Editor’s Note: This is part two of a four-part history series that identifies all 51 signers of the American Association of the Red Cross constitution in 1881. Part 1 introduces the series and identifies signers 1-12. Part 2 identifies signers 13-26. The series is written by Bill Thawley and copy-edited by Susan West. Included images are public domain unless otherwise noted. Catch up by reading part 1 here.

American Association of the Red Cross constitution signers 13-26:

13. W.J. Curtis
William Thomas Seaton Curtis was a Washington lawyer employed by the federal government. Many government employees, in fact, were in favor of adopting the Geneva Convention and forming a Red Cross in the United States. (What looks like a J in the signature was actually a T.)

14. William M. Ferguson
Clara Barton would often stay at the Washington home of William Merritt Ferguson, a friend she called Merritt. Ferguson (1815–1895) was a minister in the Methodist Church and a clerk with the U.S. Treasury. He called on legislators in Congress to get the Geneva Convention passed. The meeting of May 21, 1881, where the Red Cross Constitution was presented and adopted, was held in his home.

15. J.E.F. Gould
Jessie E. Ferguson Gould is mentioned several times in William Conklin’s book Clara Barton and Dansville. Like her father, William Ferguson, she was a clerk with the federal government. She was also a supporter and good friend of Clara Barton. It was in Dansville, a quiet village about 50 miles south of Rochester, New York, where the first local society of the American Red Cross was established on August 22, 1881.

16. Q.A. Bland
Thomas Augustus Bland was a Red Cross advocate along with his wife, Cora Bland. During the Civil War, he was a physician and surgeon with the Union Army, and upon his discharge he served as editor and owner of several newspapers, including the weekly Indiana Home Visitor. After the couple relocated to the nation’s capital in 1878, they dedicated their lives to addressing the injustices done to indigenous Americans. (What looks like a Q on the signature is actually a T.)

17. M. Cora Bland
Like her husband, Thomas, Cora Bland was a trained physician. She served as an assistant surgeon in the Civil War and, alongside her husband, was instrumental in the formation of the National Indian Defense Association.

18. William F. Sliney
An officer in an Ohio artillery battery during the Civil War, William Francis Sliney was a first lieutenant at the time of his discharge. In 1867 he attended Western Reserve College in Cleveland and later served as a clerk in the U.S Treasury, as did many other signers. He was also a member of the Red Cross executive board.

19. S.W. Bogan
Samuel William Bogan was a surgeon during the Civil War and spent 45 years practicing medicine in Washington, D.C. He was among many supporters of Clara Barton and an admirer of her Civil War work.

20. Alexander Y.P. Garnett
Alexander Yelverton Peyton Garnett was a physician with the Confederate Army during the Civil War, as well as the personal physician of Robert E. Lee. He was also president of the American Medical Association, chair of the Columbia University clinical medicine department, and a frequent contributor to medical journals. He served as the first vice president of the Red Cross for the District of Columbia.

21. F.A. Prescott
Francis Prescott served in the 5th Massachusetts Light Artillery during the Civil War. In 1870 he lived in Boston as a practicing lawyer, after which he moved to Washington D.C. and continued his law practice there.

22. Edward W. Whitaker
Edward Washburn Whitaker was a brigadier general in the Civil War and a Medal of Honor winner. Clara Barton wrote to him in 1877 to ask for his assistance with the formation of a Red Cross society. His name comes up often in Clara Barton and Dansville. He had four sisters who went behind enemy lines and opened schools for newly freed African Americans.

23. R.D. Mussey
As a colonel in the Union Army, Reuben Delevan Mussey was an important recruiter of African Americans for military service during the Civil War. He was also a well-connected Washington lawyer and a professor at Howard University. Musser often accompanied Clara Barton to speak with members of the House and Senate about the Red Cross, for which he served as legal counsel. His wife, Ellen Spencer Mussey, cofounded the Washington College of Law, the first U.S. law school established by and for women. At the request of Clara Barton, she became the Red Cross’s first staff attorney.

24. William W. Hibbard
During the Civil War, William Whipple Hibbard served in a New York regiment and was wounded. In 1880 he was listed as a clerk in Washington. He was also a painter, bookkeeper, and an upholsterer.

25. Mrs. William W. Hibbard
Julia W. Babcock Hibbard, wife of William, was born to a prominent family in Monroe County in upstate New York. She was possibly known by Clara Barton during Barton’s time in Dansville and from her many travels to visit Susan B. Anthony in Rochester.

26. Mrs. M.F. Walling
When the Civil War broke out, Mary F. Cole Walling was living in Texas. Her husband had joined the Confederate Army, but because of her Union sentiments, she was banished from the state by the “vigilance committee.” After weeks of travel with her four children, she landed in Illinois and eventually went on to become a noted orator; in fact, Horace Greeley declared her “the greatest female speaker of the age.” On May 10, 1866, Walling addressed the U.S. Senate on universal suffrage; it was the first time a woman had been granted the privilege of speaking there.