Clara Barton

By: Tiffany Gipson
Clara Barton was born on December 25 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts. In her
beginning years she was a teacher at the age of 15. In 1850 she went to teach at
Bordentown, N.J. where the schooling was paid for and so few students attended. She
later established the first free school in New Jersey. She later resigned due to the fact
when town officials decided to appoint a male administrator over her. In 1853 she got a
job as a copyist in the U.S Patent Office in Washington, D.C., becoming the first woman
in America to hold government position. She continued this work until April 1861, when
the Civil War began and she left to serve the Federal troops as a nurse. This is where
she earned the nickname “the angel of the battlefield” and in 1864 was named the
superintendent of all Union nurses.
After the war, Clara Barton settled in Danville, N.Y., where for several years she was a
semi-invalid. In 1877 she became the founder of the International Red Cross, leading the
American branch. In 1881 Barton incorporated the American Red Cross, with herself as
president. A year later her extraordinary efforts brought about United States ratification
of the Geneva Convention. Barton ended up leading the American Red Cross for its first
26 years.
She was a figure of international renown; she retired to Glen Echo, Maryland, where she
died on April 12, 1912 of natural causes.

Clara Barton's Place of Birth





"Clara Barton." Who2? Biographies. Who2?, 2008. Answers.com 18 Feb. 2010.
http://www.answers.com/topic/clara-barton

"Clara Barton." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1994-
2009. Answers.com 18 Feb. 2010. http://www.answers.com/topic/clara-barton