Clara Barton, founder of the american red cross and a civil war nurse.

Clara Barton was born to a middle class family in Oxford Massachusetts on December 25th, 1821. Clara was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Sarah (Stone) Barton. Her father was a respected farmer, horse breeder and politician. And was the youngest of five children. She was educated at home and nursed her invalid brother, which was her only pre civil war training. When Clara was young, she was very shy and enjoyed the outdoors. She was later formally educated at New York State. Barton was primarily a teacher from the age of 15. Only during the civil war did she pursue nursing passionately. She is known best for the founder of the American Red Cross in 1881, an organization that it still strong today. During the civil war, Clara helped identify over 13,000 dead soldiers and aided in the search of missing soldiers. She began her work in 1861 at the Battle of Bull Run.

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

Clara Barton

English: Clara Barton (1821-1912), founder of the ...

In July 1862, she obtained permission to travel behind the lines, eventually reaching some of the grimmest battlefields of the war and serving during the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond. Barton delivered aid to soldiers of both the North and South. Never before had women been allowed in hospitals, camps or on battlefields; initially, military and civil officials declined her help. Eventually, she gained the trust of these officials and began receiving supplies from all over the country. As a result of her untiring work, she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." Officially, she became the superintendent of Union nurses in 1864 and began obtaining camp and hospital supplies, assistants and military trains for her work on the front. She practiced nursing exclusively on battlefields, experiencing first-hand the horrors of war on sixteen different battlefields. After the war, President Lincoln granted her the...