Civil War nurse and founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton, fully embodies the virtues of respect, kindness, and generosity. Her depth of compassion for others, whether school children, battlefield wounded, or victims of hurricanes and other disasters, has been unmatched. Her own code was uncompromising: “You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not, you must never think of anything except the need and how to meet it.”

A painfully shy girl, Clara grew up in a large family and was schooled mainly by her brothers and sisters. She began her nursing career at home when one of her brothers fell ill, and she nursed him back to health. For years, she taught school and actually founded two schools – one in North Oxford, Massachusetts, and a second in New Jersey. But she found her life’s work during the Civil War, when her path-breaking service to the wounded on the frontlines earned her the title “Angel of the Battlefield.” It all began at the Battle of Antietam.  She went on to found the American Red Cross, which, unlike its European counterpart, aided in disaster relief as well as war.