Meet Civil War Nurse Clara Barton, The Woman of Selfless Determination Who Helped Found the American Red Cross
A photograph
of the United
States Sanitary
Commission (USSC)
field relief wagons
that provided
sanitary and medical
assistance and
supplies to the
Union Army during
the Civil War. Barton
often used them for
transportation and
to deliver supplies.
She wrote that her
work and the work
of the USSC were
“in perfect accord,
mutual respect and
friendliness.” National Park Service
As night fell, the gunfire ceased. Clara Barton had been nursing soldiers since the Battle of Antietam began, and now she ensured that the barn with wounded soldiers was well lit with the lanterns she brought.
Barton walked from the barn to the house, where she found a surgeon sitting in one of the small, dank rooms with only a small candle preventing the space from falling into complete darkness.