The Angel of the Battlefield As a teacher, a Civil War battlefield nurse, and the founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton made herself known by her love of helping people. Almost two hundred years ago, no one would have known that a baby named Clara Barton would change the world in a positive way. No one, not even her own parents, could have imagined that she would put her life on the line to help Union and Confederate soldiers directly on the battlefield during the Civil War. Even though Barton was a legendary nurse, she had other accomplishments under her belt, although the accomplishments went unrecognized. Barton was a woman in the nineteenth century, which means she was judged by male counterparts. On December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, a girl named Clarissa Harlow Barton was born. She was the youngest child of Capt. Stephen Barton and Sarah Stone Barton. Her father was a captain in the local army, a prosperous businessman, and a community leader. Barton stayed in her hometown as a child, and when she grew up, she moved to Washington, D.C. and New Jersey. Since Barton was the youngest, she relied on her older siblings to teach her. Her siblings began teaching her at the age of three. When Barton …show more content…
All she ever wanted to do was help people, and she did not care who the person was or what they had done. Barton started off small by teaching students and establishing her own school. She slowly made her way up, slowly progressing as time went on. She went on to risk her life on the battlefield to save injured soldiers. In the end, she went on to establish the American Red Cross. Throughout Barton’s life, she established many organizations, but they all were centered around one goal, helping people. Helping people was Barton’s mission in life. To this day, she is widely known along with her organization, the American Red