Clara Barton's Red Cross Story

Founded and Led the American Red Cross for Over 20 Years

Meet Clara 

“I am willing to serve my country and my government — and the great cause of humanity — at the sacrifice even of my own comfort and interest.” — Clara Barton 

Meet a woman ahead of her time. Clara Barton was a compassionate and tenacious visionary, who believed in serving others and empowering women to forge their own path and never settle for less than their worth. As she put it during her early career as a teacher, “I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay.” 

Driven by a desire to be useful and help those in need, Clara defied her era’s social norms for women — whether it was nursing her injured brother at 11 years old, securing public education for schoolchildren, caring for wounded soldiers on Civil War battlefields, or becoming one of the first female federal government employees. 

These and other trailblazing experiences would lead Clara to establish the American Red Cross when she was 59 years old and run the organization for more than 20 years. As her legacy lives on today, we are grateful for all that she has done and share with you some of her most inspiring and empowering moments at the Red Cross.

In Clara’s Footsteps: Delivering Relief Around the World 

“You have never known me without work, and you never will.” — Clara Barton 

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1

1889: Johnstown, PA Floods

Red Cross provides shelter for the first time during a disaster

Upon hearing harrowing reports of a dam break that killed more than 2,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless, Clara quickly boarded a train from her home in Washington, D.C., to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. "I cannot lose the memory of that first walk on the first day," Clara said. "...the wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, broken timbers, wrecks of houses, bands of workmen, squads of military."

For months, Clara and a team of 50 volunteers, along with doctors and nurses from the Philadelphia Red Cross delivered refuge, food and medical care for more than 25,000 people. It was the first major disaster response where the Red Cross provided shelter.

2

1893: Sea Islands, SC Hurricane

Red Cross launches its first major hurricane relief effort

At age 72, Clara and a group of Red Cross volunteers traveled to the Sea Islands in South Carolina, where a deadly hurricane disproportionately affected the African American community and left tens of thousands of people homeless without food and resources. In Clara's words, she summed up the immense destruction: "I feel that we are standing on the edge of a volcano."

For nearly a year, the Red Cross supported survivors, delivering emergency relief and helping them rebuild their homes and livelihoods by providing seeds for new crops and creating local sewing groups for people to create and sell clothes.

3

1896: Armenian Conflict

Clara leads international relief effort

With American donations to help those suffering during the Armenian conflict, Clara traveled with a small group to the Ottoman Empire. To gain entry from a high-ranking Turkish official, Tewfik Pasha, Clara boldly said, "I shall never counsel nor permit a sly or underhand action with your government, and you will pardon me Pasha, if I say that I shall expect the same treatment in return - such as I give, I shall expect to receive."

Despite challenges such as slow communications, currency conversions and local distrust of foreigners, Clara directed relief with local aid workers to help thousands of people rebuild their lives and prevent disease outbreaks in crowded, destroyed communities.

4

1898: Spanish-American War (Cuba)

Clara aids wounded servicemen, advocates for female nurses

After the U.S. declared war with Spain, at age 77 Clara and a team of Red Cross workers helped aid the wounded in Cuba. George Kennan, a Red Cross worker who responded with Clara, described her as "one of the bravest of the brave, always going where suffering humanity most needed her."

Clara also earned recognition from the U.S. government for the Red Cross to serve in the conflict and advocated for female nurses to help care for troops. Despite the army surgeon general's initial reluctance to allow women, some 700 female nurses were eventually deployed to work alongside male medical staff in U.S. military camps and hospitals stateside.

5

1900: Galveston, TX Hurricane

Clara directs her last disaster response

Nearly 80 years old, Clara was fatigued when she returned to Washington, D.C., after a series of public appearances in the Midwest. But when a powerful hurricane decimated the Texas coast, Clara nonetheless sprang into action. "It was naturally my work to go to that field, which I did," she said.

For two months, Clara managed the relief effort. Under her leadership, Red Cross workers provided emergency shelter, food, clothing and assistance for thousands of people, and helped families begin to rebuild or relocate to live with relatives in other communities.

Clara’s Vision: Building Today’s American Red Cross 

 “The Red Cross is founded in the soundest and noblest principles, in the deep needs of human nature, and in the enduring instincts and feelings of mankind.” — Clara Barton 

1869

Clara travels to Geneva, Switzerland, where representatives of the International Red Cross ask her to establish a society in the U.S. because of her notable humanitarian work there.  

1870-1871

While abroad, Clara volunteers with the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussia War to help people rebuild their lives in the destroyed city of Strasbourg.  

1881

In the U.S., Clara founds the American Red Cross after leading a multi-year effort to gather support and establish the organization primarily with her own money. The first American Red Cross chapter is incorporated in Dansville, New York.   

1882

Capping a relentless, multi-year effort, Clara successfully lobbies the U.S. government to sign the Treaty of Geneva — international humanitarian laws that, to this day, protect the sick and wounded during wartime and form national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to deliver neutral aid voluntarily.  

1884

International Red Cross adopts the “American amendment” for Red Cross societies to respond to natural disasters in part because of Clara’s leading disaster response work. 

1904

Clara retires from the American Red Cross, laying the groundwork for future generations to grow its lifesaving mission across the country and around the world.

Sources

 

 

Photography

All images from American Red Cross National Photo Library, with the exception of the Spanish-American War illustration from The Christian Herald.

 redcross.org 

American Red Cross