A Brave Spirit and American Pioneer

Tiny in stature, Clara Barton didn’t let much stop her from her personal mission. A nurse, teacher and well-known humanitarian, Barton was also the founder of the American Red Cross. Becoming interested in nursing as a young child when her brother fell and was gravely injured, Clara nursed him for over two years until he had recovered.

At the beginning of the American Civil War she created a new agency to organize and distribute supplies to the wounded. Barton herself would volunteer to provide nursing services directly to soldiers on the battlefield, placing herself in grave danger and witnessing some of the worst battles of the war. Her war work also took her to prisoner of war camps and involved her in the search for the missing and dead. Throughout the period she demonstrated a conviction and resolve that made her an admired and respected figure. But, all of this took a toll on her health and she traveled to Europe in 1869 to rest. But it was there, inspired by the International Committee of the Red Cross, that she decided to create a chartered agency of the ICRC that would be recognized and supported by the American government. Barton understood that such an agency would be dedicated to all of the same services she had provided during the four long years of the American Civil War. She decided that disaster relief would be the main focus of the organization, not just war-related situations and the American Red Cross was founded in 1881.

Barton spent the last 15 years of her life in Glen Echo, Maryland and it is there that the National Park Service established the first National Historic Site dedicated to a woman – the Clara Barton National Historic site. Sitting prettily above the Potomac Rive, the site is also a museum preserving the early history of the American Red Cross because the home initially served as an early headquarters to the organization and storehouse for Red Cross supplies.

Visitors can clearly see how this “angel of the battlefield” lived her daily life through the unusual uses and configuration of the thirty-plus rooms the house contains. It has been said that no private home tells more about its owner than Clara Barton’s home in Glen Echo. It served as her final home, Red Cross warehouse and headquarters and the Park Service has lovingly restored it, offering guided-tours of the three-level building by appointment.