This chapter gives an overview of the developments that led to the formation of the Swedish branch of the Red Cross (or, as it was called at that time, “The voluntary society for the succour of wounded and sick on the battlefield”) between the spring of 1864 and the summer of 1865. I will explain how the founding of the Swedish Red Cross became part of feminist strategy before I proceed to investigate the limits that religious doctrine at the time put to feminist action. The rest of the paper will show how the feminists activists grappled with these difficulties in a way that made their contribution less well known than it would otherwise have been.