Clara Barton

Clara was satisfied to work without pay, but if paid, she vowed, "I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay." (Sahlman 1) Being unemployed, her hopes collapsed and she fell ill over the stress and uncertainty of her future. .
             Barton moved to Washington D.C in 1854 and became a recording clerk for the U.S. Patent Office. She was hired at a $1,400 per year, which was a decent wage at that time, even for men. Clara was one of the first women to be employed by the federal government. .
             When the Civil War began, Barton was determined to serve the federal troops, so when many of her formal pupils and friends were part of the regiment being housed in the U.S. senate, she made it her duty to collect and deliver provisions to the soldiers. Volunteering to nurse in army camps was grueling and endless work. Clara's work was anything but glamorous. She once told a friend, "I cannot tell you how many times I have moved with my whole family [the army] of a thousand or fifteen hundred and with a half hours notice in the night." (Schurr 55) She had also put herself in danger many times.
             She herself extracted a bullet from the face of a young soldier using her pocketknife, and while holding the face of another soldier to offer water, had a bullet pass through her sleeve and into the wounded victim. Through all she endured thus far in the war, Clara had become a stronger, confident woman. The appreciation she received from those she nursed gratified her and gave her a feeling of self-worth. Watching her perform her tasks tirelessly, dutifully, compassionately, and without fear, Dr. Dunn's wife remarked that Clara was "the true heroine of the age, the angel of the battlefield." (Profiles in Caring).
             Clara began to campaign to collect supplies for future needs. Her own house became a storage space for nursing supplies and medical goods to help the wounded soldiers. She desperately wanted to go straight to the front line to do all that she could to help.