A Woman of Valor - by Stephen B Oates (Paperback)

About the Book

Drawing on archival material, Oates renders Clara Barton's wartime experience as one no else can do. Though Barton's personal exploits as a nurse have been obscured by the legacy of the Red Cross, Oates persuades readers that her experience on the killing fields of the Civil War was her most extraordinary achievement. Photos. Map.

Book Synopsis

A stunning biography of Clara Barton--a woman who determined to serve her country during the Civil War--from acclaimed author Stephen B. Oates.

When the Civil War broke out, Clara Barton wanted more than anything to be a Union soldier, an impossible dream for a thirty-nine-year-old woman, who stood a slender five feet tall. Determined to serve, she became a veritable soldier, a nurse, and a one-woman relief agency operating in the heart of the conflict. Now, award-winning author Stephen B. Oates, drawing on archival materials not used by her previous biographers, has written the first complete account of Clara Barton's active engagement in the Civil War.

By the summer of 1862, with no institutional affiliation or official government appointment, but impelled by a sense of duty and a need to heal, she made her way to the front lines and the heat of battle. Oates tells the dramatic story of this woman who gave the world a new definition of courage, supplying medical relief to the wounded at some of the most famous battles of the war--including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Battery Wagner, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg. Under fire with only her will as a shield, she worked while ankle deep in gore, in hellish makeshift battlefield hospitals--a bullet-riddled farmhouse, a crumbling mansion, a windblown tent. Committed to healing soldiers' spirits as well as their bodies, she served not only as nurse and relief worker, but as surrogate mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart to thousands of sick, wounded, and dying men.

Her contribution to the Union was incalculable and unique. It also became the defining event in Barton's life, giving her the opportunity as a woman to reach out for a new role and to define a new profession. Nursing, regarded as a menial service before the war, became a trained, paid occupation after the conflict. Although Barton went on to become the founder and first president of the Red Cross, the accomplishment for which she is best known, A Woman of Valor convinces us that her experience on the killing fields of the Civil War was her most extraordinary achievement.

Review Quotes

"James M. McPherson," author of "Battle Cry of Freedom"Clara Barton was truly a woman of valor in the Civil War, and Stephen Oates has written the full story of her courage and dedication to healing the wounded for the first time. This book provides the best description of Civil War medicine and battlefield hospitals that I have ever read. The vivid writing brings the reader into the midst of the sights, sounds, even the smells of war.

"The Boston Globe"Stephen Oates' relationship with his subject is as close as a historian's can be. His fascination with her comes off as being almost personal, and that, combined with his mastery of the primary sources and familiarity with all the major protagonists, produces a book of convincing, living history.

"The Boston Globe"This is truly a superb book about one of the greatest heroines of the 19th century.

"The Milwaukee Journal""A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War" is a sensitive and illuminating biography of the founder of the American Red Cross that deserves a wide audience. This is biography at its best...as Oates makes clear, these were the years that provided direction for [Barton's] life. To read of how Barton overcame doubt and discrimination to serve her country is to be reminded of how much one person can achieve.

"The New York Times,.".a striking view of Barton in silhouette against a vivid background of fire and death. It not only celebrates the life of a healer, but also helps to keep us aware of the moral ignorance that war always entails.

"The Milwaukee Journal"

"A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War" is a sensitive and illuminating biography of the founder of the American Red Cross that deserves a wide audience. This is biography at its best...as Oates makes clear, these were the years that provided direction for [Barton's] life. To read of how Barton overcame doubt and discrimination to serve her country is to be reminded of how much one person can achieve.

"James M. McPherson,"

author of "Battle Cry of Freedom"

Clara Barton was truly a woman of valor in the Civil War, and Stephen Oates has written the full story of her courage and dedication to healing the wounded for the first time. This book provides the best description of Civil War medicine and battlefield hospitals that I have ever read. The vivid writing brings the reader into the midst of the sights, sounds, even the smells of war.

"The Boston Globe"

Stephen Oates' relationship with his subject is as close as a historian's can be. His fascination with her comes off as being almost personal, and that, combined with his mastery of the primary sources and familiarity with all the major protagonists, produces a book of convincing, living history.

"The Boston Globe"

This is truly a superb book about one of the greatest heroines of the 19th century.

"The New York Times"

...a striking view of Barton in silhouette against a vivid background of fire and death. It not only celebrates the life of a healer, but also helps to keep us aware of the moral ignorance that war always entails.

"The Boston Globe" Stephen Oates' relationship with his subject is as close as a historian's can be. His fascination with her comes off as being almost personal, and that, combined with his mastery of the primary sources and familiarity with all the major protagonists, produces a book of convincing, living history.

About the Author

Stephen B. Oates is professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the author of several acclaimed biographies of Nat Turner, John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.