The American Red Cross was founded on May 21, 1881

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons founded the American National Red Cross in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1881. It was charged with providing humanitarian aid to those injured or displaced by war or natural disasters.

Barton had risen to fame during the American Civil War. She was called the “Angel of the Battlefield” for her work near the fighting providing aid to the sick and wounded. After the war ended, President Abraham Lincoln asked her to search for lost prisoners of war. She found the bodies thousands as Union soldiers.

Barton happened to be in Europe when the Franco-Prussian War began. She volunteered to go behind German lines to help the International Red Cross. When she returned to the United States she was determined to organize an American branch of the global organization.

Barton and a circle of friends including Solomons established the first chapter of the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York. In 1882, the United States Senate recognized the Red Cross as a neutral protective emblem. In 1900, the American Red Cross received its first congressional charter. Congress mandated it to provide aid to the U.S. Armed Forces and their families, and to provide disaster relief.

Today the American Red Cross is the nation’s primary provider of blood and blood products, disaster response, and emergency communications for military families. It depends upon private donations for the majority of its funding.