Civil War Women, Famous Wives, Generals Wives

Narcissa Saunders Barksdale

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Wife of Confederate General William Barksdale William Barksdale was born on August 21, 1821, in Smyrna, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Nashville and practiced law in Mississippi from the age of 21, but gave up his practice to become the editor of the Columbus [Mississippi] Democrat, a pro-slavery newspaper. He enlisted in the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment and served in the Mexican-American War as a captain and quartermaster. William Barksdale married Narcissa Saunders of Louisiana in 1849. William Barksdale In 1853, Bardsdale entered the U.S. House of Representatives and achieved national prominence as a States’ Rights Democrat, serving from March 4, 1853, to January 12, 1861. He was considered to be one of the most ferocious of all…

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Women in the American Revolution

Betsy Ross

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Maker of the First American Flag Birth of Our Nation’s Flag Charles Weisgerber, Artist 9′ x 12′ painting depicts Betsy Ross presenting the first American Flag to George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom to parents Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1752, the eighth of 17 children. She grew up in a household where the plain dress and strict discipline of the Society of Friends (Quakers) dominated her life. One year before William Penn founded Philadelphia in 1681, Betsy Ross’s great-grandfather, Andrew Griscom, a Quaker carpenter, had already emigrated from England to New Jersey. Andrew was of firm Quaker belief, and he was inspired to move to Philadelphia…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Clara Pope

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Wife of Union General John Pope John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War with a reputation for outspokenness and arrogance. He had a brief but successful career in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas) in the East. After decades of blaming General Fitz John Porter, an 1879 Board of Inquiry concluded that Pope himself bore most of the responsibility for the loss of that battle. Image: Major General John Pope Born on March 16, 1822, in Louisville, Kentucky, John Pope was raised in Kaskaskia, Illinois, located on the Mississippi River. His father, Nathaniel Pope was the…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Henrietta Morgan Duke

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Wife of Confederate General Basil Duke Henrietta Hunt Morgan was born on April 2, 1840, to Calvin Cogswell Morgan and Henrietta Hunt Morgan of Lexington, Kentucky. Her brother, John Hunt Morgan, would become a celebrated Confederate cavalry commander. Basil Wilson Duke was born in Scott County, Kentucky, on May 28, 1838, the only child of Nathaniel Duke and his wife, the former Mary Pickett Currie. Duke’s parents died during his childhood: Mary when Basil was eight, and Nathaniel when he was 11. Image: General Basil Duke Basil Duke attended Georgetown College (1853-1854) and Centre College (1854-1855), before studying law at Lexington, Kentucky’s Transylvania University. After graduating in 1858, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, to practice law. His older cousin,…

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Women in the American Revolution

Priscilla Scollay Melville

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Wife of Boston Tea Party Participant Thomas Melville Priscilla Scollay was born on August 15, 1755, in Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of John and Mercy Greenleaf Scollay. In 1761, along with about fifty other men, John Scollay signed a petition which was sent to King George III protesting the illegal actions of the British revenue officers. A strong supporter of colonial claims against the empire, John Scolly was chosen to Boston’s Board of Selectmen in 1764. The honor was repeated in 1773, and the following year he was made chairman, a title he held until 1790. Scollay Square in Boston is named for her family. Thomas Melville was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 27, 1752, the only son of Allan and…

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Women in the American Revolution

Mehitable May Dawes

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Wife of American Patriot William Dawes, Jr. William Dawes, Jr. Mehitable May was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1751, to the well-respected family of Samuel and Catherine May. William Dawes, Jr. was born in Boston on April 5, 1745, to William and Lydia Dawes in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a fourth generation descendant of the first Dawes in America, who came to Boston in 1635. William Jr. became a leather tanner and tradesman, and was active in Boston’s militia. On May 3, 1768, Dawes married Mehitable May, who was seventeen. They would have six children together. At the time of their wedding, there was a boycott on British goods to pressure Parliament into repealing the Townshend Acts. Because…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Olivia Hooker

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Wife of Union General Joseph Hooker Olivia Augusta Groesbeck was born in 1825 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a member of the prominent Groesbeck family, the daughter of John and Mary Groesbeck, and the sister of U.S. Congressman William Slocum Groesbeck. Joseph Hooker was born on November 13, 1814, the son of a store owner in Hadley, Massachusetts. He grew up on the banks of the Connecticut River. His initial schooling was at the local Hopkins Academy. Image: General Joseph Hooker Hooker’s mother and a schoolteacher brought Joe to the attention of George Grennell, then a member of the House of Representatives. Grennell backed the youth in his quest to enter the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Margarethe Schurz

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Wife of Union General Carl Schurz Margarethe Meyer was born on August 27, 1832, in Hamburg, Germany, the youngest of four children in a prominent family that encouraged her to pursue the arts and education. Her mother died at her birth. Her father, Heinrich Meyer, a prosperous, socially liberal Jewish merchant, opened his home to artists and intellectuals. Her older sister Bertha married the excommunicated priest Johannes Ronge, the founder of German Catholicism. As a teenager, Margarethe was exposed to the teachings of kindergarten founder Friedrich Froebel. When Froebel came to Hamburg to lecture on his new theories of educating children, Margarethe and Bertha attended his classes. Froebel designed the kindergarten (garden of children in German) to provide an educational…

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Famous Wives

Mary Lincoln

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Wife of Revolutionary War General Benjamin Lincoln Major General Benjamin Lincoln Charles Willson Peale, Artist Mary Cushing was born in 1730, the daughter of Elijah Cushing and Elizabeth Barker Cushing of Pembroke, Massachusetts, whose ancestors were among the founders of Hingham, Massachusetts. Benjamin Lincoln was born on January 24, 1733, the son of Colonel Benjamin Lincoln (1699-1771) and Elizabeth Thaxter Norton Lincoln also of Hingham, MA. He spent his early life working on the family farm, and attended the local school. A prominent farmer, Benjamin’s father was a Colonel and served on the Governor’s Council as well as in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. His father’s wealth allowed him to accept responsibilities at an earlier age than most of his…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Rebecca Hollingsworth Humphreys

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Wife of Union General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 1810, to a family prominent in naval architecture. Humphreys was descended from the distinguished naval architects who designed Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, and her five sister frigates during the War of 1812, Constellation and many other ships of the Old Navy. Humphreys was born to privilege. As a teenager, he was wild and uncontrollable; he played truant and ran away from his tutors. General Andrew Humphreys In an effort to steer his son in a stable direction, his father secured the sixteen-year-old Andrew a place at West Point in 1827. Young Humphreys wasn’t ready for discipline. He earned demerits for not…

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