RED CROSS, THE, is a society organ ized under governmental authority to furnish volunteer relief to the sick and wounded of armies in time of war and to all who may need relief in time of great national calamities; and to prevent other.
suffering in time of peace. Thus its emblem has come to stand for the world ideal of mercy. It knows neither race, color nor creed.
Previous to the American Civil War there had been no organization which occupied the position now held by the Red Cross, although there had been heroic and organized effort made to care for the sick and wounded in most of the great wars in history by such nursing orders as the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and Malta, and the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul.
In 1854 when the allies were fighting the Russians in the Crimea, there came a call from the British War Depart ment for "devoted women willing to go forth and minister to the suffering sol diers in the hospitals of Scutari." Florence Nightingale and thirty-eight nurses answered the appeal. This band may be called the seed from which sprang the Red Cross, for out of it de veloped the movement for a universal relief organization.
Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimea vitalized the desire of Henri Du nant, a Swiss physician, to alleviate the sufferings in the French-Sardinian war against Austria. He organized the workers at Solferino, Italy, who cared for suffering friend and foe alike. Out of this grew the movement for a per manent society of volunteers, which, in time of war, would render succor to the wounded without distinction of na tionality; and it was largely through the efforts of Dunant that the movement grew and received the support of the crowned heads of the world.
For many years there had existed in Geneva a Society of Public Utility, whose efforts were devoted to the furtherance of philanthropic and humane work. Aroused by Dunant's plea, this society appointed a special committee, which sent out an invitation for a conference to be held at Geneva in October, 1863, to consider the question of volunteer aid for the medical service of armies in time of war and also the neutralization of its personnel. At this first conference four teen countries were represented. The
results were meager, but encouraging. They are expressed in the following reso lution: "That in each country adhering to the proposed agreement a committee should be formed to co-operate in time of war with the military medical service, each committee being organized as its mem bers deemed expedient; in time of peace a trained personnel should be organized and supplies collected; the aid of soci eties of neutral nations might be invited; the volunteer societies irrespective of the country to which they belonged should wear a distinctive badge—a red cross on a white ground; and that the personnel should be neutralized." Because of the success of this confer ence, the Swiss Government, in 1864, ad dressed an invitation to twenty-five sov ereign states to send representatives to a diplomatic convention to be held in Geneva in August of that year. At this convention a treaty was adopted which is generally called the Geneva Treaty, but sometimes the Red Cross Treaty. It provides for protection for hospital for mations and their personnel in time of war. Out of compliment to Switzerland, the Swiss flag with its colors reversed— a red cross on a white ground—was adopted as the world-wide insignia of hu manity and neutrality.
This treaty, revised at a convention held in Geneva in 1906, includes under its protection the Red Cross, or volun teer aid societies which have received official sanction from their respective governments. The Treaty of The Hague extends to naval warfare the treaty of Geneva.
During the American Civil War there was created by the United States Gov ernment an organization known as the Sanitary Commission, which, though un popular with government officials at first, developed rapidly into one of the most popular commissions working in con junction with the military organiza tions. Once the need of a service which should not only care for the sick and wounded, but should likewise preserve the morale of the men, became evident, the success of this commission was as sured. By 1863 its value was so well established that Gen. U. S. Grant, com manding the Federal Army, ordered that it should be given every opportunity for increasing its effectiveness.