When Clara Harlowe Barton was 11 years old, her older brother was seriously injured in a fall. Barton spent two years nursing him back to health until he fully got well. Although she had this early nursing experience, Barton would not work as a nurse until later in life.

At the age of seventeen, Barton worked as a teacher in Massachusetts. Twelve years later, she opened the first free public school in New Jersey. The school grew from only six students on the first day of classes to more than 200 students by the end of the school year. When the school opened in the fall of 1853, Barton was surprised to learn that a man had been hired as the school's head teacher, being paid twice her salary ( 工 资) to run the school that she had set up and made successful. Outraged at this news, she quit her teaching position. "I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay," she said.

In 1861, the Civil War began; Barton began collecting supplies ( 补 给 ) and got passes from the government to send her supplies and services to the front line and field hospitals. And then she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield".

In 1869, Barton took a trip to Switzerland where she learned about the International Red Cross. Later, Barton set up the American Red Cross. Under Barton's leadership, the American Red Cross helped thousands of people in need.

During her lifetime, Barton gave her life and effort to the service and the care of others as a teacher, a Civil War nurse, and founder of the American Red Cross.