The Gilded Age: Clara Barton & The Red Cross Explained
Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 3 — «Face The Music»
The real-life founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton (Linda Emond), joins The Gilded Age in episode 3 and is poised to become a significant character in the HBO period drama series. The Gilded Age's central conflict involves the elite upper crust of Old New York like Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) keeping the New Money millionaires like railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his wife Bertha (Carrie Coon) out of high society. But Clara Barton is the latest historical figure The Gilded Age is weaving into its version of 19th century American history.
InThe Gilded Age episode 3, «Face The Music,» Clara Barton gives a talk at the home of Aurora Fane (Kelli O'Hara), Agnes van Rhijn's niece. Barton and the Red Cross are the next charity Aurora and the other women of Old New York want to support. Previously, they held a bazaar for Civil War widows and orphans. That charity gala became the most successful fundraiser ever because George Russell spent over $2,000 of his own money to buy out the event as revenge for Aurora, Anne Morris (Katie Finneran), and the other women snubbing his wife Bertha. The presence of Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) at Barton's preliminary speech introducing the American Red Cross hints at the major role both will play in The Gilded Age going forward.
Related: The Gilded Age True Story: Why Mrs. Astor's Family Is So Powerful
Aurora referred to Clara Barton as their «angel of the battlefield,» the nickname the real-life Barton earned for her work during the Civil War when she provided nursing and supplies to wounded soldiers. In 1869, Barton traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, and learned about the International
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