Clara Barton: A Brief Biography

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Recommended: Nurses of the Vietnam war

Have you ever wondered what it was like being a nurse on the battlefield? Well lots of women were nurses but only one made history.
Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. Clara’s mother, Sarah Stone Barton, was a very kind and loving woman. She lived from 1783-1851. Clara’s Father, U.S. Army Captain Stephen Barton, was a businessman and captain of a local army. He lived from 1774-1862. Clara had 4 siblings, Sarah Barton Vassall, U.S. Army Captain David Barton, Stephen Barton, and Dorothea Barton. At age eleven, Clara tended to her older brother, David, who was severely injured after falling from a barn roof. Clara cared for him for two years until he got better. After that, she found her calling …show more content…

In 1869, she went to Geneva, Switzerland trying to recover. There, she met officials who organized the International Red Cross. The officials wanted to spread the Red Cross to other countries, like America. Clara eventually recovered and went on to Europe giving lecturers to help the Red Cross. In 1872, nervous exhaustion caused Clara to temporarily lose her eyesight. She went to the United States to recuperate.
That October, she returned to the U.S. but not fully recovered. However, she was able to start up the American Red Cross and was President of the organization. She moved back to her homeland in Glen Echo, Maryland. At the age of ninety, Clara died on pneumonia in 1912. TODAY, Clarissa Harlowe Barton is known as “The Angel of the Battlefield”. Clara Barton never married nor had children. She always considered the soldiers that she helped as family. Clara dedicated her life to helping others, even in the toughest conditions. No matter what, she did what she had to do to …show more content…

A&E Television Networks, July 8, 2014, http://www.biography.com/people/clara-barton-9200960. 15 March, 2017. “Clara Barton.” HistoryNet. 2017. http: www.historynet.com/clara-barton. 8, March 2017.
Faust, Patricia L. “Clara Harlowe Barton” Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War, http://ww.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.html 8, March 2017. “Clara Barton.” Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields Civil War Trust, http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/clara-barton.html. 8, March 2017. “Clara Barton Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, http://www.notablebiographies.com?Ba-Be/Barton-Clara.html. 10, March 2017
“A Brief History of the American Red Cross.” American Red Cross. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/history. 7, March 2017 “Biography Clara Barton.” Ducksters Education Site. http://www.ducksters.com/biography/women_leaders/clara_barton.php. 10, March 2017 “Clara Barton.” SoftSchools.com. http://www.softschools.com/timelines/clara_barton_timeline/54/. 14, March 2017
Glassford, Sarah. “The American Red Cross: From Clara Barton to the New Deal.” Sociology of Heath & Illness, vol.35, issue 8, November 2013, pp. 1276-1277. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12119. Accessed 14, March

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