ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD

Clara Barton was born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts, Barton was the youngest of Stephen and Sarah Barton's five children. As a teenager, Barton helped care for her seriously ill brother David, her first experience as a nurse. When the Civil War began in 1861, Barton quit her job and made it her mission to bring supplies to Union soldiers in need, among them, men of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry.  In 1862, she received official permission to transport supplies to battlefields and was at every major battle in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, where she also tended to the wounded and became known as the “angel of the battlefield.”

Red Cross

Her father was a prosperous farmer. She began teaching at age 18, founded a school for workers’ children at her brother’s mill when she was 24.Barton's family directed their painfully shy daughter to become a teacher upon the recommendation of renowned phrenologist L.N. Fowler, who examined her as a girl. This started a life-long career of aiding people in times of conflict and disaster. This started a life-long career of aiding people in times of conflict and disaster. On May 21, 1881, the American Association of the Red Cross was formed; Barton was elected president in June. In 1882, the US joined the International Red Cross.