Clara Barton

She became known as the Angle of the Battle Field, nursing the wounded soldiers on the battlefield. She served as a battlefield nurse through the whole war helping all she could. After the war she found missing soldiers. She got Anderson Ville Camp turned into a cemetery and told thousands of families what happened to there loved ones. (Hamilton 31-45, 63-67).
             She spent so much of her time helping others+ that she forgot to take care of herself and she became ill. To recover her health she went on vacation to Europe. It was while on vacation Dr. Louis Appia of the Red Cross found her. He told her all about the Red Cross and what it did. Of course Clara was very interested in the program and wanted to learn all about it. (Hamilton 69).
             Then the Franco-Prussian War came within hours after the declaration of the war. The Grand Duchess Lousine of Baden a patron of the Red Cross asked Clara to organize a relief for the people. Within days she was on her way to the Red Cross center where she helped make supplies. Soon she found her way to the battle lines where her service was needed once again. After the war she organized relief for many cities devastated by the war. But illness soon caught up to her. She caught Rheumatic Fever and in October she returned to the United States. (Hamilton 74-85).
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             One day in 1877 she wrote to Dr. Appia, telling him how much she wanted to organize a American Red Cross. Soon Afterward she received a letter from Gustave Moynier who was the president of the International Committee. Enclosed in his letter was another letter to Rutherford B. Hayes, the president of the united states. This letter established Clara Barton as the U.S. representative of the International Committee and asked America to sign the Geneva Treaty and organize a branch of the American Red Cross. No matter how had she tried President Hayes would not sign the treaty. (Hamilton 86).
             When President James A. Garfield took office in 1881, she found him receptive to her cause and began to organize the Red Cross in the United States even though her country had not yet signed the Geneva Treaty.