Blink and you’ll miss the inconspicuous storefront that denotes the Clara Barton Missing Soldier Office Museum on 7th Street NW. Clara Barton is remembered for her work administering to the Union soldiers wounded during the U.S. Civil War and for founding the American Red Cross in the 1880s. As important as those efforts were, she also deserves to be remembered for her efforts to track down missing Union soldiers. In 1865, the year in which the Civil War ended, she opened the Missing Soldier Office at her own expense.
Barton and her small team of clerks doggedly responded to the more than
60,000 letters they received from desperate families looking for information
about their fathers, sons, brothers and uncles serving in the Union Army who
had been captured or gone missing during the war.
By the time the office closed in 1868, she and her staff had identified the fate of over 22,000 men. Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office was covered up for 130 years and was rediscovered by Richard Lyons of the General Services Administration in 1996, when the building was scheduled for demolition.
📍: 437 7th St. NW
⏰: The Museum is open for walk-ins Friday and Saturday from 11 - 5
💰: Admission is $10.50 for adults
