Introduction & Mini Bio
Clarissa Harlowe Barton commonly known by the name Clara Barton is one of the greatest women in American history. In North Oxford, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1821, Clarissa Harlowe Barton gave birth to Clara Barton. Stephen Barton and Sarah Stone Barton were Barton’s parents. Stephen was a politician, farmer, and horse breeder who shared stories of the American Indian Wars with his daughter Clara. Through these stories, Stephen helped Clara understand the value of providing food, clothing, and medical supplies for an army. Later in life, this would prove to be very important.
When Barton started school at age 4, she already had a gift with words and could spell words with three syllables. Her brothers and sisters tutored her at home in addition to her schooling. Out of five siblings, Barton was the youngest. His sisters were Sarah, also known as “Sally,” and Dorothea, also known as “Dolly.” Stephen, a math teacher and businessman, and David, who taught Clara how to ride horses, were her two brothers.
She was a shy child who, at the age of eleven, discovered her calling when she helped her brother David after he fell from a barn’s rafters. For two years, Clara missed school to care for her brother. She gave him medicine and even applied and removed leeches to treat him.
Later, as a teenager, Barton discovered a different way to fulfil her desire to help. Phrenologist Lorenzo Niles Fowler advised Barton to start preparing for a career in education. After passing her exams, she started teaching in 1839 close to her Oxford home. Later, starting in 1850, Barton attended the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York for a year.
Clara Barton Facts
Some of the Clara Barton facts are very well known to people working in the social network. However, some of the common facts are:
Full Name: Clarissa Harlowe Barton
Date Of Birth: December 25, 1821
Death: April 12, 1912
Birthplace: North Oxford, Massachusetts
Astrological Sign: Capricorn
The Journey In Teaching Career
She founded Bordentown’s first free public school after relocating to New Jersey in 1851. Eventually, enrollment increased from six students at the beginning to over 200. But when Bordentown residents decided to hire a man as principal in 1853—paying him twice as much as Barton—after they constructed a new schoolhouse. An enraged Barton left the classroom and teaching completely.
Barton, on the other hand, relocated to Washington, D.C. in the middle of the 1850s to take a clerking job at the U.S. Patent Office. Her $1,400 pay was the same as that of the men she was employed with.
The Ideal Role In Civil War Time
To many, she is referred to as the “angel of the battlefield”. However, it is very necessary to take a look at the facts and history to give the title “Angel Of The Battlefield”. After her position as a copyist at the Patent Office was abolished in 1857, Barton went back to her native Massachusetts. She went back to work for the newly elected President Abraham Lincoln three years later. Less than a year later, the Civil War broke out.
Barton did everything in her power to support the soldiers during the Civil War. She started out gathering and distributing supplies for the Union Army. Barton was not one to stay on the sidelines; in 1862, she saw combat for the first time in Fredericksburg, Virginia, while working as a freelance nurse. In Maryland, she also provided care for soldiers injured in the Antietam battle. Because of her efforts, Barton earned the moniker “the angel of the battlefield.”
Because no woman had ever directly appeared on the battlefield, in camps, or field hospitals, Barton’s assistance was initially frequently turned down. Over time, though, Lincoln and military authorities came to trust her.
Barton worked for the War Department after the war ended in 1865, assisting in the process of either finding out more information about missing soldiers or reuniting them with their families. She also started giving lectures, and large audiences would come to hear her discuss her experiences during the war.
Discovering The Aid: The American Red Cross
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, Barton travelled throughout Europe and worked with the International Red Cross, a humanitarian organization. She started advocating for an American branch of the global organization after returning to the United States.
Barton presided over the American Red Cross Society as its first president when it was established in 1881. As its head, Barton was principally responsible for managing aid and relief efforts for victims of tragedies like the 1900 Galveston Storm in Texas and the 1889 Johnstown Flood, which resulted from a dam breach in Pennsylvania that killed over 2,000 people. The deadliest natural disaster in American history claimed the lives of over 8,000 people after a hurricane devastated the island community in Texas.
Barton wrote a book titled A Story of the Red Cross in 1904, which detailed her experiences and life within the organization.
Late Years And Death
In 1904, Barton left the American Red Cross due to a power struggle within the organization and allegations of financial mismanagement. Despite her reputation as an authoritarian boss, she never accepted payment for her work at the organization and occasionally donated her money to help with relief efforts.
Barton founded the National First Aid Association of America in 1905, which created first aid kits and provided emergency preparedness and basic first aid training.
Clara Barton continued to be involved after leaving the Red Cross by giving talks and lectures. The Story of My Childhood, another book she authored, was released in 1907.
Clara never got married and didn’t have any kids. She did, however, have a few furry friends and several nieces and nephews. She loved cats and eventually gave up her dog, Button. The dining room of the Clara Barton National Historic Site in Glen Echo, Maryland, still has a painting of her black and white cat, Tommy, who has been her friend for 17 years.
Barton reached 90 years old. On April 12, 1912, at her Glen Echo, Maryland, home, she passed away from double pneumonia, according to the Telegram & Gazette. She was laid to rest in the Oxford, Massachusetts, cemetery plot owned by her family.
Clara Barton Quotes
Clara Barton Quotes are very famous due to her social work impact. In the case of the civil war and after the civil war. Some of the famous Clara Barton quotes refer to:
- I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.
- I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.
- Soldiers, for every woman’s hand that ever cooled your fevered brow, stanched your bleeding wounds, gave food to your famishing bodies, or water to your parching lips, you should bless God for Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances D. Gage, and their followers.
- It has long been said that women don’t know anything about war. I wish men didn’t either. They have always known a great deal too much about it for the good of their kind.
