The Life and Times of Clara Barton: a Special Women’s History Month Feature
- claudia
- Mar 25
- 8 min read
March is Women’s History Month! We take this time to celebrate women who have made a contribution to society in a positive way and who may not have been given the proper credit for their achievements. Out of these great women, names like Marie Curie, Jane Austen, Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, and Jacqueline Cochran are just a small few who come to mind.
One great figure of American History, and Washington, DC in particular, is Clara Barton. She was instrumental in Civil War logistics and later in the field of emergency medicine. In this article, we’ll explore her upbringing, impact on the Civil War, and contribution to the field of emergency medicine by discussing 12 important facts about her life.
Origins of National Women’s History Month
Before we dive into the life of Clara Barton, let’s discuss the origins of Women’s History Month and why it’s become such an important month. By the 1980’s there was a pressing desire to honor the women who had made major contributions to history, culture, and society. In 1982 Women’s History Week was designated by Congress, but a week was not long enough. By 1987, the single week was extended by Congress to be Women’s History Month.
Throughout the country, cities are encouraged to celebrate the nation’s great women through exhibitions, talks, and events. Here in Washington, DC, you can attend several special events devoted to women’s history from exhibitions and programming at the National Gallery of Art to the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and Military Memorials.
12 Things you should know about Clara Barton for Women’s History Month
No one resonates more with Civil War Women’s History and emergency medicine than Clara Barton. Below we’ve explored 12 interesting facts on Clara’s life and why she should be top of your list of important women for women’s history month.
Clara Barton was a painfully shy child
Most casual students of history would describe Clara Barton as a forthright trailblazer who founded the legendary American Red Cross. However, Clarissa Harlowe Barton, born Christmas day, 1821, was a painfully shy child. She experienced such extreme social anxiety that her family had to pull her out of boarding school as a young teen due to loss of appetite from anxiety. Her first experience nursing came at age ten, when her brother David sustained a severe head injury falling from a barn roof.
Clara came out of her shell among family
Several years later she became close to a group of male cousins near her own age, and developed a knack for relating to young men and teenage boys. An injury sustained in the company of her male cousins brought to her parents attention that Clara needed activities more appropriate for a lady. However, her skillset of communicating effectively with the demographic of young men and boys became one of Barton’s greatest assets in her professional life as a nurse.
Clara Barton was a school teacher
To redirect Barton to become more outgoing, but within the limits for young ladies, her parents convinced Barton to train as a schoolteacher in her older teen years. A phrenologist, named L.N. Fowler also passed through town and lectured at her family farm. He said Clara was destined to be an educator.
She started teaching at 18 and continued for a decade in Massachusetts. Clara then received her first teaching license in 1850 after studying at the Clinton Liberal Institute, and demonstrated a capacity for leadership in this role. In 1852 she started a free school in New Jersey, without direction from any federal or state government; this was essentially the first public school.
Barton and another teacher led a capital funding campaign for a new building to accommodate their 600 students that raised a very successful $4,000. After her success establishing the institution, the school board elected a man as principal because they felt the responsibility for such a large school was most appropriate for a man. Barton was demoted to “female assistant.” Unsurprisingly, her anxiety and other health issues resurfaced in this toxic work environment, and she resigned. She famously wrote, “I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.”
The first woman recording clerk the Patent Office in Washington DC
Barton relocated to Washington D.C. in 1854, hoping to find fairer working conditions as a federal employee at the Patent Office. At the Patent Office, Barton was one of the first women to work as a patent clerk, receiving the same salary as a man. Many of Barton’s male coworkers spread rumors about her and tried to get her fired. Barton was demoted from patent clerk to a copyist after a change in management amid rising opposition to women holding positions in the civil service with any tangible power.
In 1857 and 1858, President James Buchanan’s administration fired many of his outspoken critics in the federal service. Barton was terminated for her “black Republicanism.” She returned to DC in 1861 and resumed her position at the Patent Office as a copyist, hoping to pave the way for more women in federal employment. She rented rooms on 7th St. NW, two blocks from the patent office.
Clara becomes involved in Civil War nursing and logistics
On April 19, 1861, a week after the battle of Fort Sumter, Northern militia units traveling through Baltimore encountered Confederate sympathizers while attempting to change trains for passage to DC. The Confederate sympathizers attacked the soldiers with bricks and pistols.
Hearing about the conflict, Clara Barton met the wounded soldiers at the Capitol, where they were being housed. Besides providing medical care and moral support, Barton observed the importance of logistics in getting medical supplies, food, and other relief directly to where it was most needed. In military medicine, Barton finally found a space where her dual skills of administration and holding a positive rapport with young men were equally necessary. She never looked back.
Clara collected supplies from public donations
Although she initially experienced pushback from field surgeons who felt Barton and her supporters were stepping on their toes, Barton and the Ladies’ Aid Society collected large amounts of clothing, food, and medical supplies through calls for public donations. She used her rooms in DC as an impromptu warehouse for organized distribution to the front. Barton received permission to go to the front lines, where she practiced and taught a style of nursing that prioritized emotional support as a necessary component of medical care.
Clara emphasized care of the whole person
Barton’s emphasis on the emotional and interpersonal aspects of medical care dovetailed with Victorian beliefs about gender roles and endeared her to soldiers who were overwhelmingly scared and lonely. Her popularity and nods to the ideal of nurturing femininity facilitated her presence in positions of power. In 1864 General Benjamin Butler named her the “lady in charge” of the Army of the James’ hospitals.
Post-war work at the Missing Soldiers’ Office
Less than a week after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Barton learned that thousands of letters to the War Department from families trying to locate missing soldiers were going unanswered. Having seen the front lines herself, she understood many of these soldiers were likely buried in unmarked or mass graves and had been listed as “missing” due to a lack of post-mortem identification. She contacted President Lincoln requesting permission to spearhead an official campaign to respond to these letters and locate missing soldiers.
She opened the Missing Soldiers Office in summer 1865, once again headquartered out of her home on 7th street. Between 1865-1868 Barton and her volunteers located over 22,000 soldiers, including identifying 13,000 who died in Andersonville Prison Camp. Barton also traveled around the United States during this period lecturing on her wartime experiences, and became openly affiliated with the women' s suffrage and civil rights movements.
Exposure to the International Red Cross
Unsurprisingly, working herself that hard for over 7 years exhausted Barton and took its toll on her wellbeing. On her doctor’s suggestion she took an extended trip to Europe in 1869. While visiting Switzerland that year, she met Dr. Louis Appia, also a specialist in military medicine and one of the founders of the Red Cross, and the two became interested in establishing an American branch of the Red Cross.
However, before that could happen, Barton found herself on the front lines of the Franco-Prussian war, where she aided in the creation of military hospitals, distributing supplies and identifying work opportunities in communities affected by the war. For her work in the Franco-Prussian war, she received the Golden Cross of Baden and the Prussian Iron Cross.
Founding the American Red Cross
After returning to the United States, Barton began organizing and gaining political support for an American branch of the newly established Red Cross. Most Americans, including President Rutherford B. Hayes, however, thought it was not necessary because the United States would never have another armed conflict of the magnitude of the Civil War, rendering military medicine a non-priority.
Clara’s aspirations for an American Red Cross (ARC) finally gained traction in 1881 with the argument that the same set of skills for combat military medicine carry over to other types of disaster relief. The ARC would also respond to natural disasters. Public attitudes towards the American Red Cross changed drastically at the outset of the Spanish-American war, when the ARC proved itself in military medicine. Clara was elected president of the American Red Cross in 1881.
Clara starts the National First Aid Society
Throughout her career Barton mixed personal and professional resources, which drew criticism in the turn of the century. Likewise, progressive era medical professionals did not accept the caregiving or emotional aspects of medicine as valid considerations weighted against efficiency, pushing women like Clara Barton out of leadership roles. Ultimately, Clara Barton was forced to step down from her position as President of the American Red Cross in 1904.
Not one to stay down for long, Barton turned around and established the National First Aid Society in 1905, which promoted first aid organizations and instruction on the community level. The National First Aid Society eventually merged with the American Red Cross. As of 2025, The Red Cross trains almost 4 million people annually in First Aid and CPR. Barton retired to her home in Glen Echo, publishing a memoir in 1908 before passing away in 1912.
Clara’s Missing Soldier’s office rediscovered after going missing
Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office was “lost” in the early 20th century. The third floor was boarded up as a result of fire code changes and DC revamped its address numbers in the 1870s rendering the space invisible despite all the searching by Clara Barton Historians. A carpenter named Richard Lyons rediscovered the site in November 1996 when the building was scheduled for demolition and stumbled upon many artifacts from the Civil War and its aftermath still intact. From there, the General Service Administration stepped in and saved the Missing Soldiers Office from demolition. It is now operated as a historic site by our friends and partners, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.
Clara Barton is a woman we should never forget
Despite constant setbacks, Clara Barton just kept moving forward. Whether a shy disposition, being constantly overlooked in favor of men, or even being too feminine and nurturing, she faced a lifetime of obstacles as she worked to find her place in the world. Her dogged determination led to a lasting legacy in the Red Cross, a capstone to a career serving others. When it comes to great women to celebrate for Women’s History Month, Clara Barton should not be forgotten.
To learn more about Clara Barton and other impressive women who have shaped American history, try our Hidden DC tour, Smithsonian Highlights, or National Portrait Gallery tours. We look forward to celebrating with you!
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