During the Civil War, Clara Barton risked her life helping distribute necessary supplies to Union Army soldiers. She was known as a “battlefield angel.” Later, she founded the American Red Cross, a disaster relief organization that still exists today.
Clara was born as Clarissa Harlowe Barton on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of five children. Her first experience with nursing was as a teenager, when she helped care for her seriously ill brother.
Her parents urged her to become a teacher. She began teaching when she was 18 years old and founded a school for children of mill workers when she was 24 years old.
After moving to Bordentown, New Jersey, she established the first free school in 1852. Once she found out that the school had hired a man and was paying him twice her salary, she resigned.
In 1854, she became the first woman to work as a recording clerk at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. She was paid the same as her male colleagues, a salary of $1,400 a year.
The next year, she was reduced to a copyist with a lower wage because the Secretary of the Interior, Robert McClelland, did not like the idea of women getting involved in the government.
Her position was eliminated in 1857, but she returned as a copyist in 1860 after the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Clara quit her job when the Civil War began in 1861.
She played a major role during wartime, bravely bringing supplies to Union soldiers, including the men of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry.
In 1862, she was permitted to deliver supplies to battlefields, where she tended to the wounded. In 1864, she was officially named the head nurse for one of General Benjamin Butler’s units.
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She also helped formerly enslaved people prepare for their new lives in freedom. After the war, Clara participated in the effort to locate missing soldiers and mark thousands of graves.
In 1869, she traveled through Europe and learned about the International Red Cross while in Switzerland, which was established in Geneva in 1864.
When she returned to the U.S., she wrote pamphlets, spoke at lectures, and even met with President Rutherford B. Hayes to push for the creation of an American Red Cross.
She was successful because on May 21, 1881, the American Association of the Red Cross was formed. The following month, Clara was elected the president. The U.S. joined the International Red Cross in 1882.
Clara served as president of the Red Cross until 1904. She attended meetings all over the world, aided with conflict and disasters, and helped people experiencing poverty and homelessness. In addition, she was a strong supporter of women’s suffrage.
Clara Barton died in her home in Glen Echo, Maryland, on April 12, 1912. Her home became a National Historic site in 1974. Her hard work and humanitarian spirit helped change the world for the better.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
