Heroines of the Past - Civil War
Nurses & Spies
Clara Barton
the war. Not only did she tend wounds and assist
Angel of the Battlefield
in operations, she also wrote letters for soldiers,
When the Civil War began in 1861
comforted the dying and prepared food for the
Clara Barton was working at the United States wounded. Enduring many of the deprivations of
P a t e n t o ff i c e i n Wa s h i n g t o n . T h e the soldiers she also saw the gruesome side of war.
compassionate Clara saw
Never far from danger she had
wounded soldiers being brought
clothing pierced with bullets and
to Washington hospitals days
experienced many near fatal
after a conflict. She longed to
encounters. At Fredericksburg
help the boys by attending to
the house that had been
their wounds on the battlefields.
converted into a hospital had a
To this end she began collecting
door shattered by a shell in the
supplies for the soldiers. Soon
very room Clara was working.
she had enough supplies to fill
Attending the unending line of
three warehouses. Her initiative
wounded soldiers was trying but
in gathering supplies spoke
Clara once declared, “I may be
Clara Barton
loudly in her favor. After a great
compelled to face danger, but
deal of persuasion she was permitted to nurse
never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and
soldiers in the field. At the Second Battle of
fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.”
Bull Run on August 31, 1862 she proved her
Her serv ice did not end with the
worth.
conclusion of hostilities in 1865. She began to
On one occasion she worked tirelessly search for missing soldiers. Traveling to a former
for five consecutive days with only two hours prison in Andersonville, Georgia she had the
rest. Her courage and determination sustained difficult task of trying to identify over 12,500
her though Antietam--the bloodiest battle of Union soldiers who had died there. All but 440
12
Heroines of the Past - Civil War
Elizabeth
Van Lew’s
Code
6
3
1
5
2
4
R
V
E
L
K
P
1
N
1
M
A
7
O
3
B
U
3
9
2
Y
6
H
8
J
0
Z
C
2
T X
4W
5 G
I D
6 S
F Q
5 4
Here is the complete message from Elizabeth Van Lew
January 30, 1864.
Dear Sir, --It is intended to remove to Georgia all the Federal
prisoners; butchers and bakers to go at once. They are
already notified and selected. Quaker [a Union man whom I
know--B. F. B.] knows this to be true. Are building batteries on
the Danville road. This from Quaker: Beware of new and rash
council! Beware! This I send you by direction of all your
friends. No attempt should be made with less than 30,000
cavalry, from 10,000 to 15,000 to support them, amounting
in all to 40,000 or 45,000 troops. Do not underrate their
strength and desperation. Forces could probably be called
into action in from five to ten days; 25,000, mostly artillery.
Hoke's and Kemper's brigades gone to North Carolina:
Pickett's in or about Petersburg. Three regiments of cavalry
disbanded by General Lee for want of horses. Morgan is
applying for 1,000 choice men for a raid.
When Miss Van Lew died in 1900 there was found in the back of her watch--where it had been
constantly carried for nearly forty years--a worn, yellowed bit of paper on which was written the
faded letters of the cipher code she used during the Civil War.
Some of the letters were hard to make out but here is Elizabeth Van Lew's code. With the cipher the
word UNION would be, 36,63,55,43,63. Using the cipher above see if you can decode part of this
message from Elizabeth Van Lew to General Butler. Answers are on page 41.
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
54 43 63 43 65 36 63 54 11 61 61 53 65 11 65 62 11 55 61 24 65 61 11 63 14 65 62
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.
53 63 54 54 11 24 41 11 61 53 65 55 43 63
Above - The code that
was found in Elizabeth’s watch
Left - Elizabeth Van Lew,
Center - Elizabeth’s
mansion
Right - Elizabeth
concealing a man
in a hidden room
18
Heroines of the Past - Civil War
Examining Historical Art
Look on the next page for questions to answer about this painting.
Abraham Lincoln's Last Reception
By Anton Hohenstein 1865
32
Heroines of the Past - Civil War
Games
Through
Time
Taboo
This game was popular during the 1800's and was simple to play because it only needed people. Step
back in time by playing this game.
Several people can play this game together. Everyone decides on one letter of the alphabet that is
forbidden. Then they ask the person
who is “it” questions that would be
answered with the forbidden letter. If
the letter S was chosen as the taboo
letter then the other players might ask
the question, “Who deceived Eve?”
Serpent would of course be the correct
answer but the person who is “it” must
try to think of a word that answers the
question without using the letter S. Can
you think of an answer without using
the letter S? A more advanced version of
the game makes the player who is “it”
answer the questions in sentence form
without using the taboo letter. A
possible answer might be, “The
cunning devil duped Eve into eating the
forbidden fruit.” Be careful not to use
the taboo letter!
40
Heroines of the Past - Civil War
Heroines of the Past - Collectable Cards
For best results, print the collectable cards on card stock. Once this page is printed, turn the page over
and print the next page on the back. The information should be centered on the back of the picture.
After printing, cut along the dotted line and then you will have six Heroines of the Past Collectable
Cards which are great for learning about historical ladies.
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Belle Boyd
Elizabeth Van Lew
Harriet Tubman
of the
of the
© 2008 Amy Puetz
of the
© 2008 Amy Puetz
© 2008 Amy Puetz
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Heroines
Past
Collectable Cards
Mary Custis Lee
Nancy Hart
Clara Barton
of the
of the
© 2008 Amy Puetz
© 2008 Amy Puetz
43
of the
© 2008 Amy Puetz