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A Civil War Heroine As the river waters rise, people are forced to evacuate their homes, not having time to gather their possessions. When a helpless family’s home is destroyed by a tornado, when a country is rocked by an earthquake, or when an entire city is overtaken by a hurricane, Red Cross volunteers are on the scene providing food and shelter until they are able to pick up the ruins and salvage what they can. The American Red Cross disaster service assists many families in times such as these. Whether it was nursing her older brother back to health, teaching underprivileged children, or comforting a dying soldier, Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was a true historical heroine. Clarissa Harlowe Barton was brought into this world in Oxford, Massachusetts on December 25, 1821 (Sands 4).1 She was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Sally Stone Barton (Hamilton 17, 18).2 Clara was raised in a very charitable household. When she became older, her mother and father urged her to become absorbed in different types of community services such as helping youth with their schoolwork, and nurturing local neighbors with small pox (“The Biography of Clara Barton” 2pp).3 When Clara was eleven years old, her oldest siblin