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Clara Barton Facts

Clara Barton Facts
Clara Barton was a nurse and the founder of the American Red Cross. She was born Clarissa Harlowe Barton on December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, to Captain Stephen Barton and Sarah Stone Barton. Her father is believed to have been the one to inspire Clara with an interest in humanitarianism and patriotism. Clara was sent to school at the age of three and began to excel immediately. By the age of ten she took over nursing her injured brother back to health after a severe injury. Clara was a very shy young woman and her parents encouraged her to become a school teacher to help overcome her shyness. She became a teacher at 17.
Interesting Clara Barton Facts:
At the age of five Clara almost died from Dysentery and convulsions. Somehow she managed to pull through and fully recover.
In 1830 when Clara's family moved into a new home Clara became the painter's helper. She developed a lifelong love of art as a result of working with the brushes and paints.
After Clara had worked as a teacher for six years in Oxford, Massachusetts, she opened her own school for the children of parents working in her brother's mill.
Clara Barton opened a free public school in New Jersey that grew so large local leaders took over and hired a male principal. This caused Clara to leave teaching in 1854.
Clara Barton worked as a recording clerk at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington but because she was a woman she was demoted from a job paying $1400 a year to a job paying minimal amounts.
At the age of 39 Clara decided to become a nurse, which was a man's profession at the time.
During the Civil War Clara discovered injured soldiers and used supplies from home to help care for them. She became known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield'.
The first battle that Clara assisted in as a nurse was the Battle of Cedar Mountain in 1862, in Culpeper County in Virginia.
During the Battle of Antietam Clara was almost killed by a bullet that went through her sleeve and killed a wounded soldier she was tending to.
In March, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Clara Barton as "General Correspondent for the Friends of Paroled Prisoners'. She was in charge of staying in contact with the family and friends of missing soldiers in Maryland.
Clara Barton created the Bureau of Records of Missing Men of the Armies of the U.S.
In 1869 Clara Barton traveled to Geneva to work with the International Red Cross.
Upon her return to the U.S. in 1880 Clara Baron founded the American Red Cross. She also served as the new organization's president until 1904.
Clara Barton continued to work, doing philanthropy work in Cuba and once again volunteering during the Spanish American War.
Clara Barton was friends with several human rights advocates including Frederick Douglas, and Susan B. Anthony.
Clara Barton died on April 12, 1912 at the age of 90, in Glen Echo, Maryland.


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