MorganCountyRedCross.org
Title
Welcome to the Morgan County Chapter
Description
After witnessing the suffering of the wounded following the Battle of Solferino, Henry Dunant (1828-1910), a Swiss businessman, initiated relief efforts that led to the founding of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Inspired by Henry Dunant's pamphlet A Memory of Solferino, and the resulting international feeling against the negligence that prevailed in the care of the war wounded, the First Geneva Convention convened in 1864 with 24 delegates representing 16 governments. The resulting Treaty of Geneva was signed by all but four delegates. Representatives of Great Britain, Saxony, Sweden, and the United States did not sign the treaty at that time.
Clara Barton dominates the early history of the American Red Cross, which was modeled after the International Red Cross. She did not originate the Red Cross idea, but she was the first person to establish a lasting Red Cross Society in America. She successfully organized the American Association of the Red Cross in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 1881. Created to serve America in peace and in war, during times of disaster and national calamity, Barton's organization took its service beyond that of the International Red Cross Movement by adding disaster relief to battlefield assistance. She served as the organization's volunteer president until 1904.
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