Clara Barton is best known for founding the American Red Cross and for her bravery  in administering medical care to men on the front lines during the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Clara was born Clarissa Harlowe Barton on Christmas Day, 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts. One of  five children and the daughter of abolitionists, Clara is said to have had a somewhat unconventional childhood which included rough-and-tumble play, horse riding and a home education, at which she excelled. Clara experienced her first try at medic al care at the age of 11 when her brother, David, suffered a broken leg and subsequent complications. Clara stayed by his side, administering medicines and comfort throughout the duration of his illness.

Following this isolated year of ministrations, Clara did not re-examine medicine until she was in her 40s. However, during the interim, she stayed far busier than the average nineteenth century woman, embarking on a career in teaching at the age of 17 and starting her own school just six years later. Feeling the urge to take on new studies, Clara took writing and language courses at the Liberal Institute in Clinton, NY and then opened a "free school" (public school) in New Jersey. Clara was insulted when a man was hired by the board to head the school rather than the woman who had founded it, and she moved to Washington, DC to start afresh. Here she found employment at the U.S. Patent Office as a clerk--the first time a woman had received such work at a federal position.

At the start of the Civil War, Clara recalled her father's constant teachings about patriotism and service to one's fellow man, ultimately making the decision to stop drawing a salary from the government. Until this time, women had not been allowed on the battlefront, in camps or in hospitals. Clara campaigned to be allowed in the forefront, aiding soldiers directly. Eventually accepted among their ranks, military officials began calling Clara the "Angel of the Battlefield". She was named Superintendent Union Nurses in 1864, one year before the war ended, and through her new title was able to procure supplies, assistants and training directly onto the field.

After the war, Clara took up a new cause: searching for the location of unaccounted-for soldiers. She would continue this vision for years and would later take up occupation as a suffragette, fighting for women's rights. She also expanded the American Red Cross to include victims of national disaster. Her work in this area earned the United States the "Good Samaritan of Nations" award. Named President of the Red Cross, she continued this position for the next 21 years. The organization was involved in ministering to victims of the floods of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in 1882 and 1884, a famine in Texas in 1886, the yellow fever epidemic in Florida in 1887 and an Illinois epidemic in 1889.

Clara continued her campaigns, suffragette work and Red Cross involvement until the age of 83, when she retired to Glen Echo, MD. She died in 1912 from complications of a common cold.