Clara Barton

Clara Barton was America’s first nurse. When she was 11, her big brother fell off a barn roof. He was badly injured. She took care of him. That is when she knew what she wanted to do with her life.

When the Civil War started, there was no such thing as a nurse! Barton decided that the hurt and dying soldiers needed care. She went right out into the battlefields to help them. She refused to rest if even one wounded man needed care. Sometimes she worked for three days straight with only one meal and an hour and a half of sleep.

Barton had one goal: she wanted to be sure that every injured soldier was properly taken care of. And nothing stopped her. She burned her hands but kept working. She got frostbite on her fingers. Still, she took care of the men. Twice she was nearly shot: one bullet passed through her sleeve, and the other tore off a part of her skirt.

After the war, she went to Europe to rest. But instead, she became a nurse to the men on the battlefields of Europe. There she heard about the Red Cross. The Red Cross gave any wounded person care and food. It did not matter what side they were on. And no one would attack a tent flying a Red Cross flag.

When she returned home, she formed the American Red Cross to meet people’s needs during emergencies. The first people the American Red Cross helped were those who had lost their homes due to a big forest fire. Barton continued to work with the American Red Cross until she died at the age of 91.