Category: Civil War Women

Civil War Women
Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Elizabeth Meagher

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Wife of Union General Thomas Francis Meagher Elizabeth Townsend was born in New York September 20, 1830, the daughter of Peter and Caroline Parish Townsend of Monroe, New York. Thomas Francis Meagher, born in Ireland August 3, 1823, was an Irish nationalist, an American politician and a Union Army general during the Civil War. In his younger years he was an Irish revolutionary, fighting for Ireland’s independence from British rule. Image: Louis Lang’s Return of the 69th (Irish) Brigade, N.Y.S.M., From the Seat of War shows General Meagher (right center) tipping his hat to the crowd (N.Y.S.M. stands for New York State Militia) He was known as ‘Meagher of the Sword’ due to his fiery revolutionary speeches. In 1848, Thomas…

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African Americans, Civil War Women

Anna Brown

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Wife of African American Author William Wells Brown On April 12, 1860 twenty-five year old Anna Elizabeth Gray married William Wells Brown – author of Clotel, the first novel written by an African American in the United States. Anna later published Brown’s works under the imprint A.G. Brown. They had one daughter, Clotelle, in 1862. William Wells Brown (1814-1884) was a prominent African American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright and historian. After spending the first 25 years of his life in slavery and most of a decade on the run as a fugitive, Brown came into prominence in the abolitionist movement. He wrote his autobiography, several volumes of black history and Clotel, the first novel written by an African American. Although…

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Civil War Women, Famous Children

Anna Surratt

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Daughter of Accused Lincoln Assassination Conspirator Anna was only 22 years old when her mother Mary Surratt was sentenced to death as a conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Despite Anna’s heartbreaking efforts to save her mother, Mary Surratt was hanged not quite three months after the assassination. Anna’s parents, Mary and John Surratt, were married in 1840, and lived on land John had inherited from his foster parents in what is now a section of Washington known as Congress Heights. John and Mary had three children: Isaac (born on June 2, 1841), Anna (January 1, 1843) and John Jr. (April 13, 1844). When Anna was nine, her father purchased 287 acres of land…

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Authors, Civil War Women

Fanny Kemble

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British-American Actress and Abolitionist Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) was a famous British actress prior to her marriage to slaveholder Pierce Mease Butler, grandson of Founding Father Pierce Butler. She was an independent and highly intelligent woman who set out on a two-year theatrical tour in America in 1832. Kemble had no idea how much her life would be affected by the institution of slavery. Image: Fanny Kemble in 1834 By Thomas Sully Frances Anne Kemble was born on November 27, 1809, in London, England. From one of England’s most prominent family of actors, her aunt was noted actress Sarah Siddons and her father, Charles Kemble, the renowned Shakespearean actor. Due to the financial trouble of her father’s Covent Garden Theatre in…

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Civil War Women, Educators

Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson

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Women in Education: Founder of Clemson University Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson (1817-1875) was the daughter of the prominent U.S. Senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun. She was very well educated and worked with her father in Washington, DC, where she met and later married Thomas Green Clemson. The land Anna Maria inherited after her mother’s death included Calhoun’s Fort Hill mansion, which is now at the center of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. Early Years Anna Maria Calhoun was born February 13, 1817, at Bath Plantation in Willington, South Carolina. She was the daughter of John C. Calhoun, noted U.S. Senator and seventh U.S. Vice President, and Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun. Anna acquired her mother’s grace and style…

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Abolitionists, Civil War Women, Famous Firsts

Angelina Grimke

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Abolitionist and One of the First Women to Speak in Public in the United States Angelina Grimke was a political activist, abolitionist and supporter of the women’s rights movement. Her essay An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1836) is the only written appeal made by a Southern woman to other Southern women regarding the abolition of slavery. It was received with great acclaim by abolitionists, but was severely criticized by her former Quaker community, and was publicly burned in South Carolina. Early Years Angelina Emily Grimke was born on November 26, 1805, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Mary Smith Grimke and John Faucheraud Grimke, a judge, planter, lawyer, politician and owner of a thriving cotton plantation. The…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Fanny Longfellow

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Wife of Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Fanny Longfellow (1817-1861), wife of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was a skilled artist and was well-read in many subjects. Fanny’s father Nathan Appleton gave Craigie House to the Longfellows as a wedding gift, and it became a meeting place for literary and philosophical figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Julia Ward Howe. During their happy marriage, Fanny gave birth to six children (two boys and four girls). Image: This portrait of Fanny was done by Samuel Rowse in 1859. It hangs over the fireplace in the Gold Ring Room, Longfellow’s bedroom at Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as it did when he was alive. Childhood and Early Years (Frances) Fanny Appleton…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur

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Wife of Union General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur was the wife of Arthur MacArthur, Union general and Medal of Honor recipient for his actions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the mother of General Douglas MacArthur, one of the most highly decorated American soldiers in World War I and supreme allied commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II, reaching the rank of a five-star General of the Army. Image: Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur With son West Point Cadet Douglas MacArthur, 1899 Mary Pinkney Hardy, always known as Pinky, was born on May 22, 1852, at her family’s plantation, Riveredge, just outside of Norfolk, Virginia. Her father, Thomas Asbury Hardy, migrated to Norfolk in…

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Authors, Civil War Women

Elizabeth Meriwether

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Writer and Women’s Rights Activist Elizabeth Avery Meriwether (1824–1916) was a Tennessee author and publisher. Because of her vocal opposition to the Union Army, General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered her to leave Memphis in December 1862. Meriwether was also a prominent activist in the women’s suffrage movement, and is depicted in a life-size bronze statue in the Women’s Suffrage Memorial in Knoxville, Tennessee. Image: Tennesee Woman’s Suffrage Memorial Depicts (left to right) Lizzie Crozier French, Anne Dallas Dudley and Elizabeth Meriwether, representing East, Middle and West Tennessee respectively. The statue was dedicated on August 26, 2006 in Knoxville’s Market Square. Elizabeth Avery was born in Bolivar, Tennessee, on January 19, 1824. Financial problems led the family to move to Memphis…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Anne Key

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Wife of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney Anne Key (1783-1855) was the sister of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words to our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, during the dramatic bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. She was also the wife of Roger B. Taney, the eleventh United States Attorney General and the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. Image: Anne and Roger Brooke Taney House Frederick, Maryland The property includes the house, detached kitchen, root cellar, smokehouse and slave quarters in the rear, and interprets the life of Roger and Anne Key Taney, who lived here until 1821, as well as various aspects…

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