, feeding and clothing the sufferers and to aid the husbandmen.” [11] As Barton revisited the Galveston disaster in a speech, the significance of relief efforts brought more than aid and strawberries to Galveston; “The State of Texas is a thousand miles in diameter. It is no longer a stranger to the Red Cross;” [12] it brought Clara Barton.
[1] Ibid.
[2] Clara Barton, “Remarks of the President of the American Red Cross to the International Conference at St. Petersburg,” www.nps.gov/clba/chron3/russia.htm.
[3] Clara Barton, “One and a half million strawberries,” A Story of the Red Cross, http://www.nps.gov/clba/ chron3/strawberry.htm.
[4] Barton, “Strawberries.”
[5] Ibid.
[6] Central Relief Committee to Clara Barton, 1900, library computer, Clara Barton National Historic Site, Glen Echo, Maryland.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Clara Barton, “Remarks,” 38.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
