Heroes of The Civil War: Clara Barton

One of several positive institutions that came out of the Civil War was the American branch of the Red Cross, and this is most directly attributed to Clara Barton. Born in rural Massachusetts in 1821, Barton had been a school teacher and then worked as a clerk in the US Patent Office when the war began. She volunteered to help care for the wounded soldiers and soon recognized the need not only for medical nursing but also for supplies and support for morale. Going to Union camps and even to battlefields, Barton became known among the troops as ‘the angel of the battlefields.’

By 1864 she was officially appointed the ‘lady in charge’ of the hospitals of the Federal army of the James. Lincoln asked her to lead the search for the many missing Union men, and in 1865 she went to Andersonville, the site of the Confederate prison in Georgia, to identify and mark the graves of the thousands of Union dead.

When the war ended, Barton turned to lecturing on her experiences , and finding herself in Europe during the Franco-German war in 1870, she worked at the front with the International Red Cross. Growing out of an organization started in 1863, the Red Cross impressed Clara Barton as the instrument to achieve her goals, and on returning to the US she worked to establish the American National Red Cross.

It took until 1881 before she obtained formal recognition from the President and she was to serve as its head until 1904. During those years she was influential in extending the organization’s activities beyond the casualties of wars to those suffering floods, famines, fires and other disasters.

Other articles about the Civil War.

Heroes of The Civil War: Charles Francis Adams

Heroes of The Civil War: Turner Ashby

Heroes of The Civil War: Edward Dickinson Baker