Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born in Oxford, Massachusetts on Christmas Day 1821. She was the youngest child of a prosperous farming couple. While a teenager she nursed one of her older brothers. She became a teacher at the age of 18 but quit a few years later at a different school where she learned that her male counterpart was paid twice as much as she was for doing the same job. In 1854 she went to work at the US Patent Office as its first female recording clerk at the same rate of pay as the male recording clerks. At the outbreak of the Civil War, she resigned her position to provide supplies to Union soldiers, sometimes funded from her own pockets. After the Civil War, her health damaged, Barton traveled to Switzerland and learned of the activities of the International Red Cross. She founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and ran it until 1904 when she was forced out because for failing to follow financial accounting standards. She was an ardent abolitionist, suffragist and humanitarian.
Clara Barton first came to the Port Royal area of South Carolina to nurse wounded and ill Union soldiers during the Civil War. She returned to lead the Red Cross’s first hurricane disaster recovery efforts in the aftermath of the Great Sea Island Hurricane of 1893.
Latest update: 13 July 2023 ; Original Post: 9 November 2011
Online Resources:
The Library of Congress has digitized all 62,000 items in the Clara Barton Papers for access online.
Images of Clara Barton in the Archives of Maryland Biographical Series
“200 Years of Clara Barton Birthdays” by Elizabeth Novara, Unfolding History blog, Library of Congress, 9 December 2021.
The Life of Clara Barton : A Chronology, 1821- 1912 [Washington, D.C.]: National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2010.
The Life of Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross by William E. Barton Boston and New York : Houghton Mifflin Co., 1922.
Things You May Not Know about Clara Barton, Chronicles of Nursing, 2008
History Detectives Investigates the Authenticity of a Clara Barton letter about a Missing Soldier
10 Facts: Clara Barton, American Battlefield Trust
Beaufort SC and the Surrounding Sea Islands Women’s History Sites by Peggy Thompson includes links to original documents and short essays about Clara Barton and other missionary teachers and nurses during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.
A Story of the Red Cross : Glimpses of Field Work by Clara Barton (New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1904).
The Red Cross : A History of this Remarkable International Movement in the Interest of Humanity by Clara Barton (Washington, DC : American Red Cross, 1898).
The Red Cross : In Peace and War by Clara Barton (S.L. : American Historical Press, 1906, c1898 by author)
Clara Barton Biography (1821 – 1912), edited by Deborah Michals, 2015 on the National Women’s History Museum website
Clara Barton National Historic Site is located in Glen Echo, Maryland and administered by the National Park Service
Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum is a private museum located in Washington, D.C. Be sure to check out the materials under the “Learn” tab.
About a letter from Clara Barton to Mrs. George Waterhouse, 1894
Check OUt These materials from a SCLENDS Library:
A Woman of Valor : Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates (New York : Free Press, 1994).
The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 by Bill and Fran Marscher (Macon, GA : Mercer University Press, 2004).
100 Americans Who Shaped American History by Samuel Willard Crompton (San Mateo, CA : Bluewood Books, 1999).
Legendary Locals of Hilton Head by Barbara Muller (No place : Legendary Locals, 2013).
The Civil War 100 : A Ranking of the Most Influential People in the War Between the States by Robert Wooster (Secaucus, NJ : Carol Publishing Group, 1998).
Herstory : Women Who Changed the World edited by Ruth Ashby and Deborah Gore Ohrn; introduction by Gloria Steinem (New York : Viking, 1995).
Beaufort Tricentennial Lecture Series [DVD]: Part 3, February 20, 2009 : The Civil War in the Sea Islands [and] the Port Royal Experiment [with Dr. Stephen Wise] ([Beaufort, SC] : Beaufort Three-Century Project & USCB, 2009).
Visit the Beaufort District Collection Research Room to View These Materials:
BDC Print Collection #20A, 20B & 20C “The Relief Work among South Carolina Sea-Islanders” by B.F. Tillinghast, Harper’s Weekly, [1894].
Barton, Clara [BDC Vertical File]
SC B BARTON A Story of the Red Cross : Glimpses of Field Work by Clara Barton (New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1928) ; 1904 edition is available as an online book through the link.
SC B BARTON 1995 A Woman of Valor : Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates (New York : Free Press, 1995).
SC 361.7 BAR The Red Cross : A History of this Remarkable International Movement in the Interest of Humanity by Clara Barton (Washington, DC : American Red Cross, 1898). This item is available as an online book on the Hathitrust website.
SC 551.5 MAR 2004 The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 by Bill and Fran Marscher (Macon, GA : Mercer University Press, 2004).
SC 975.7992 BEA 2009 PT.3 Beaufort Tricentennial Lecture Series [DVD]: Part 3, February 20, 2009 : The Civil War in the Sea Islands [and] the Port Royal Experiment [with Dr. Stephen Wise] ([Beaufort, SC : Beaufort Three-Century Project & USCB, 2009).
Note: The Beaufort District Collection (BDC) exists to acquire, preserve, maintain and make accessible a research collection of permanent value which records the history, culture, and environment of the South Carolina lowcountry wedged between the Combahee (pronounced “Kum’ bee”) and Savannah Rivers. BDC staff and docents are stewards who collect, protect and share unique historical materials about local history, Gullah culture, natural southeastern coastal environment, family history and archaeology of the area now covered by Beaufort County, Hampton County and Jasper County in South Carolina.
Contact the Beaufort District Collection at 843-255-6468 or e-mail bdc@bcgov.net for additional information about local history and archives relating to the people, places, and themes of the history, culture, and natural environment of Beaufort County, Jasper County and Hampton County, South Carolina.
Current hours of operation are listed on the Beaufort County Library website.
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