Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Clara was the first president of the American Red cross. When Clara was 15 she started teaching. In New Jersey she began a free school; when it worked, a man was assigned over her. She didn't like it so she quit soon after. Clara worked in a Patent Office when the Civil War started.

During the war she asked for donations for the soldiers and kept bandages, medicine and food in her rooms. Clara fed and tended soldier's wounds. She wrote, "I wrung the blood from the bottom of my clothing before I could step". She went to Switzerland and saw the international Red Cross and thought of having one in America. In 1881, she started the American Red Cross

- Amanda