Category: Civil War Women

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…

Wife of Union General Charles Russell Lowell Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843-1905) was a social reformer who is best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890. She recognized that low wages and unemployment were primary causes of poverty, and began to support organized labor and binding arbitration. Lowell raised money for striking garment workers and boycotted stores that underpaid and overworked their salesgirls. Image: Josephine Shaw Lowell in 1869 Josephine Shaw was born on December 16, 1843, in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, into a wealthy New England family. Her parents, Francis George and Sarah Blake Shaw, were philanthropists and intellectuals who encouraged their five children to study, learn and become involved in their communities. The Shaws were wealthy Bostonians…

Wife of Union General Fitz John Porter Fitz John Porter was a career U.S. Army officer and a Union General during the Civil War. He is most known for his performance at the Second Battle of Bull Run and his subsequent court martial, caused by his political rivals. After the war, he worked for almost 25 years to reclaim his reputation and restore his name to the army’s roll. Image: General Fitz John Porter Harriet Pierson Cook was born in New York in May 1833. Fitz John Porter was born on August 31, 1822, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He came from a family prominent in American naval service; his cousins were Admirals David Dixon Porter, and David Glasgow Farragut. Nevertheless,…

Wife of Union General Strong Vincent At Gettysburg, under his own initiative, Colonel Strong Vincent moved his men to Little Round Top and saved that important hill from immediate capture by the Confederates. Image: Save the Ground at All Hazard By Keith Rocco Elizabeth Vincent had bade goodbye to her husband Strong Vincent the day after their wedding, as he left to fight in the Civil War. On the Gettysburg battlefield, Pennsylvanians like Vincent were fighting to defend their home state against an invasion by the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Strong Vincent was born on June 17, 1837, in Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania, son of Bethuel B. Vincent and Sarah Ann Strong Vincent. In…