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.