In celebration of the 2022 Women History Month theme “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” Clara Barton's gift of healing gave hope to the lives of others and reflects a belief in the unlimited possibilities of this and future generations.
Born into an abolitionist family in Oxford, Massachusetts in 1821, Clarissa Barton's love of nursing started when her oldest brother experienced a serious head injury and she nursed him for two years.
Here are some extraordinary facts about this remarkable woman...
As a child, Clara was painfully shy. Determined to overcome her shyness, she became a teacher at the age of 17, and sought to encourage her students without harsh discipline and was praised for it.
"Her compassion for other and her willingness to help them always won out over her shyness." David Pierce
While visiting a friend in New Jersey, Clara came across many poor, school-age boys on the streets. Determined to help them, she received permission to start a free public school. By the end of the year, the school had grown from six students to several hundreds. But when the school board voted to replace her with a man at twice her salary, she left in protest.
"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." Clara Barton
In 1854, Clara took a job as a copyist for the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. Within a year, she was promoted to clerk, making her the first woman to receive a government appointment. She lobbied to receive $1,400, the same salary as her male counterparts, many of whom resented women in the workplace. Her promotion didn't last long. A new boss demoted her back to copyist, earning her ten cents for every one hundred words.
It was while she was working at the Patent Office that the Civil War broke out. A week later, soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry were attacked by southern sympathizers. A makeshift hospital was created in the uncompleted Capitol Building. Though shy, Clara rushed to help the wounded, and was shocked to discover that some of the men were her former students.
"They were faithful to me in their boyhood, and in their manhood faithful to their country." Clara Barton
As the need for care and medical provisions grew, she gathered provisions from her home, and organized a campaign to solicit relief items from her friends, neighbors and the public, earning her the name "Angel of the Battlefield".
More importantly, she spent hours with the wounded, homesick soldiers, nursing them back to health, writing letters, offering up prayers and words of care and comfort. Though she lacked formal training, she called upon common sense, courage, and compassion.
In 1862, she received permission to take bandages and other supplies to a battlefield hospital after the Battle of Cedar Mountain. From then on, she traveled with the Union Army.
While cradling the head of a wounded soldier at the Battle of Antietam, a bullet passed through the sleeve of her dress and into her patient.
"A ball has passed between my body and the right arm which supported him, cutting through his chest from shoulder to shoulder. There was no more to be done for him and I left him to his rest. I have never mended that hole in my sleeve. I wonder if a soldier ever does mend a bullet hole in his coat?" Clara Barton
At the end of the war, tens of thousands of men were missing. With Lincoln's approval. she founded the Missing Soldiers Office to help families locate their loved ones. Of the 63,000 requests, Clara and her staff located 22,000 men, some of whom were still alive.
"You must never think of anything except the need and how to meet it." Clara Barton
In 1869, Clara traveled to Europe for a well-earned rest. After witnessing and joining the efforts of the International Red Cross to help wounded victims of war, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881. She led several relief efforts, including those of the Mississippi River and Ohio River floods, the Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania, and the devastating hurricane in Galveston, Texas. Her work helped convince the International Red Cross to expand its mission to include helping those affected by natural disasters.
"The only reason we have a Red Cross today that responds to natural disasters and emergencies is because of Clara Barton and her determination to help her fellow man." David Price
Clara Barton served on sixteen battlefields during the Civil War. Whether working behind the scenes to procure supplies, prepare meals, arrange makeshift hospitals or tend the wounded during some of the bloodiest battles in American history, she earned the respect of countless soldiers, officers, surgeons and politicians. She almost singlehandedly changed the widely held viewpoint that women were too weak to help on the battlefield.
The American Red Cross wouldn't exist as it is today without her influence. She believed in equal rights and helped everyone regardless of race, gender or economic status. When she died in 1912, the New York Times wrote,
"She was a woman of remarkable executive skill, of unbounded enthusiasm, inspired by humane ideas...Her name became a household word, associated in the public mind with goodness and mercy."
A fearless humanitarian who helped revolutionize battlefield medicine, she is celebrated for her lifelong dedication to helping others. She was a teacher, nurse, an abolitionist, and a campaigner for women's rights, and remains one of the most honored women in American history.
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