Born: December 25, 1821,
Oxford, Massachusetts
Died: April 12, 1912,
Glen Echo, Maryland
The Red Cross Nurse was talking to the audience ...
--From Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse, p. 216
Clarissa Harlowe Barton, known as the Angel of the Battlefield for her work during the Civil War, founded the American Red Cross.
Highlights
Clara Barton worked as a volunteer during the American Civil War, distributing supplies to wounded soldiers.
She supervised a systematic search for missing soldiers after the war.
Later, she helped establish hospitals in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War, and received the Iron Cross of Germany.
Learn about women's roles during the American Civil War. Available from A&E/History Channel: Civil War Journal: Women at War.
She founded the American Red Cross Society in 1881, and served as its president until 1904.
She supervised relief efforts in the yellow-fever outbreak in Florida in 1887; the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood in 1889; the Russian famine in 1891; the Spanish-American War in 1898; the South African War in 1899; and the Galveston, Texas, flood in 1900.
A Story of the Red Cross: Glimpses of Field Work. New York: Appleton, 1904. [Available at Amazon.com]
The Story of My Childhood. New York: Arno Press, 1980 (original edition, 1907). [Available at Amazon.com]
The Red Cross in Peace and War. Washington, D.C.: American Historical Press, 1910.
About Clara Barton
Bains, Rae. Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield. Mahwah, N.J.: Troll, 1982. [Available at Amazon.com]
Benge, Janet, and Geoff Benge. Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire. Ywam Publishing, 2002. [Available at Amazon.com]
Boylston, Helen Dore. Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross. New York: Random House, 1955. [Available at Amazon.com]
Helen Dore Boylston is better known for writing about another Barton: She penned the seven books in the Sue Barton series.
Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield
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