Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on December 25, 1821. She was the youngest of five children, from which most of her education came. By the age of four, she was already spelling complicated words. By age 11, her brother had gotten very sick. She helped him through a very serious illness. She was a natural when it came to nursing. She had seen kids in the street, when they could have had the opportunity to go to school if it hadn't been so expensive. Because of that, she became a teacher at age 17, and a couple of years later she founded a school of her own. She applied to be on the board, but they hired a man instead. She then worked in the federal government, the first lady with a rightful spot. The Civil War soon began. She was given the opportunity to get paid, but instead the money she refused went to the Civil War. With her nursing skills, she volunteered to help heal the soldiers. Women had never been allowed inside the hospitals, camps, or battlefields. One night, she was taking a four-wheeled mule to deliver food and supplies. The surgeon who greeted Clara was in such distress, that he told her she was the "Angel of the Battlefield." She became the superintendent of the Union nurses. Clara soon started writing letters and reports for missing soldiers. She received 63,000 letters and found 22,000 missing soldiers. Clara then established the national cemetery for soldiers. Clara Barton was satisfied, but wanted to do more. Later in her life, Clara became ill. In search of rest and relaxation, she was sent to Europe. There she discovered the Red Cross. The Red Cross was an organization made to help wounded soldiers, people in need, and people in natural disasters. The Red Cross started by holding up a red cross, meaning that you couldn't attack in war because of wounded soldiers. Clara wanted the Red Cross in the US, but she got turned down on her first try. When she got permission from the government, she started introduced the Red Cross to America. She was the president of it for twenty-two years. She retired at age eighty-three and spent the rest of her life in Maryland. She died in 1912, at age ninety-one. She promoted her message by volunteering her time in the war.