Barton

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Clara, the founder of the Red Cross Society in the United States . She was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1821. She was educated at home and at Clinton, New York . She opened the first public school at Bordentown, New Jersey , beginning with six pupils and closing with six hundred. Miss Barton obtained a clerkship in the United States patent office, and is said to have been the first woman clerk to draw a salary from a government department at Washington. During the Civil War she was active in hospital service. Near the close of the war she was employed by President Lincoln in tracing missing soldiers. After the war was over she gave war lectures. The Franco-Prussian War drew her abroad, where she became identified with the International Red Cross Society of Geneva. On her return she organized the American Red Cross Society, which later passed under control of the general government. Miss Barton has taken an active part in various women's movements. She is an earnest advocate of temperance, equal suffrage, and better social conditions for young women. She has written a History of the Red Cross in Peace and War. 2026 Editor's Note: Clara Barton, the 'Angel of the Battlefield,' went on to found the American Red Cross in 1881 and lead it for over two decades, pus hing America to join the international movement and expanding its work to peacetime disasters. Her Maryland home is now a national historic site, and she remains one of the most honored women in American history. (Ed: BR 2026-06-09)