Clarissa Harlowe “Clara” Barton
Clarissa Harlowe Barton was a pioneering American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. Nursing education was not very formalized at that time and she did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care.
Born: December 25, 1821
Birthplace: North Oxford, Massachusetts
Father: Captain Stephen Barton Jr. 1774 – 1862
(Buried: North Cemetery, Oxford, Massachusetts)
Mother: Sarah “Sally” Stone 1783 – 1851
(Buried: North Cemetery, Oxford, Massachusetts)
Education:
Attended Colonel Stones High School
1839: Received a Teacher’s Certificate
Attended Clinton Liberal Institute
Life:
At Age 10 nursed her brother back to health learning how to distribute prescribed medicine
She loved to go horseback riding
Educator in Schools in Canada and West Georgia
Educator in Hightstown, New Jersey
Helped to open a Free School in Bordentown, New Jersey
1855 – 1856: Clerk for United States Patent Office in Washington, D.C.
1856: fired as clerk by President James Buchanan
1861: Became a temporary copyist for United States Patent Office
Civil War Role:
1861: Massachusetts Soldiers transported to her home in D.C.
1861: Nurse for 40 men during the Baltimore, Maryland Riot
Helped provide bandages, clothing and Food for Wounded Soldiers
She learned how to store and distribute medical supplies to wounded
Worked to distribute stores, clean field hospitals, apply dressings to wounds and serve food to Wounded Soldiers
1862: At Antietam she used corn husks in place of bandages
1863: Had a romantic relationship with Colonel John J. Elwell
1864: Appointed lady in charge of hospitals by Major General Butler
Known as “Florence Nightingale of America”
Known as “Angel of the battlefield”
1861: Nurse for 40 men during the Baltimore, Maryland Riot
Helped provide bandages, clothing and Food for Wounded Soldiers
She learned how to store and distribute medical supplies to wounded
Worked to distribute stores, clean field hospitals, apply dressings to wounds and serve food to Wounded Soldiers
1862: At Antietam she used corn husks in place of bandages
1863: Had a romantic relationship with Colonel John J. Elwell
1864: Appointed lady in charge of hospitals by Major General Butler
Known as “Florence Nightingale of America”
Known as “Angel of the battlefield”
Role after War:
She ran the Office of Missing Soldiers in Washington, D.C.
1865: Helped locate and properly bury 13,000 Soldiers who died at Andersonville Prison
After four years she helped properly bury 20,000 more Union Soldiers
1870: Helped in preparation of military hospitals Franco – Prussian War
Helped Found the American Red Cross Chapter
1881 – 1904: President of American National Red Cross
Founder of National First Aid Society
1907: Published her autobiography
1865: Helped locate and properly bury 13,000 Soldiers who died at Andersonville Prison
After four years she helped properly bury 20,000 more Union Soldiers
1870: Helped in preparation of military hospitals Franco – Prussian War
Helped Found the American Red Cross Chapter
1881 – 1904: President of American National Red Cross
Founder of National First Aid Society
1907: Published her autobiography
Died: April 12, 1912
Place of Death: Glen Echo, Maryland
Cause of Death: Pneumonia
Age at time of Death: 90 years old
Burial Place: North Cemetery Oxford, Massachusetts
After the war she supervised a systematic search for missing soldiers. Barton eventually received a Congressional appropriation to run what was known as the Missing Soldiers Office and became the first woman to head a government bureau. Barton tracked down information on nearly 22,000 soldiers before the office was closed in 1868.
Between 1869 and 1873 Barton lived in Europe, where she helped establish hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and was honored with Germany's Iron Cross for outstanding military service.
Through Barton's efforts the American Red Cross Society was formed in 1881; she served as the first president of the organization until 1904. In 1884 she represented the United States at the Red Cross Conference and at the International Peace Convention in Geneva. She was responsible for the introduction at this convention of the "American amendment," which established that the Red Cross was to serve victims of peacetime disasters as well as victims of war.
She superintended relief work in the yellow-fever pestilence in Florida (1887); in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood (1889); in the Russian famine (1891); among the Armenians (1896); in the Spanish-American War (1898); and in the South African War (1899-1902). The last work that she personally directed was the relief of victims of the flood at Galveston, Texas, in 1900. She wrote several books on the Red Cross and Story of My Childhood (1907). She died in Glen Echo, Maryland, on April 12, 1912.
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