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Julia Valdary
MANG 4424 – 476
Leader Profile Paper
Clara Barton was the pioneering leader behind the American Red Cross organization, a society
that still provides relief to individuals in times of natural disasters, wars, fires and other catastrophic
events. Before establishing the Red Cross, Ms. Barton’s professional career began with her position
as a schoolteacher, educating and mentoring students in both public and private schools. At that time,
many people looked down upon public schools because they were often filled with poor kids who
couldn’t afford the luxury of private education (Epler 30). However, soon after teaching in a public
school for three months, Clara’s small class of six had grown to about six hundred pupils.
After eighteen years of teaching, Clara lost her voice and was forced to change professions
(Watson). Her love of writing brought her to Washington, D.C. as a patent clerk, where she became
the first woman to serve in a public office in the Department of Washington under her own name-and
not the name of a spouse or a husband’s (Epler 37). By the beginning of the Civil War in 1861,
Barton found herself drawn back to nursing-a return to her earlier years as a little girl who would
often care for her sick brothers. She went on to nurse and feed hundreds of soldiers who had been
wounded fighting for the North along enemy lines. Her constant presence in that first battle of the
Civil War and many more battles to come, soon gave her the title, “Angel of the Battlefield” (Epler
270).
After the Civil War ended, Clara journeyed to Europe where she catered to the needs of both
French civilians and soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War. While abroad, Clara learned of the Red
Cross Convention-an international collaboration of sixteen governments united for a common cause:
“to obtain the neutralization of the wounded in belligerent armies, and of the persons and material
necessary for their care and treatment” (“Articles of the Red Cross” qtd. in Epler 139). News of the
convention led Ms. Barton to join the International Committee of the Red Cross and make it her
lifelong goal to bring its foundation to America. It took Clara years to get the national government to
approve of the American Red Cross’s founding, but in 1881 she was able to gain approval from
President Garfield-a man who had a strong appreciation for Clara’s work (Epler 254). As president of
the American Red Cross, Clara Barton spent the rest of her life providing aid and support to people
during traumatic events, “directing the new arm of organized mercy” (Epler 256). Under her
leadership, The American Red Cross provided assistance in many major occurrences including: The
Michigan Forest Fires in 1881, The Mount Vernon Cyclone in 1888, The Russian Famine in 1892,
and The Galveston Storm in 1900 (Epler 255 – 256).
Clara Barton practiced her life’s work of nursing and helping others for fifty-one years-even in
times when her health deteriorated or the government could no longer support her cause financially.
One of her most memorable accomplishments occurred when she convinced a high army official to
put her on the front line during the Civil War at a time when women were traditionally prohibited
from nursing on the battlefield. In addition to that, Barton established the Office of Correspondence
