The Girl Who Unfurled The First American Red Cross Flag.

The Barton family was made very happy on the Christmas of 1821 with the gift of a baby girl. The four older sisters and brothers gave the baby a royal welcome, though they little thought that this gift was also to be a Christmas present to the whole world. This baby was Clara Barton, called in Civil War times the “Angel of the Battlefield” and known by all nations as the founder of the American Red Cross Society.

Baby Clara grew up to be the pet of the family, although no coddling was allowed on the Barton farm in Oxford, Massachusetts. Each member of the family wanted to teach her something, and Clara was equally eager to learn.

Mrs. Barton taught her daughter to be level headed. Nothing could have been worth more to the girl who was to be the first woman to carry organized aid to the wounded on an American battlefield. Mrs. Barton also taught Clara to sew, to cook, and to be an excellent housekeeper.

Clara was particularly grateful for this knowledge and had countless opportunities to use it. Once a dying soldier whispered his wish for a custard pie, crinkly around the edge, to remind him of home. With what materials she could get together, Miss Barton made the pie and scalloped the edge with her finger, just as her mother had taught her to do in the farm kitchen.

It was Big Brother David who taught the little sister many things that were to make her a very practical “Angel of the Battlefield.” At five years of age, thanks to his training, she rode wild horses like a young Mexican. This skill in managing any horse meant the saving of countless lives when she had to gallop all night in a trooper’s saddle to reach the wounded men. David taught her, also, to drive a nail straight, to tie a knot that would hold, and to think and act quickly.

From her father Clara heard thrilling tales of his fighting in the Revolutionary War under “Mad Anthony” Wayne. These stories doubtless made a deep impression on the youthful listener. Little did she realize that in the years to come she, too, would play an important part on many battlefields.

Clara Barton attended a boarding school for a short time. However, she received her education chiefly at home, being taught by her brother and then by a tutor. Later she had an opportunity for more advanced study at a near-by school.

The little farm girl was busy and happy from morning until night, for she loved to do things. She went for the cows, helped with the milking and churning, and had a hand in planting the potatoes. When the house was being painted, she begged to help with that, too, and she learned how to mix the paint as well as to put it on. Once she went into her brother’s factory and learned how to weave cloth.

Her first experience as a nurse came at the age of eleven when Big Brother David was injured by a fall. For two years this cheerful, patient little nurse scarcely left his bedside.

When she was only fifteen years old, Clara Barton began to teach school. She taught well, too, for she understood girls and boys. It seemed as if she had found the work that she best liked to do. However, after eighteen years of teaching, her health necessitated her giving up this profession. Clara Barton did not know how to be idle, so she went to Washington and secured a position in the Patent Office.

When the Civil War broke out many wounded soldiers were brought to Washington. Clara Barton helped to care for these boys, some of whom were her former pupils from Massachusetts. She also sent out appeals for money and supplies.

As Miss Barton saw the wounded taken from the transports, she was extremely sorry for them because they did not have proper care. She felt that she must go to nurse the soldiers who were close to the battlefields. This was entirely against army regulations, but Miss Barton was very persistent. She was finally allowed to take her store of bandages and other supplies to the front, where they were most needed.

People used to ask Miss Barton if she had not always been brave. The woman who walked coolly through Fredericksburg when every street was a firing line answered, telling of her childhood: “I was a shrinking little bundle of fears—fears of thunder, fears of strange faces, fears of my strange self.” It was when the shy girl forgot herself in working for others that she forgot her fears.

Bravery and willingness to help others, however, would have been of little use to Clara Barton had she not been level headed. The ability to see what should be done next and to do it quickly and well were of equal value. It seemed as if Clara Barton worked magic, but her magic was only a mixture of common sense and a great pity for the suffering.

Once at Antietam, when there seemed to be nothing to feed to the wounded men, she noticed that the medicine had been packed in fine meal. Quickly she borrowed several big kettles from the farm where they were quartered, and she soon was serving the men with steaming gruel.

At another time, at nightfall, one of the doctors complained about the mismanagement that left him with a thousand wounded men to care for and only an inch of candle for a light. Miss Barton had fortunately brought along several boxes of lanterns, which she gave him. Her remarkable forethought meant the saving of many a life that night.

After the Civil War Clara Barton did not give up her work of mercy. For four years she helped to trace missing soldiers.

While in Europe, during the Franco-Prussian War, she saw the wonderful work that the Red Cross societies abroad were doing. She was deeply impressed with the value of such an organization and immediately decided that, upon her return to the United States, she would do all that she could to interest her country in the Red Cross.

Miss Barton worked for years to persuade the United States to found an American Red Cross Society. “We shall never have another war,” people objected. However, Miss Barton pointed out that in time of great floods, fires, earthquakes, and other disasters lives could be saved by organized aid. At last she was successful, for in 1882 the American Red Cross Society came into being. Clara Barton was its president for many years.

The Red Cross banner was first unfurled for service in this country at Miss Barton’s home at Dansville, New York, where she established a local chapter to aid the forest-fire sufferers in Michigan. Ever since that time the Red Cross has continued to give its efficient aid wherever needed. It had an exceptional opportunity during the World War to prove its worth. Our country has cause for deep gratitude to Clara Barton.

Clara Barton risked her life on sixteen battlefields of the Civil War to care for the wounded. She founded the organization that has brought relief to thousands of people in war and disaster. She did great deeds, but they were possible only because she had learned to do the little things of life well.