Today in History
May 21
1881: Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. Clara tended to the wounded in the Civil War. At the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, there is a statue to Clara Barton honoring her work caring for wounded soldiers during the Civil War. After the war, she visited Europe and was inspired by the Swiss Red Cross. In 1900 and 1905 Congress chartered the Red Cross. Clara ran the organization for 23 years from its founding in 1881 to 1904.









