Running head: CLARA BARTON

Clara Barton

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
CLARA BARTON
2

Clara Barton

Introduction

Clare Harlowe Barton also known as Clara is one of the most respected woman globally. Clara

was the founder of the Red Cross. At the age of 68, Clara did extra ordinary duties in the life of

humans when she founded the American Red Cross in 1881. During the civil war, Clara risked

her life and did important jobs in that she was the only woman who supported and did supplies to

the soldiers in the war field.

She understood the ways she could provide to help people in distress. This was guided by her

advance thoughtful mind at the time compared to the woman of that time. Barton led the path to

volunteering services and created an enabling environment in the field by leading by example.

The strong devotion to serving other people resulted her to achieving great success.

Born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford Massachusetts, she was the daughter to Captain Stephen

and Sarah Barton. Her father was a famous businessman and a leader in their community who

also served in the Indian wars. Clara discovered her calling at a tender age when she attended to

her brother David after he had barn-raising accident. She grew to love the activity and she found

desire to help others.

Education

Being the youngest child in the family, she was educated by her older sibling at home. For a

period of two years, Clara nursed her brother David till his recovery. Thereafter, her father sent

her to a private boarding school. Even though she was academically okay in class, Clara was shy

and this affected her health and went back home.

CLARA BARTON
3

Her mother advised Clara to become a teacher in order to overcome shyness. At the age of 15,

Clara became a teacher and later opened her school in New Jersey where she continued to help

others. In 1850, she enrolled to Clinton Liberal Institute to further her education. After one year

of study, Clara moved to Bordentown, New Jersey and opened her school.

At this time, New Jersey had no free public schools. However, the community supported Clara

and she managed to open a public school for all. The school was success and she hired a

professional to run it. She later resigned and moved to Washington DC.

Employment

She worked as a clerk in the Patent office, Washington DC when civil war began. She was the

first female clerk. However, her position was eliminated when James Buchanan took office as

president in 1857. She was offered to work for two male clerks for the salary of one person and

the two be released to war. The patent office was against it and she was forced to leave her job

and dedicate her life in helping those affected in war (Carlson, 2020). She collected and

distributed all she can to help others.

Civil War

Barton began helping the war filed soldiers with first aid and nursing services and various ways

she could to help save their lives (Carlson, 2020). She began this adventure by volunteering to

collect and distribute supplies for the Union Army as a sideline independent nurse. Clara further

extended her volunteering to the Antietam wounded soldiers.

At this time, Clara was nicknamed “the angel of the battlefield” due to her amazing services to

helping the injured and the less fortunate (Strickler, J., 2018). At around 1865 when the war
CLARA BARTON
4

ended, Clara Barton was working for the war department where she helped re-unite missing

families. She played the bigger role in re-uniting the war soldiers to their missing families.

The American Red Cross

Clara Barton life was extra ordinary where she kept collecting the bandages and other supplies

needed for the war. At this point, Barton realized that she could support the troops by going in

person to help in the battle field. She helped nurse the wounded as well as cooking for the

injured. This effort by Clara continued till the civil war was over. She then decided to travel to

Europe. While in Europe, Clara learned about the International Red Cross. During this time, at a

visit to her home in America, she began to lobby for a branch of the International Red Cross to

be based in America.

In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross where she became president for 23 years

(Irwin, 2017). During this time, Clara oversaw various important projects such as the Galveston

and Johnstown floods where she fully supported the treatment and protection of those affected.

The American Red Cross under the management of Clara helped other international disasters and

reliefs. For example, Clara helped the Russian famine of 1892. In addition, the organization also

helped Armenians in 1896 living in Turkish controlled areas. Thus, it was evident that through

Clara’s leadership, the newly founded organization managed to provide relief during natural

disasters and other distinguished epidemics in America (Irwin, 2017). Furthermore, Barton

travelled to Cuba during the Spanish and American war where she provided food supplies as

well as nurse the wounded.

In 1890, after many years of struggle, Clara managed to get the American Red Cross charter. The

US Congress issued the charter making the Clara founder organization independent non-profit
CLARA BARTON
5

organization (Irwin, 2017). The American Red Cross was allowed to freely support locally and

international disaster management and relief.

Later Years and Death

In 1904, Clara was forced to resign from the American Red Cross due to different allegations.

There was a strong internal power struggle and financial mismanagement allegations. These

finally forced her to leave the solely founded organization. She was known not to take salaries

and would even use her funds to fund the national relief projects. However, due to the continued

internal pressure for new leadership, she finally decided to resign. Clara remained active in

helping projects and is knows to have founded the National First Aid of American. In 1912,

Clara died at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland.

Accomplishments

Clara Barton was known to help with the less fortunate in the society. In most circumstances, the

effect of war or any disaster is majorly felt by women, children, and other minorities in the

community. Thus, Clara was an important figure since she was young. She accomplished big

things for many years. When her brother David had an accident, she nursed him for two years

without any formal expertise.

Barton was the first to establish a public school in New Jersey where she hoped to move forward

the lives of young people and improve their education. After sometime in school, she resigned

and hired someone to run it as she looked for employment. When the civil war started, Clara was

offered to take the job of two male clerks with the salary of one as they join the war. This shows

that Clara has already sacrificed to do extra job without pay. During the civil war, Clara resigned
CLARA BARTON
6

in order to help the needy as a nurse and provide the essential service needed. She operated as

one of the volunteers until the war was over.

In every disaster be it war, famine, or natural calamity, women were the most affected.

Therefore, Clara understood this and demonstrated her support internationally. She established

the American Red Cross where she helped various people. This is a major accomplishment to

children, women, and other minorities. During the war, Clara was nicknamed “the angel of the

battlefield” that means that she was courageous and strong and would not fear any outcome but

making sure that she successfully helped the needy (Strickler, J., 2018). She helped the injured

soldiers till the war was over and managed to re-unite all the missing to their families.

In the early years, American had not Red Cross organization. However, due to Clara’s efforts,

she managed to bring and establish the organization from Geneva, Switzerland. She will go

down in history as the first woman to establish the organization and the first president to lead the

international organization.

Clara was a women but managed to lead in the establishment of the most important and valued

organization in the society. Women are perceived as being poor leaders but as we see, Clara has

demonstrated a good example of how women can establish and form big colonies to save human

kind. Women today are inspired by Clara’s efforts and thus she is viewed as a role model to

many women.
CLARA BARTON
7

References

Carlson, E. A. (2020). Nurses caring for soldiers. Orthopaedic Nursing, 39(1), 64-65.

doi:10.1097/nor.0000000000000626

Irwin, J. (2017). The American Red Cross in great war-era Europe, 1914–1922. The Tocqueville

Review, 38(2), 117-131. doi:10.3138/ttr.38.2.117

Strickler, J. (2018). Clara Barton: Angel of the battlefield. Nursing2020, 48(3), 43-45.