Clara Barton and the Red Cross

Clara Barton was born on December 25, 1821 in North Oxford Massachusetts, she was the youngest daughter of Stephen Barton and Sarah Stone. Clara had two older brothers and two older sisters, through which most of her education came from, by age 11 her gift of nursing had been noticed when she nursed her brother David back to health from an illness. Clara was very smart by age 17, she had become a techer at a school in Massachusetts. After being a teacher Clara moved to Washington were she became the first woman to work at a patent office. When the Civil War started Clara wanted to help the soldiers in the front lines, so she did not accept a salary from the treasury. Never before had a woman been allowed in hospitals or with the soldiers in camps, but she made the officials trust her as a result supplies were given to her to help aid the wounded of the war. Clara became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" Even during battles Clara would go and help wounded soldiers, she even brought the surgeons bandages and medicine to help the soldiers, many people were grateful to her. Injured soldiers were especially grateful for her help at the Antietam Battlefield, in which she brought supplies to the army who had none because of delays.
After the Civil War was over Clara went to Europe to help in relief efforts during the Franco-Prussian War, here she caught wind of the Red Cross which was an organization which helped with relief efforts for disasters and wars, when she returned home to the states she organized and founded the American Red Cross, she was the perator of this until she died on April 12, 1912. Clearly Clara Barton was a magnificient woman that helped others and did the right thing.