Clara
Barton: A Life of Compassion & Service
To
celebrate Women's History Month and Red Cross Month, we're taking a look at the
inspiring life of Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, who made
it her mission to serve humanity in troubled spots around the world.
Founder
of the American Red Cross Clara Barton's philosophy was to help people by
"offering a hand up, not a handout."
One of
the world’s greatest humanitarians was born on Christmas Day in 1821, in the
town of North Oxford, Massachusetts. Clarissa “Clara” Harlowe Barton was
the youngest of five children born to Sarah (Stone) and Captain Stephen Barton.
A teacher, a nurse, a civil rights activist and a suffragist, this founder of
the American Red Cross opened paths to the new field of volunteer service
through the force of her personal example. She dedicated her life to helping
people by "offering a hand up, not a handout."
The earliest known photograph of Clara Barton, which
was probably taken in Clinton, New York in 1850 or 1851 while she was a student
at the Clinton Liberal Institute. She was about 29 years old. (Photo: National Park
Service)
Clara Barton photographed
by Mathew Brady in 1865 from the Civil War period of her life. (Photo: National Archives/Wikiemedia
Commons)
Clara Barton working in the National Headquarters
office of the American Red Cross in Glen Echo, Maryland in 1902. (Photo: National Park
Service)
A Shy
Student
Homeschooled
by her family, Barton, a bit of a tomboy, suffered from acute shyness as a
child. She gained her first experience in nursing when she was 11 years old:
Her brother David became seriously ill following an accident, and she cared for
him for two years. She then went on to attend a private boarding school. Though
she kept up academically, her reticence affected her health, and she returned
home. With encouragement from her parents, she overcame her shyness and became
a teacher. This pattern would repeat itself during her lifetime, as she
suffered from periods of severe depression, yet always managed to rally when a
crisis called for her services.
Clara
Barton - Mini Biography (TV-PG; 03:00) Clara Barton's many jobs
included teaching, working at the U.S. Parent Office, and caring for soldiers
during the Civil War. She is best remembered as the founder of the American Red
Cross.
A Gifted
Teacher
While
still a teenager, Barton passed the teacher’s exam and began instructing
classes in May 1838 in North Oxford. She enthralled her students and refused to
discipline them physically (even though that was common practice at the time).
Six years later, she opened her own school.
In 1850,
Barton enrolled at New York’s Clinton Liberal Institute to further her own
education. After a year of study, she moved with a friend to Bordentown, New
Jersey, where she enlisted support from the local community to open a free public
school. By the end of the year, she had about 200 pupils. Her project was such
a success that the community built a new school. However, she was shocked that
they hired a man to run it—at twice her salary—so she resigned.
A Patent
Clerk and a Civil War Nurse
Barton’s
next move was to Washington, D.C. where she became the first female clerk at
the U.S. Patent Office. But upon the outbreak of the Civil War, she
independently organized relief for the wounded, often bringing her own supplies
to front lines. She recognized the need for an efficient organization apart
from the War Department’s bureaucracy to distribute food and medical supplies
to the troops. She began soliciting supplies from her friends, distributing
them and staying to nurse and nourish the wounded, often very close to the
actual fighting. In fact, while tending the wounded at the Battle of Antietam,
she worked so close to the battlefield that a bullet once tore through her
sleeve and killed the man she was treating.
By June
of 1864, the army had put her in charge of diet and nursing at X Corps. It was
dubbed the "flying hospital" because of its frequent moves to be
close enough to the battle to help the wounded, but not so close as to be
overrun.
An
Advocate for the Wounded and the Missing
On March
11, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln appointed
Barton to search for missing prisoners of war. With assistance from several
volunteers, including her sister Sally, Barton used her own money to
set up Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army. They put the name
of every soldier for whom they received an inquiry on their lists, which were
organized by state and published in local newspapers, displayed in post
offices, and reviewed by various organizations. Veterans seeing the list could
then provide Barton with information. She and her assistants received and
answered more than 63,000 letters and identified over 22,000 missing men. Years
later, the Red Cross established a tracing service, which remains one of the
organization’s most valued activities today.
A
Suffrage Supporter
In 1866,
Barton went on a lecture tour throughout the Northeast and Midwest to describe
her Civil War experiences. During this time, in November 1867, she met and
befriended women's suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Although her own cause took precedence, Barton aligned herself with the
suffrage movement and once hosted a party for 400 feminists. She also gave many
lectures in support of suffrage.
First
President of the American Red Cross
Ordered
to Europe by her doctor for a rest cure in 1869, Barton met with the
International Committee of the Red Cross. She participated in relief efforts
during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871, but was forced into temporary
retirement by ill health in 1872. After recovering, she campaigned to establish
an American branch of the Red Cross, despite government resistance due to fears
of foreign entanglements. The U.S. Senate finally ratified the Geneva
Convention in 1882 and formed the American Association of the Red
Cross. Barton became its president.
The
newly formed organization sprang into action in the fall of 1881 when forest
fires ripped through Michigan. It provided relief during many other natural
disasters and epidemics in the U.S., including the Johnstown, PA, flood in
1889. Clara directed many of the relief operations herself. The American Red
Cross also provided international relief, including helping victims of the
Russian famine of 1892 and providing relief to Armenians living in
Turkish-controlled Armenia in 1896.
In 1898,
at age 76, Barton traveled with nurses to Cuba during the Spanish-American War
to nurse the wounded and provide supplies and food. In 1900, after several
contentious attempts, the U.S. Congress granted the American Red Cross a
charter, making the independent, non-profit organization responsible for
fulfilling the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, providing family and other
support to the U.S. military, and providing a system for disaster relief. However,
Barton’s unwillingness to delegate responsibility had created dissent within
the ranks of the Red Cross and, in 1904, she resigned from the organization she
had founded and built.
Rather
than retire, in 1905, Barton established the National First Aid Association of
America, which emphasized basic first aid instruction and emergency
preparedness, and served as its honorary president for five years. She
published several books about the beginnings of the American Red
Cross and the global Red Cross network. She died on April 12, 1912, at her home
in Glen Echo, Maryland. She was 90 years old.
Barton’s
family donated her papers and awards, along with numerous mementoes, to the Library
of Congress. The National Park Service manages what is now the Clara Barton National Historic Site in
Glen Echo. Barton’s legacy to the nation—service to humanity—is reflected in
the services provided daily by the employees and volunteers of the American Red
Cross throughout the nation and in troubled spots around the world.
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