Existing comment:
Clara Barton's Trunk Bed:
This folding trunk bed was used by Clara Barton during her humanitarian activities during the Civil War. She often went into the field, bringing much-needed supplies to the field hospitals near the fighting. She assisted at the battles of Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Fort Wagner, among others.
If its documented that this trunk bed accompanied Barton to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in 1863. Barton also served as a nurse in the tent hospitals in Virginia during the last half of 1864. It is possible she also used this bed while on assignment at these mobile hospitals, where orders to move the entire establishment could come with little warning. It may also have accompanied her to Camp Parole, near Annapolis, Maryland, when she began her work locating missing soldiers in 1865.
This portable bed was designed to function as a trunk, a couch, and a bed, and could be used with a waterproof cover or with mosquito netting, which is what accompanied Barton's trunk. It was originally donated to the Red Cross Museum by Miss Rena Hubbell, niece of Dr. Julian B Hubbell, General Field Agent of the American Red Cross under Clara Barton. Two labels identify it as being Barton's, and there is a maker's mark which reads:
"WBS [remaining letters covered]
PATENT JUNE 11, 1861
NO 1 WARREN ST NY" |