Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on December 25, 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts. In her long career of public service Miss Barton was successively a teacher, battlefield nurse, lecturer, and finally organizer and president of the American Red Cross.

As a child Clara played nurse, taking care of pets that were sick or injured. When she was eleven her brother fell from a barn roof and Clara nursed him throughout a two-year convalescence. During the American Civil War Clara was a battlefield nurse. She delivered medical supplies and food, staying with the wounded until they were carried to safety. She was called the "Angel of the battlefield."

Miss Barton volunteered for the International Red Cross (IRC) while on a trip to Europe in 1870. She helped refugees of the Franco-Prussian War in Paris and other cities. She returned to America in 1873, and in 1877 IRC authorities invited her to establish an American Red Cross. For the next 23 years Miss Barton organized and led the Red Cross, personally leading many relief expeditions to victims of forest fire, flood, hurricane and war. In 1904, at age 82, she resigned her post.

Barton spent the remaining years of her life at Glen Echo, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., where she died in 1912 at the age of 91. Her body was taken back to Oxford, Massachusetts for burial. Clara Barton will be remembered for her strong leadership of the American Red Cross, and her great philanthropic accomplishments throughout her life.

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