Clara Barton facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Clara Barton
"The angel of the battlefield"
Born	Clarissa Harlowe Barton December 25, 1821 Oxford, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	April 12, 1912 (aged 90) Glen Echo, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Teacher, nurse, humanitarian
Known for	Founder and first president of the American Red Cross
Spouse(s)	none

Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was an American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian. During the American Civil War, she was in charge of the agency to find missing Union soldiers. She also headed several hospitals in Virginia. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross. Many called her the "angel of the battlefield."

Early years
Early careers
- Teaching
- Washington D.C.
Nursing
- American Civil War
Postwar
American Red Cross
Final years and death
Clara Barton quotes
Interesting facts about Clara Barton
Remembrances
Fictional depictions
Images for kids
See also

Early years

Clara was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. She was the youngest child of Stephen Barton and Sarah Stone Barton. She learned adventure and patriotism from her father as well as determination and common sense from her mother. In her youth, Barton was timid and sensitive, which made household life difficult for her.

Clara learned many things from her four older siblings. Her sisters Dorothy and Sally taught her to read before she was three. Her brother Steven taught her mathematics, and David taught her how to ride a horse.

As a child, Clara liked to pretend she was a nurse. She took care of sick and injured animals. When she was ten, her brother David fell off the roof of a barn and injured his head. Clara cared for him for two years, long after the doctors had given up. Clara discovered her talent and love of nursing.

Early careers

Teaching

To help Barton overcome her shyness, her parents convinced her to become a schoolteacher. She earned her first teacher's certificate in 1839, at only 17 years old. Clara became a teacher and, being able to relate to the boys in the class, was a good teacher. Barton received many job offers. She asked for and received the same pay for teaching as male teachers, which was unusual at the time.

In 1852, she was hired to open a free school in Bordentown, New Jersey, which was the first free school in New Jersey. She was successful, and after a year she hired another woman to help teach over 600 students. After a man was hired to take her place, she left the job to work in Washington, D.C.

Washington D.C.

Clara became a clerk for the U.S. government in 1855. She then moved to the U.S. patent office and made the same pay as men in the office. They did not like her for this reason.

Nursing

American Civil War

In April 1861, injured members of the 6th Massachusetts Militia were moved to the unfinished Capitol Building in Washington D.C., where Barton lived at the time. She recognized some of the men from her younger years and volunteered to help nurse them back to health. She and other women began collecting medical supplies for the Union soldiers.

In August 1862, Barton finally gained permission from Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to work on the front lines. She gained support from other people who believed in her cause. After the First Battle of Bull Run, Barton placed an ad in a Massachusetts newspaper for supplies. Many responded and sent the supplies necessary to help injured soldiers. Clara was known for arriving just in time with supplies for soldiers and to help surgeons on the battlefield. Because of this, she earned the name "the angel of the battlefield."

Postwar

After the war, Clara ran the Office of Missing Soldiers. The office's purpose was to find or identify soldiers killed or missing in action. The office located, buried, and marked the graves of more than 20,000 Union soldiers during her time there.

American Red Cross

In 1868, Clara began traveling Europe. She learned about the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, and in 1870, she helped set up military hospitals for the Franco-Prussian War. She worked with the Red Cross during the war to help European soldiers.

After returning home, Clara opened an American version of the Red Cross. Its purpose was to help in times of war and other crises. The American Red Cross has helped refugees and victims of natural disasters.

Final years and death

She continued to live in her Glen Echo, Maryland, home. This home had served as the American Red Cross Headquarters upon her arrival in 1897. Barton published her autobiography in 1908, titled The Story of My Childhood.

Barton was never married and had no children. On April 12, 1912, she died in her home at the age of 90. The cause of death was pneumonia.

Clara Barton quotes

“I am glad to know that somewhere they have learned their duty to their country, and have come up neither cowards nor traitors.” (referring to her former students who were fighting in the American Civil War)
“I only wish I could work to some purpose. I have no right to these easy comfortable days and our poor men suffering and dying thirsting...My lot is too easy and I am sorry for it.”
"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."
“God in His goodness gave me speed to my feet and strength to my arms through the hours of that fearful night."
“The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.”
“I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind.”

Interesting facts about Clara Barton

Clara was born on Christmas Day.
She named her first dog Button.
She helped both Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers.
Clara bought many of the supplies she used to help soldiers during the American Civil War.
Clara always went to the army camps with a male escort or with her sister Sally, as it was considered improper for an unmarried woman to visit an army camp alone.
She was called “The American Nightingale,” in reference to Florence Nightingale who helped during the Crimean War, and “Angel of the Battlefield.”
In South Carolina, she nearly died from illness and had to be relocated to one of her own hospitals on Hilton Head island until she recovered.
She knew Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass.
Clara was a strong supporter of equal rights for all people.
She founded the American Red Cross in 1880.
Clara served as the superintendent at the Massachusetts Reformatory Prison for Women in Sherborn, Massachusetts, from May to December 1883.

Remembrances

Many streets, schools, national parks, and clinics were named after Clara Barton.
The Clara Barton National Historic Site is Barton's home. It was restored and opened to the public in 1975.
The North Oxford, Massachusetts, house in which she was born is now also a museum.
A stamp with a portrait of Barton and an image of the American Red Cross symbol was issued in 1948.
Barton was named into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.
Barton was shown in 1995 in a set of U.S. stamps commemorating the Civil War.
Clara Barton was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008.
The Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office Museum, run by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, opened in 2015.
In 2019, Barton was announced as one of the members of the inaugural class of the Government Executive magazine's Government Hall of Fame.
Exhibits in the east wing of the third floor, 3 East, of the National Museum of American History are focused on the United States at war. The Clara Barton Red Cross ambulance was at one point the signature artifact there but is no longer on display.

Fictional depictions

Numbering All the Bones by Ann Rinaldi features Barton and Andersonville Prison, a Civil War prison with terrible conditions.
Angel of Mercy (MGM, 1939) is a biographical short film directed by Edward L. Cahn, starring Sara Haden as Barton and Ann Rutherford as a woman whose brother's death in a Civil War battle inspires her to join Barton in her work.
In the NBC TV series Voyagers! (1982–1983), Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones travel through time to make sure history proceeds correctly. In the episode "The Travels of Marco ... and Friends", season 1, episode 9, original airdate December 3, 1982, Phineas and Jeffrey rescue Barton (Patricia Donahue) from a burning wagon, but she is on the verge of succumbing to smoke inhalation. Jeffrey (a young boy from 1982) applies mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (a technique unknown in Barton's time) and saves her life, thus enabling her to go on to found the American Red Cross.
The school in the Disney show Sydney to the Max is named Clara Barton Middle School.
America: The Motion Picture features a highly fictionalized version of Clara Barton as voiced by Megan Leahy.
In the HBO series The Gilded Age (2022), Barton is played by Tony Award-nominated actress Linda Emond.