unt of work to do. Later
she described her experience in this modest way:

"Five days and nights with three hours' sleep--a narrow escape from
capture--and some days of getting the wounded into hospitals at
Washington brought Saturday, August 30th. And if you chance to feel
that the positions I occupied were rough and unseemly for a woman, I
can only reply that they were rough and unseemly for men. But under
all, lay the life of a nation. I had inherited the rich blessing of
health and strength of constitution such as are seldom given to women,
and I felt that some return was due from me and that I ought to be
there."

The famous army nurse had served her novitiate now, and through the
weary years of the war which dragged on with alternate gains and
losses for the Union forces, Clara Barton's name began to be spoken
of with awe and deep affection wherever a wounded man had come under
her gentle care. Being under no society or leader, she was free to
come or go at will. But from the first day of her work at the front
she was encouraged in it by individual officers who saw the great
value of what she accomplished.

At Antietam, when the fighting began, her wagons were driven through a
field of tall corn to an old homestead, while the shot whizzed thick
around them. In the barnyard and among the corn lay torn and bleeding
men--the worst cases, just brought from the places where they had
fallen. All was in confusion, for the army medical supplies had not
yet arrived, and the surgeons were trying to make bandages of corn
husks. The new army nurse immediately had her supplies unloaded and
hurried out to revive the wounded with bread soaked in wine. When her
bread gave out there were still many to be fed. All the supplies she
had were three cases of unopened wine.

"Open the wine, and give that," she commanded, "and God help us."

Her order was obeyed, and as she watched the cases being unpacked her
eyes fell on the packing around the bottles of wine. It was nicely
sifted corn-meal. If it had been gold dust it could not have been more
valuable. The wine was unpacked as quickly as possible; kettles were
found in the farm-house, and in a twinkling that corn-meal was mixed
with water, and good gruel for the men was in the making. Then it
occurred to Miss Barton to see what was in the cellar of the old
house, and there three barrels of flour and a bag of salt were found,
stored by the rebels and left behind when they marched