Clara Barton
The founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1821. She worked as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War, distributing food and medical supplies to troops and earning herself the label ‘Angel of the Battlefield.’ She later served alongside the International Red Cross in Europe–however, she could not work directly with the organization because she was a woman. In 1882 she formed an American branch of the Red Cross. Barton lobbied for the Geneva Convention and she expanded the mission of the Red Cross to include helping victims of peacetime disasters. Clara Barton died at her home in Glen Echo, Maryland, on April 12, 1912, when she was 90 years old.
Image: Library of Congress