She was painfully shy

Few could have imagined that Clara Barton had previously been a quiet, reserved young girl as she moved swiftly among the crippled and injured men at Antietam. Clarissa Harlowe Barton was the family's newborn when she was born on Christmas Day 1821 in North Oxford, Massachusetts, a town in the center of the state. All four of her siblings were at least ten years older than her.

Clara's father used to regale her with tales of his time fighting the Indians when she was a young girl. She learned how to ride a horse and other manly pastimes from her brothers and cousins. Clara favored outdoor frolics over the inside activities "appropriate" for young ladies at the time, despite the fact that she was a hardworking and dedicated student.

Clara was an extremely shy young girl despite being intelligent, and her parents worried about it. Clara was occasionally so stressed up she was unable to eat. However, the bashful girl conquered it in the face of a crisis—a pattern that would continue throughout her lifetime. Clara stayed by her brother's side when he was ill and learned how to give him all of his medications, even the "big, hideous crawling leeches."