Clara Barton was born in 1821 in Massachusetts. She was shy and curious and she loved the outdoors. She became a teacher so that she could share the knowledge that she had with everybody. She wanted to improve people’s lives, even if it was only a little bit. She even worked for free sometimes. However, in 1854 a man applied for her job and she was fired. Clara Barton still wanted to help people, but she also needed money so she moved to DC to find work. In DC she became the first female clerk in the US Patent Office. She was still working there when the war started. Wanting to help, Barton collected supplies and brought them to nearby battlefields. Though she was already helping in 1861 she saw that the Army Medical Department was under equipped and decided to help even more. When she heard that the 6th Massachusetts regiment had lost supplies in battle she tore up bed sheets for towels and cooked for the troops. As she heard of more and more shortages she worked with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts to advertise soldiers’ needs in the newspapers. Huge amounts of supplies were sent in response and Barton delivered them to the battlefields. She would comfort hurt men and bring them water and food. She worked in the middle of battle and if she was scared she didn’t show it. She even got Typhoid Fever once and even though it was a dangerous sickness she kept on working. Her hard work earned her the nickname Angel of the Battlefield. This Angel of the Battlefield helped at Antietam, Maryland, the Virginia battles of Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, and Fredericksburg. In 1863 the Army Medical Department was finally equipped well enough, but Barton was still remembered in history.
As the war was ending Clara Barton started a campaign to find missing soldiers. She published lists in the newspapers and wrote letters to families. Her work was tiring so in 1869 she went to Europe. In Europe she worked with the French Red Cross to help French people affected by the France v.s. Prusia war. When she came back she established the American Red Cross to help victims from fires, earthquakes, and floods. She once said, “You must never so much as think whether or not you like it, whether it is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it.”