Journey back to September 1862, as a determined forty-year-old woman, Clara Barton, bravely pushes through the night, heading directly into the chaos of the American Civil War. This was no ordinary journey, and Barton was no ordinary woman. On the fields near Antietam Creek, witness to the single bloodiest day in U.S. history, her tireless efforts earned her the legendary name: the “Angel of the Battlefield.” Our American Stories invites you to explore the incredible narrative of Clara Barton, a true pioneer whose selfless courage and unwavering dedication transformed lives amidst unimaginable conflict.
From her earliest days caring for her injured brother to groundbreaking work in Washington D.C., Clara Barton’s life was a testament to duty and compassion. But it was on the front lines, tending to soldiers from both sides with unmatched resolve—even using corn husks for bandages—that her true calling became clear. Join us as Caleia Ryder of the Bill of Rights Institute shares how Clara Barton’s journey of tireless action and profound empathy laid the groundwork for an enduring legacy, forever shaping how our nation responds to human suffering. Discover the remarkable story of the founder of the American Red Cross and her powerful place in American history.
📖 Read the Episode Transcript
Take it away, Caleia. September 1862, a forty-year-old woman and our team of mules pushed tirelessly through the night. It may have seemed out of the ordinary at the time for a middle-aged woman to be heading directly into the teeth of a pending conflict, but Clara Barton was no ordinary woman, not by any stretch of the imagination. The clash would finally come near Antietam Creek in Maryland, pitting some 87,000 Union soldiers against 45,000 Confederates. By the time the smoke cleared, some 12,410 Union troops and 10,337 Confederates would lie either dead or wounded. The Battle of Antietam would go down in history as the single bloodiest day of the Civil War, and Barton would earn the nickname the Angel of the Battlefield. Antietam was just the latest example of Barton’s selfless, dogged determination and the deep sense of responsibility she felt toward others, traits that can be traced back to her earliest roots. Clara Barton was born in rural North Oxford, Massachusetts, on Christmas Day, 1821, to Sarah Stone Barton and Captain Stephen Barton, who served in the military. Both her parents were abolitionists and instilled in young Clara the same virtues of patriotism and duty that her father had carried with him to the then rough and wild Northwest territories during his military career.
It didn’t take.
long for those virtues to start showing themselves in action. When her brother David fell during a barn-raising and suffered a serious head injury, he became Clara’s first patient. She watched as doctors treated.
him and took notes.
She learned the basics of giving prescription medicine and the antiquated treatment of bloodletting, applying leeches to the skin to remove bad blood. Ten-year-old Clara would care for David for two full years rather than attending school until he made a miraculous recovery. Writing of the experience, she’d state, ‘I thought my position the most natural thing in the world. I almost forgot that there was an outside to the house.’ The experience had caused Clara to turn inward, and by all accounts, she was shy to a fault.
In her early years.
Her parents enrolled her in a boarding school for high school, a ‘stay-away’ school, as they were known. She received her certificate to teach at the age of 17, and by 1850 she’d opened her own school. Clara Barton’s life seemed to be set out for her by this point, until she was denied a promotion to become a principal. While it was certainly a setback, what happened next would change her life and the world forever. In 1855, Clara Barton moved to Washington, D.C., to begin work at the U.S. Patent Office. It was the first time in American history that a woman received a truly meaningful clerkship in the federal government and a salary that matched her male colleagues. But of course, Clara Barton did not stay at the Patent Office. It was during her time there that she seized an opportunity that changed her life and created her legacy. It wasn’t the First Battle of Bull Run that resulted in the first bloodshed of the Civil War or Fort Sumter, but a riot in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore was a city on the brink in 1861, located in a slave state. Abraham Lincoln would only receive 1,100 votes out of the 30,000 cast there, and famously, on his way to Washington, D.C., for his first inauguration, Lincoln traveled in disguise through Baltimore due to credible threats of assassination, and Maryland talks about secession were still very much up in the air. Tensions boiled over on April 19th as a group of militiamen from Massachusetts traveled through the city to reach.
The nation’s capital.
By the time all was said and done, five of them were dead, with another 36 wounded. They were brought to the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., for treatment. When the men reached the train station in Washington, D.C., Barton was already there to meet and help treat them. Astonishingly, she recognized some of the men as former students she taught, friends she had grown up with and neighbors from North Oxford, Massachusetts. So that day she quit her job and volunteered to work in a hospital. But Clara Barton didn’t stop there. She also solicited her fellow citizens and friends to provide food, bedding, and other supplies that were drastically understocked at the hospital. She used the very room where she slept as a storeroom. Barton read books to the wounded, talked with them, kept them company, and even wrote letters to their families back home. By 1862, she finally received permission from army officials to work on the front lines, a job traditionally filled by men and men only.
She rose to the, and then some.
Barton worked at the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Cedar Mountain, the Second Battle of Bull Run, and Fort Wagner, where she cared for the wounded soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts. They were among the first regiments of African Americans to serve east of the Mississippi during the Civil War. Barton would often forego sleep entirely in her desire to care for the seemingly endless line of wounded soldiers, Union and enemy Confederates, left in the.
Wake of every battle.
Supplies were often limited, and things got so desperate at one point that she had to use corn husks to cover wounds.
Describing her commitment on.
the battlefield, she’d state, ‘I shall remain here while anyone remains, and do whatever comes to my hand. I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it. And while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them. You must never think of anything except the need and how to meet it.’ Barton’s work wasn’t just important, it was dangerous. During one battle, as she aided a wounded soldier, a bullet tore through her sleeve and killed the man. During the war, Barton had become known as the Florence Nightingale of America and the Angel of the Battlefield. She was even appointed by Union General and future Governor of Massachusetts Benjamin Butler as the lady in charge of all hospitals along his front line. But when the Civil War ended, Barton’s work caring for soldiers wasn’t finished. She found out that there were thousands of unanswered letters at the War Department from concerned relatives of missing veterans. People were desperately seeking their sons, husbands, and fathers. She even received personal letters from individuals knowing she worked on the front lines, hoping for any information. Barton, as always, looked for a way to help. She received permission from President Lincoln to open the Office of Missing Soldiers. The Office of Missing Soldiers corresponded with the families of missing men and worked to identify more than 22,000 who had been killed or who were missing in action, an astonishing number. In 1869, Barton traveled to Europe to take a much-deserved break and to recover her health. It was during this trip to Europe that Barton became inspired by a new way to serve others. The next chapter in her life of service was about to begin. While in Europe, Barton was contacted by the International Red Cross, a humanitarian group dedicated to providing neutral assistance to soldiers on all sides of conflict during wartime. Word of her service during the Civil War had reached Europe. Barton even volunteered for the International Red Cross while on her European vacation; she aided soldiers from both sides of the Franco-Prussian War and received the Prussian Iron Cross and other awards for her actions. Barton was inspired by the idea of establishing the Red Cross in America, and she took what she learned overseas back to the United States. In 1881, she hosted the first meeting of the American Red Cross at her apartment in Washington, D.C., and was elected president of the organization. Clara Barton’s sense of responsibility towards mankind continued for the rest of her life.
Even in her seventies.
She worked to provide aid in Cuba to locals and soldiers during the Spanish-American War.
It went beyond war, too.
Barton served those affected by the Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania, bringing 50 doctors to the disaster site and building a warehouse to hold supplies within four days. She also helped provide assistance for many other natural disasters across the country over the years. Clara Barton passed away on April 12th, 1912, at home. She left an astonishing legacy, a legacy of selfless service and sacrifice for those in need, and the American Red Cross continues to provide aid to Americans and people around the world today.
And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monte Montgomery, and a special thanks to Caleia Ryder of the Bill of Rights Institute. You can check out their wonderful curriculum on American history at mybri.org. One quote stood out: ‘I shall remain as long as anyone remains,’ she said of her time serving the wounded and the severely wounded in all of those battles in the Civil War. ‘And I worry only about the need and how to meet it.’ And she did all of her life. The story of Clara Barton, the Angel of the Battlefield, here on Our American Stories.
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