Description
An abolitionist, when the Civil War started, Mary Livermore joined and organized a volunteer support network for Union hospitals and raised funds for the U.S. Sanitary Commission. She wrote and published books on nurses in the Civil War, and the anti-slavery movement, and advocated that husbands and wives should be equal partners. Convinced that women’s suffrage was the key to social reform, Livermore became president of the Association for the Advancement of Women and the Massachusetts Women’s Suffrage Association. Her suffrage work, took her on speaking tours, traveling over 20,000 miles a year often speaking five nights a week for five months of the year. In 1895, she published her autobiography.
Civil War Nurses
Except for midwifery few female nurses publicly practiced medicine before the Civil War. When the war started both Confederate and Union medical departments preferred male nurses. As battlefield causalities grew, a severe shortage of male nurses required injured soldiers to assist their fellow patients. Women volunteers quickly filled the void. Over 3000 women served as nurses during the Civil War. In addition to providing medical care, they fed and comforted patients, read, and wrote letters for the soldiers, and staffed hospital kitchens and laundries.
This Mary Livermore mug is part of our US Civil War series profiling participants in the War Between the States. Thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers fought in battles such as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. We honor their sacrifices by telling their stories.
The biographical History Mugs were created to teach and inspire individuals to learn about our diverse and interesting history. The biographies were researched and written by history enthusiast, Robert Compton. He colorized most of the historic photos and images used on the mugs, which were originally black and white or sepia tone. The images and biographies are imprinted on mugs at his studio in rural Vermont.
- Mugs are food and microwave safe.
- To preserve photographic quality we recommend hand washing.
- Mugs are usually shipped within 3-5 days.
- Shipping charges are lower when buying multiple mugs.
