Women’s History Month originated as a weeklong celebration of women’s contributions to the U.S., organized by the Sonoma, California, school district. Their local celebration caught the attention of President Jimmy Carter, who declared the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week. Congress later officially expanded the celebration in 1987 to include the entire month of March.
Every week this month, The B&W will publish a column to celebrate some of Maryland’s most profound female leaders.
Clara Barton was born to Stephen and Sarah Barton on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of five children. Barton was very close with her family, attributing her love of animals to her family’s farm and her father’s generosity. She spent much of her childhood nursing her brother to health, inspiring her love of caretaking.
Barton was homeschooled until she was sixteen when she was visited by phrenologists — who determined a person’s future based on the bumps on their heads. They determined that to “cure” Barton’s shyness, she should become a teacher in a one-school schoolhouse in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Barton did become a teacher, gaining fame and praise when she refused to physically punish her students while still producing disciplined scholars.
Twelve years later, Barton decided to expand her own education and enrolled at the Clinton Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York, for a year. Once she completed her education, Barton moved to Bordentown, New Jersey. At the time, Bordentown did not have free public schools, so with the help of the Bordentown school committee, Barton established a free school with over 200 students by the end of the school year.
Barton’s impact impressed the Bordentown community, and they decided to expand the initiative, spending $4,000 to build a newer and larger school. Despite Barton’s contribution to the school, the state hired a male principal with double her salary; Barton decided to resign.
In 1854, Barton moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a recording clerk for the U.S. Patent Office, making her the first woman to work for the federal government. However, she was later fired due to the Buchanan administration’s opposition to women’s role in government. Barton returned to the federal government under President Abraham Lincoln’s administration as a copyist for the U.S. Patent Office.
Not long after her return to D.C., the Civil War began, and Barton was one of the first volunteers in the Washington Infirmary. After her father died in late 1861, Barton moved from city hospitals to work among Union soldiers on the battlefield. She mobilized able-bodied men to perform first aid, carry water and prepare food for the wounded; these efforts were particularly impactful at the Battle of Antietam, the deadliest battle in the U.S. on a single day.
Known as the “Angel of the Battlefield,” Barton traveled to the Union-controlled coastal regions, tending to the wounded and sick. During her efforts to tend soldiers at Morris Island, South Carolina, she became gravely ill and was evacuated.
In March 1865, Lincoln appointed Barton as the General Correspondent for the Friends of Paroled Prisoners. Her role was to answer relatives’ questions about missing soldiers and locate them among prisoners. Barton also investigated release papers or casualty lists in Annapolis, Maryland. Barton established the Bureau of Records of Missing Men of the Armies of the United States in D.C., insisting on publishing Rolls of Missing Men across the country. She also pushed for all gravestones at the Andersonville prison to be identified and marked.
After serving at the Bureau until 1868, missing soldier inquiries slowed, and a physician ordered Barton to recuperate from her illness. During her recovery, Barton decided to travel to Europe. There, she discovered the Red Cross movement, which helped provide humanitarian aid to people injured in combat. After volunteering for the International Committee of the Red Cross, assisting in delivering relief to civilians during the Franco-Prussian War, Barton returned to the U.S. in October 1873.
After eight years of convincing other Americans, Barton successfully established the American Red Cross on May 21, 1881. The U.S. Constitution later ratified the Geneva Conventions, laws that protect people injured by war and civilians in conflict zones. These laws led to a congressional charter officially recognizing the American Red Cross’s services.
Barton served as the president of the Red Cross for 23 years, retiring in 1904 to her home in Glen Echo Park. In 1912, Barton died from pneumonia in her home at the age of 90. Her impact on education and humanitarian aid remains a prominent part of society today.
