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1821 BCE
Birth
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Where did Clara Barton grow up?
Her father, Captain Stephen Barton, was a veteran of the Indian Wars and owned a farm. Her mother, Sarah, was a firm believer in women's rights and taught Clara that all people should be treated equally. Clara grew up the youngest of five children. She had two older sisters, Sally and Dorothea, as well as two older brothers, Stephen and David. They taught her how to read and write while she was still young and Clara did very well in school. Growing up on a farm Clara learned about hard work. -
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Working as a Teacher
At the young age of seventeen, Clara began to work as a schoolteacher teaching summer school. She had no training, but was very good at her job. Soon schools wanted to hire her to teach during the winter as well. They offered to pay her less than the men teachers were making. She said she would not do a man's work for less than a man's pay. They soon agreed to pay her the full wage. -
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Fighting for Women's Rights
Clara moved to Washington D.C. and went to work for the patent office. However, as a woman she was not treated well. At one point she, and all the other women employees, were fired just because they were women. Clara worked to get her job back. She also fought for the rights of women to be treated equally in the work place. She even got President Abraham Lincoln on her side. -
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Shes graduated
She went to college in New York and graduated in 1851. At first she went to work at a private school, but then decided to work on opening a free public school. She worked hard to get the school built, and by 1854 the school had six hundred students. -
Medicine During the Civil War
Medicine during the Civil War was not like it is today. Doctors didn't sterilize their medical equipment or even wash their hands before working on a patient. Conditions were so bad that nearly 60% of the deaths during the war were from disease. -
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The Civil War Begins
Near the start of the Civil War a number of wounded soldiers arrived in Washington D.C. Clara and her sister Sally did what they could to help the men. They found out that the soldiers had little in the way of basic supplies to take care of their wounds. Clara decided to do something about this. She soon organized a way to get needed supplies to the soldiers on the front lines.