Over a decade ago, a GSA worker Richard Lyons accidentally discovered lists of missing soldiers from the civil war and found it was the actual office used my Miss Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross on 7th Street. Clara Barton’s office (room #9 at 437 7th Street in Washington DC) is across the street from restaurant Jaleo and the Shakespeare Theater. GSA workers discovered the papers in the ceiling boards.
Early in the civil war, Clara Barton raced to the Manassas battlefield and set up a small ad hoc aid station on the grounds of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fairfax Station on Rte 123. She was called the “angel of the battlefield” and as the war dragged on, her self-appointed duties increased from not only providing water, food and bandages, but also to help frantic families to find out the fate of their fathers, sons and brothers.
She did all this as a volunteer in the beginning. President Lincoln later commissioned her to help families find their missing soldiers. She and her assistants sent 21,000 letters to families and this helped reunite families and discover the fate of missing soldiers, esp. at the horrific Andersonville concentration camp.
To this day, the American Red Cross principles maintain an ethos of volunteerism, impartiality, neutrality and the International Committee of the Red Cross also has a tracing service in combat zones to find the fate of missing soldiers.
The little apartment on the 3rd floor on 7th Street is available for tours by appointment and will be renovated and administrated by the National Civil War Medical Museum in Fredrick, MD as soon as they raise enough money.
http://www.civilwarmed.org/clara-barton-missing-soldiers-office/
Call for an appointment, (301) 695-1864. Then go to Jaleo!
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