Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross and Humanitarian Pioneer

When people think of Clara Barton, the name is synonymous with the founder of the American Red Cross. Her humanitarian journey began as a military nurse during the Civil War, where she provided essential care for wounded soldiers. Over time, she expanded the Red Cross’s core mission to include the provision of aid and supplies after natural disasters, significantly impacting the field of humanitarian aid globally.

Born on Christmas Day, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, Clara Barton had no formal training as a nurse; nursing as a profession did not exist prior to the Civil War. Her interest in medicine ignited at age 11 when she cared for her brother, who was bedridden for nearly two years after a fall from a barn roof.

At 18, Clara began her professional career not as a nurse but as a teacher. She founded the first free public school in Bordentown, New Jersey, for the children of mill workers. As the school flourished, local officials hired a man as its principal, which did not sit well with Clara, who famously stated: “I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.”

After leaving teaching, she became one of the first women hired by the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. However, her position was revoked after President James Buchanan’s election in 1857. She returned to the post after Abraham Lincoln’s election, but in a lower-paying role, leaving her disheartened.

Clara was 39 when the Civil War erupted with the first shots fired at Fort Sumter. While no one was killed in that initial battle, it led to a riot in Baltimore, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries. Clara was present at the train station when news of the riot reached Washington. Instinctively, she began triaging the injured, organizing treatment in the makeshift hospital set up in the U.S. Senate Chamber.

Clara continued her vital work by caring for wounded Union soldiers after the Battle of First Manassas. Recognizing the lack of supplies and shelter for the troops, she began collecting and delivering essential items to field hospitals near the Battle of Cedar Mountain.

During the Battle of Antietam, supplies ran critically low, forcing army surgeons to use corn husks as bandages. Clara arrived with a wagon full of medical supplies and lanterns to illuminate the surgical work as night fell. Upon her arrival, Clara began nursing, feeding, and comforting the injured.

Working tirelessly with minimal rest, Clara repeated this pattern on battlefields throughout the Civil War. On April 7, 1863, Clara landed at Hilton Head Island, where her brother served as a quartermaster. That same day, nine Federal ships launched attacks on Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor.

By July 14, Clara moved her operations to Morris Island, witnessing the brutal attack on Battery Wagner by the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Infantry. As Union soldiers faced intense fire, Clara later reflected on the experience: “… great dark eyes, to your face, in utter silence, which kept one constantly wondering if they knew all they had done and were doing? and whenever I met one who was giving his life out with his blood, I could not forbear hastening to tell him lest he die in ignorance of the truth, that he was the soldier of Freedom he had sought to be, and that the world as well as Heaven would so record it.”

In another poignant letter, Clara wrote, “We have captured one fort – Gregg – and one charnel house – Wagner – and we have built one cemetery, Morris Island. The thousand little sand-hills that in the pale moonlight are a thousand headstones, and the restless ocean waves that roll and break on the whitened beach sing an eternal requiem to the toll-worn gallant dead who sleep beside.”

Clara continued her humanitarian efforts in the Lowcountry until the end of 1863, treating wounded soldiers and combating smallpox epidemics. Immune to the disease, having survived it as a child, she joined forces with Frances Dana Gage to nurse escaped slaves suffering from the illness.

Exhausted, Clara left the Lowcountry on December 31, 1863, to recuperate at home. However, she returned by spring to care for wounded soldiers on the battlefield. As the war drew to a close, she established the Missing Soldiers Office, responding to nearly 63,000 inquiries from families of missing soldiers, successfully locating about 22,000.

Even after the Civil War, Clara's dedication to humanitarian work persisted. She offered aid after the Great Earthquake on August 31, 1886, which devastated Charleston. Initially met with skepticism, her efforts were welcomed following a catastrophic storm on August 27, 1893, that struck the Sea Islands between Charleston and Beaufort. The storm resulted in approximately 2,000 deaths and left 30,000 people without homes.

In the aftermath, Clara led the Red Cross’s efforts to support the predominantly Black population of the barrier islands, setting up makeshift hospitals, including one at Grace Episcopal Chapel in Rockville on Wadmalaw Island. By the summer of 1894, at the age of 72, she returned home to rest.

Clara Barton continued to serve as president of the American Red Cross until her retirement at age 82. She passed away at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland, on April 12, 1912. The humanitarian legacy she established continues to inspire and grow worldwide.