Clara Barton

Clara Barton

Clara Barton volunteered at field hospitals during the Civil War and became Superintendant of Nurses.  She later campaigned for many Republican candidates and was a political ally of Senator John Logan (R-IL).  In 1880, Barton campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee, James Garfield.

The following year, Senator Omar Conger (R-MI) convened a meeting in his home at which Barton made plans to establish the American Red Cross.  Her friend Frederick Douglass, the Washington, DC Recorder of Deeds, registered the new organization.  She then met with Secretary of State James Blaine, a future Republican presidential nominee, and President Garfield to discuss setting up chapters nationwide.