Clarissa Harlowe Barton

Clarissa Harlowe Barton became a teacher at age 17 and later served as a copier in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., before dedicating her life to voluntary service at the age of 40 (1861). During the Civil War she served as an independent volunteer on the Union side, helping with nursing and feeding.

Served as a volunteer nurse on the battlefield during actual combat, ...

By the end of the war, her benevolence was legendary.

Although not permitted to work with the International Red Cross because she was a woman, she volunteered as an independent relief worker in Strasbourg, France, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). On May 21, 1881, Barton was joined by Senator Omar Conger of Michigan and 22 others at her own modest residence to form the American Association of the Red Cross, which later became the American Red Cross. Barton lobbied tirelessly for the United States ratification of the Geneva Convention, also known as the Treaty of Geneva, which was signed in March 1882.

http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Barton.html, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6732/cb.html

12/25/1821; Oxford, MA

4/12/1912; Glen Echo, MD; burial in North Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MA