Clara Barton
... called the Missing Soldier Office. In doing so she became the first woman to head a government bureau. Before the office was closed in 1868 she had gotten information on nearly 22,000 soldiers. After the outbreak of war between the Russians and Turkeys, Clara tried to convince people the need to take act in the Red Cross. This resulted in the formation of the American Red Cross, in 1881. After she started the American Red Cross, she realized it could be used for more than just war times but for other times of crisis too. Such as the yellow-fever pestilence in Florida (1887); the flood at Johnstown, Pennsylvania (1889); the Russian famine (1891); the hurricane in the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina (1893); the Armenians famine (1896); in the South African War (1899-1902); and the flood at Galveston, Texas (1900). In Clara’s later years, she wrote a lot of books. These books included: The Red Cross (1898); The Red Cross in Peace and War (1899); A Story of the Red Cross (1904); The Story of My Childhood (1907). Also in her later years, around 1906, she organized the National First Aid Association of America. For several years, her thirty-eight-room house, served as the headquarters for the American Red Cross. Today, ever since 1974, this is the Clara Barton National Historical Site. I think Carla Barton did a lot of really good things for our society. The most important and obvious one is the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross is still of great value to us today. It provides help for us in time of g...