What Do YOu KNow :::: Clara Barton

Clara Barton was a nurse but she was so much more. Clara lived a life where accomplished much. Starting out life the youngest of 5 brothers and sister Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born December 1821 in North Oxford Massachusetts. Clara's father was a militia captain and could spin stories very well. Her mother was a very odd individual.

At the young age of 15 a suggestion was made to her parents that Clara should go into teaching. she followed the suggestion and worked for a bit at Oxford Massachusetts schools. After about 6 years Clara Barton would open a school in 1845 that would serve the children of workers in her brother's mill. Later Clara would create a free public school in New Jersey that would grow so large that leaders refused to let her lead it and hired a male principle.

Clara Barton left the world of education for a bit and found herself in 1833 taking care of her brother after he fell off the roof of a barn. Two years of her life would be given to the care of his brother and his recovery. She then would enter the Civil War as a nurse at the age of 39. Perhaps her strength of past experiences was what inspired her to take care of the injured in the civil war.

Injured soldiers were housed in the senate chamber of the U.S. capital. Clara Barton would bring her own supplies to care for the wounded. She would later form her own supply distribution agency. Her acts would earn her the nickname of "Angel of the Battlefield" She would work hard to care for the wounded following the civil war battles. Thus at times placing herself in danger
The Battle of Antietam nearly took her life. While she was lifting a wounded man's head to offer water, a bullet ripped  through the sleeve of her dress. Though she survived the injured did not.

The actions that she saw often left her depressed. The thought of killing herself a few different times. It was the worth and purpose of life that would help her get out of the depression. Acting as a professional angel allowed her to thrive in scenarios that others would run from In addition, her actions would not go unrecognized

January 1, 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The end of the civil war left many soldiers missing. May of that same year Clara Barton would return to the profession of Education. She would teach the newly freed slaves. In addition, Clara would set up an Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the U.S. Army in 1865. The organization that Clara Barton organized would locate 22,000 missing soldiers which of 13,000 had perished in the Andersonville Prison

Following the civil war Clara Barton was part of a nationwide lecture tour for the Woman's rights movement. Frederick Douglas, Ralph Waldo Emerson and others would join her. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony would support the interest as well.

“I did not purchase my freedom with a price; I was born free; and when, as a younger woman I heard the subject discussed, it seemed simply ridiculous that any sensible, sane person should question it,” 
Clara Barton

The Office of Correspondence would eventually close down. Clara Barton would then travel to Europe to recuperate. She would learn about the International Red Cross in Switzerland. The office had been founded in 1863 to help victims of humanitarian crisis. Following her trip she could see no reason why there could not be an American Red Cross here in the United States.

May 21, 1881 Clara Barton would co-find the American Red Cross with Adolphus Solomons. She would serve as president of the organization and would serve for 23 years never with a pay day. The American Red Cross helped those affected by the war as well as survivors of natural disasters.

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