Mary Ashton Rice Livermore

Mary Livermore’s career during the Civil War exemplified the emergence of women as both a moral and practical force for reform, a force that altered the political landscape of the late nineteenth century. Livermore, who was strongly religious, plunged into charitable and public works to aid wounded and disadvantaged soldiers. Starting as a volunteer, she became a key figure in the movement to create a national “sanitary commission” to look after these soldiers. Following the war, Livermore transferred her energies to the fight for women’s rights. She founded a suffrage newspaper and served as president of the American Woman Suffrage Association (1875–78).