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The 12 Remarkable Ladies of Lincoln Era
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Clara Barton (1821-1912) "Angel of Battlefield"
Outspoken-Compassionate
Clara was born on Christmas Day, 1821, the youngest of 5 children. She ministered to the wounded Massachusetts soldiers, quartered in the US Senate Chamber. After the First Battle of Bull Run Barton established the agency to obtain and distribute supplies to wounded soldiers. She was given a pass to ride in army ambulances to provide comfort and nurse the soldiers back to health. In 1864 she was appointed "lady in charge" of hospitals at the army front.
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Sara Emma Edmonds (1799-1898) Soldier as Franklin Thompson
Ambitious-Cunning
Sara was born in Canada but left home with the help of her mother to escape an arranged marriage and an abusive father. She began dressing as a man and changed her name to Franklin Thompson. After her Union spy friend was executed by the firing squad a slot in intelligence opened for Thompson. She wrote her memoirs after the war and spoke extensively about her experiences disguised as a spy during the war. Her career ended when she contracted malaria and abandoned her duty because she was afraid her disguise would be discovered. She gave all the profits from her writing to the war relief fund and returned to Canada.
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Jessie Benton Fremont (1824-1902) Writer and Political Activist
Intelligent-Influential
Jessie was born in Virginia but raised in Washington. Although her father wanted a boy she remained close to him. She met John C. Fremont while at Georgetown Seminary and married him against her parent's wishes. They lived on army posts until Fremont was assigned the task of exploring the West. John Fremont became known as "Pathfinder to the West" and Jessie was interested in the details of his expedition and became his recorder. She served as her husband's unofficial aide and closest advisor. In the early 1860's Jessie lived in Mariposa and invited Horace Greely to her home and encouraged him to visit Yosemite Valley where he was influenced to write in favor of federal protection of Yosemite and Mariposa Grove. Galen Clark credited Jessie for helping the effort to encourage President Lincoln to sign the Yosemite Valley Grant on June 30, 1864.
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Rose O'Neal Greenhow (1817-1864) Confederate Spy
Audacious-Clever
Rose was born in Maryland and her father was murdered by one of his slaves in 1817. As a young woman she was beautiful, educated, loyal and refined and her oily skin and rosy complexion earned her the nickname "Wild Rose". She married Dr. Robert Greenhow, who taught history. Her husband died after the birth of their eighth child. As a widow her sympathy for the Confederate cause grew and she became a spy. She passed critical information regarding the First Battle of Manassas and the plans of Union General McDowell to the Confederate forces. In 1861 she was apprehended and placed under house arrest. She continued to pass along messages during her imprisonment by how the blinds were in her cell window and the number of candles burning in the window. In 1862 she was released and deported to Virginia. She was hailed as a heroine by Southerners and became a courier to Europe.
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Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879) Writer and Editor
Eloquent-Innovative
Sarah was born in New Hampshire and her parents believed in equal education for both sexes. Early in her life she was educated by her mother and later by her brother who studied at Dartmouth. She became a schoolteacher in 1811 and met David Hale and had five children. David, a lawyer, died in 1822 and Sarah wore black the rest of her life. She became a famous author and in 1830 wrote her collection Poems for our Children which included the now famous Mary Had a Little Lamb. Louise Antonie Godey hired Hale as the editor of Gody's Lady's Book in 1837. She worked 440 years as the editor retiring almost at the age of 90. Hale is cr3edited for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States. She started advocating for the holiday in 1846 and it took her 17 years to win the battle after writing letters to five presidents. Lincoln established the holiday in 1863 and it was considered a unifying day after the Civil War.
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Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) Mary Todd Lincoln's Personal Confidante
Creative-Resourceful
Elizabeth was born in Virginia as a slave owned by Armistead and Mary Burwell. She was a privileged slave learning to read and write. She found out on her mother's death bed that her father was Armistead Burwell. She went to live with Robert and Margaret Burwell, Armistead's son and Margaret made her home life unbearable. The Burwells enlisted their neighbor Bingham to break Elizabeth by binding her hands and beating her. After that Robert Burwell began to beat her. Elizabeth refused to show emotions throughout the beatings. She bore a son by a forced sexual relationship. She moved back to Virginia after Robert's death. She learned to do all the family's sewing and associated with the free African American population in St. Louis. In 1855 she raised enough money from her patrons to buy her freedom and her son's was emancipated. She moved to Baltimore and to teach classes for young colored women to cut and fit dresses. The project failed and she headed to Washington. She worked hard as a seamstress for many of the influential ladies of Washington including Mary Todd Lincoln.
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Phoebe Pember (1823-1913) Nurse, Hospital Administrator, Writer
Diligent-Reassuring
Phoebe was a member of a prominent American Jewish Family from South Carolina. Pember married Bostonian Thomas Pember in 1856, but by 1861 she was a widow living back at home. Unhappy at home she accepted an invitation to serve at Richmond's Chimborazo Hospital, the largest military hospital in the world in the 1860's. Her job was to head up one of the facility's five divisions. It was an unusual job for a woman when virtually all nursing was done by men. Pember gave the soldiers a feminine presence. After the war Pember wrote her memoirs.
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Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) First Lady of the United States
Educated and Faithful
Mary Todd was born in Kentucky and raised in comfort and refinement. When Mary was six her mother died and her father married Elizabeth Humphreys Todd. Mary had a difficult time with her stepmother and left home at an early age to attend finishing school. She had a witty and sparking personality attuned to politics that made her popular with gentry of Springfield. Mary was courted by young lawyer and politician Stephen Douglas, but her courtship to Abraham Lincoln resulted in one broken engagement but an eventual marriage in 1842. They had four children. Mary was a close political partner to her husband and socially supported him and served as an advisor. Lincoln and Douglas became rivals for the same Senate seat but Lincoln lost because of his position on slavery. Once Lincoln was elected president Mary had to deal with the death off her son, plus the death of her siblings killed in the Civil War. She suffered from depression, and irrational, sometimes public outbursts during Lincoln's presidency. During her tenure in the White House she was blamed for spending too much. In 1865 Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre and Mary struggled for the rest of her life.
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Mary Surrat (1823-1865) Abraham Lincoln Conspirator
Controversial-Foolhardy
Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surrat was born in Maryland and attended a private Catholic girl's boarding school, in Virginia. She married John Surrat and had three children. They engaged in many livelihoods including tobacco farming, a gristmill, a general store, a tavern, a post office but were plagued by financial worries. Though Maryland remained in the Union they were Confederate sympathizers. John died suddenly and left Mary in a desperate situation. She opened a boardinghouse to make a living. On the day of Lincoln's assassination Mary rode to the tavern to leave a package that was given to John Wilkes Booth and his accomplice. Mary was arrested, tried and convicted; condemned to death by hanging. She was hung July 7, 1865 with three other condemned prisoners.
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Harriet Tubman (1821-1913) Operator in the Underground Railroad
Courageous-Determined
Harriet was born into slavery and was beaten and whipped by her various masters. At twelve she suffered a massive head trauma when she stepped between her master and another slave. In 1849 she heard a rumor that she was going to be sold and decided to no longer be a slave and escaped to Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad. She learned about the secret network of safe houses and routes and over time escorted over 300 people to freedom, thus earning her nickname "Moses of her people". Once the Civil War started she joined the abolitionists and fed and nursed wounded black soldiers and newly freed slaves.
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Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) Slave, Abolitionist, Women's Right Activist
Purposeful-Forthright
Sojourner Truth was one of thirteen children born to James and Elizabeth Baumfree, slaves owned by Colonel Hardenbergh. After the Colonel died Sojourner was sold at an auction as part of flock of sheep to John Neely. She was beaten often and sold four more times. Finally in 1799 New York began to legislate the abolition of slavery. It was not completed until July 4, 1827. Truth escaped to freedom with her infant son. She learned that her five year old son was sold illegally and she took the owner to court and won. She is the first black women to go to court against a white man and win the case. During the Civil War Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army. In October 1865 she met President Lincoln while working at the Freedman's Hospital in Washington.
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Marie Brose Tepe "French Mary" (1834-1901) Vivandiere, Nurse
Enterprising-Fearless
Marie was born in France and after the death of her father young Marie immigrated to the United States. At age 20 she married Bernardo Tepe and at the start of the Civil War he enlisted. He desired for his wife to stay home and manage their small tailor shop, but Marie refused and decided to follow his regiment as a vivandiere. At the end of 1861 Marie left her husband when one night a band of soldiers including her husband stole $1600 form the vivandiere. In 1862 Marie helped to establish a field hospital and received the "Kearny Cross" for her accomplishments. In the battle of Fredericksburg and took a bullet to her ankle.
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Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) Alleged Spy, Prisoner of War and Surgeon
Avant Garde-Self Reliant
Born in New York her family believed in equality for all humanity and made sure that all their girls received a complete education. Mary graduated in 1855 and became the second woman to graduate from medical school. She began her employment as a nurse and in 1863 began to use her medical training as an assistant surgeon to the 52nd Ohio Regiment in Tennessee. After several months in the hands of the Confederates Walker earned the distinction of being the first woman officer ever exchanged as a prisoner of war for a man of her rank. After her release she worked as a doctor at a women's prison. President Andrew Johnson made sure her contributions to the war were recognized by making her the first female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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