Health & Fitness
Who was Clara Barton .. and the American Red Cross
The story of Civil War battlefield nurse and humanitarian Clara Barton, who would later become the founder and first president of our American Red Cross.
I remember when I was young..and in talking history circa the 1860 era the name Clara Barton would come up..and we would all say who was Clara Barton? Knew the name well..but did not know of the great and lasting contributions this wonderful humantarian woman had made. Especially during our own Civil War of 1861-1865.
When I read up on Clara Barton..her experiences and efforts were so brave, caring, and dramatic.. the Union soldier boys would nickname Clara "Angel of the Battlefield".
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Clarissa Harlowe (Clara) Barton was born on Christmas Day, 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts. During the next 90 years of her life, she would be a teacher, a patent clerk, a nurse, and early developer of what would later become the American Red Cross.
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Her start in battlefield nursing will be official, hard, and fast in August of 1862 during the “Second Battle of Bull Run” after she is given permission to go to the front lines with wagon loads of medical supplies she has been obtaining through Northern Christian and other aid societies.
Keep in mind the army did not have an official system of caring for the wounded..or the dead in fact. Wounded are simply removed from the field of battle..aid is slow or does not come at all. Hundreds if not thousands die from shock, blood loss and dehydration.
Clara has witnessed this up close and in her proactive way has come forward to fill the need by simply showing up with medical supplies that the army surgeons are more than thankful for. Clara soon finds herself immersed in the nursing of more Union wounded than she can handle..but her energy and caring for the increased amount of Union wounded was without measure.
Clara will work for the war department after the Civil War in 1865..giving lectures and interviews regarding her war time experiences..and her political fight to increase the immediate aid to wounded soldiers.
Her later visits to Euope in 1870-1871 during the Franco-Prussian War will bring her in contact with the International Red Cross. On her return to the states..she will lobby in Washington where she has become quite active..for an American branch of the Red Cross of which she will become the first president.
Visit my Civil War site and read a bit more about this wonderful woman at "Who was Clara Barton".. and thank you "Angel of the Battlefield" !
Gallagher at The Civil War
