She quickly became know as the "Angel of the Battlefield," dividing her time between tending the wounded and cooking for them (Abakanowicz and Blackwell 135). She also helped gather identification records for the missing and the dead (Academic American Encyclopedia 98). Clara 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 and 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).
One day in 1877 she wrote to Dr. Appia, telling him how much she wanted to organize the 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.