Happy Birthday, Clara Barton, Our Red Cross Founder
Just as so many American
families celebrate dates of significance at this time of year, so too does the Red
Cross family. On Dec. 25, 1821, Clara Barton (born Clarissa Harlowe Barton), the
founder of the American Red Cross, was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Barton’s
lifelong humanitarian efforts have been inherited by the organization she
created well over a century ago.
in the mid-1800s as a schoolteacher when the majority of school teachers were
male. She went on to work at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. as one
of the first females to be employed by the federal government. While working in
this role, Barton witnessed the harsh realities of life for soldiers as the
Civil War broke out around her. This began a personal crusade for Barton, and a
larger one that lives on today through the American Red Cross.
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| The First Ambulance |
Barton’s humanitarian work
began with her providing food and supplies to injured soldiers of the Sixth
Massachusetts Infantry. Recognizing some of the young soldiers as former
students and childhood neighbors, their condition touched her personally and the
experience inspired her to do more. She pushed to be allowed to offer support on
the front lines. Barton became known to Union
and Confederate soldiers alike as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” As the war
drew to a close, Barton’s focus shifted from providing for soldiers’ physical
needs to providing for their emotional care. She established the Friends of the
Missing Men of the United States Army, an organization that worked to reconnect
or provide closure for tens of thousands of families of missing soldiers.
in 1869, and it was there, in Geneva, Switzerland, that she was introduced to
the mission of the Red Cross. Barton’s own work with the International Red
Cross began in 1870 when she joined the ranks treating soldiers of the
Franco-Prussian War. She was inspired by global Red Cross founder Henry Dunant,
who urged for international agreements to treat the sick and wounded during
wartime, regardless of nationality or affiliation. Dunant’s ideas led to the
first Geneva Treaty in 1864, which was ratified by twelve European nations.
Barton fought to have the United States ratify the agreement, which it did in
1882.
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| Tents Erected in Muddy Fields after the Johnstown, PA Flood |
In addition to bringing
the United States into the Geneva Treaty, Barton brought the Red Cross to the
United States and acted as its first President. With the Civil War behind and
World Wars not yet begun, the efforts of the American Red Cross in its early
years were primarily focused on providing disaster relief. Early missions
included aiding survivors of a Michigan wildfire in 1881, a Pennsylvania dam
failure in 1884, and a South Carolina hurricane in 1893. When Barton resigned in
1904 from the position she held as President for 23 years, she created the
National First Aid Association of America, which provided emergency preparation
and first aid instruction.
While Clara Barton died
in 1912, the programs she created to aid disaster victims; to educate the
public on life-saving skills and emergency preparation; to improve the lives of
armed service members and their families; and to reconnect family members live
on in the Red Cross. Although she had no children of her own, Barton brought the American
Red Cross to life, and her ideals and sense of purpose continue to course
through the veins of the organization today.
Happy 196th Birthday, Clara Barton, from your Red Cross family and all of those whose lives you have touched. To read more about the life and work of Clara Barton, visit Founder Clara Barton.