Founding the American Red Cross

The American Red cross is a none profit organization that offers disaster relief in America, provides community services that help the needy,communications services and comfort for military members and their family members collection and distribution of blood, educational programs on health and safty and international relief and development programs.


Clara Barton having became a federal bureaucrat after her many years as a school teacher. When the Civil Wr broke out Clara worked to soldiers by organizing a program for locating men listed as missing in action. After performing humanitarian work during the war she went to Europe for vaction where she became involved in the International Red Cross during the Franco-Prussian War. Upon returning to America, Clara brought this organizations ideal home with her.
Clara believed that the new American Red Cross organization would respond to both war and to other types of crisis. Barton became President of the American branch of the societyin 1881. The first local chapter of the was located in Dansville, New York where Barton was living at the time. Eventually John D. Rockefeller, along with four others and the federal government, gave money to create a national headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Two of the major events that Barton assistaed in during here time with the Red Cross was a response to the Great Fire of 1881 in Michigan and a response to the Johnstown Flood in 1889. during these two events over 5,000 were left homeless and 2,209 dead. The Johnstown flood resulted in many left injured and is still considered one of the worst disasters in United States history.



Barton resigned from the American Red Cross in 1904.



In 1975, the Clara Barton National Historic Site was established as a unit of the National Park Service at Clara's home in Glen Echo, Maryland. Barton's Glen Echo home served as an early headquarters of the American Red Cross as well.



"American Red Cross" Wikipedia acsessed 18 November 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Red_Cross#Clara_Barton