Intensely patriotic, E. Florence Barker (1840-1897) was a co-founder, charter member, and the first president of the National Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC), the official women’s auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (US Army), Union Navy (US Navy), Marines Corps and the US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War.

Born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, Barker went to public school before attending Thetford Academy, Vermont’s oldest secondary school. Her marriage to Colonel Thomas Erskine Barker, commander of the 12th New Hampshire Voluntary Infantry, introduced her to military life when she joined him at the Point Lookout, Maryland military encampment during the Civil War.

Point Lookout included a large Union Army hospital, garrison and a Union prisoner of war camp housing Confederate States Army soldier captives. Following the Civil War, the GAR was formed as one of the first organizing groups in American politics. Among other activities, the organization supported voting rights for Black veterans, patriotic education and the establishment of Memorial Day as a national holiday.

Barker became deeply involved in this effort, first at a local and later at a national level. She served in multiple leadership roles, including President of the WRC, expanding its membership and influence. An eloquent speaker, Barker addressed patriotic gatherings throughout the country. She continued her advocacy as one of the founders of the Ladies’ Aid Association of the Chelsea, Massachusetts, Soldiers’ Home, as a director of the Union ex-Prisoners of War National Memorial Association and of the Woman’s Club House Corporation of Boston, and as a trustee of Malden Hospital.