Philip Phillips and his wife, Eugenia were two of the brightest stars pre-Civil War Washington’s elite government and social circles. Both from prominent Charleston SC Jewish families, the Phillipses moved after they married to Mobile AL, where Philip became one of the most respected attorneys of his day. He declined reelection after a term in the US Congress, and they moved to Washington D.C., where Philip opened a practice the dealt solely with the Supreme Court Cases.

Fannie A. Jackson suffered the same hardships shared by women throughout the South. Her husband had been conscripted for the duration of the war, and she was left to face growing shortages on their small family farm in northern Georgia. She worked in the fields, took care of the animals, and somehow found time to spin and cook for her small children.

Frances “Fannie” Anne Kemble might best be describes as a Renaissance woman. The actress/author/public reader was born in London England, the oldest daughter of actors Charles Kemble and Maria Theresa De Camp. Although she never really liked acting, she gained critical success in Europe and America. Kemble was fascinated by the new republic of America, and in 1834, while touring with the Park Theater Company in New York, she met and married Pierce Butler, a Pennsylvanian heir to a large Georgian plantation.

American writer and abolitionist, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), a forceful indictment of slavery and one of the most powerful novels of its kind in American literature. Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, Stowe was the daughter of the liberal clergyman Lyman Beecher. Her husband, the Reverend Calvin Ellis Stowe, was also an ardent opponent of slavery. Her first book, The Mayflower, or Sketches of Scenes and Characters Among the Descendants of the Pilgrims, appeared in 1843.

An African American who fled slavery and then guided runaway slaves to freedom in the North for more than a decade before the American Civil War (1861-1865). During the war she served as a scout, spy, and nurse for the United States Army. In later years she continued to work for the rights of blacks and women.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, her real name was Jennie Hodgers, and she arrived in the United States as a shipboard stowaway and at the time of the Civil War was living in Belvedere, Illinois. Dressed as a man, she enlisted as a private in Company G / 95 th Illinois Volunteer Infantry on Aug. 6, 1862. Her regiment was mustered into federal service at Camp Fuller Sep. 4, and a month later departed for Grand Junction, Tennessee, where the 95th was assigned to the Army of Tennessee.

Quite naturally, shy young Lieutenant Grant lost his heart to friendly Julia; and made his love known, as he said himself years later, "in the most awkward manner imaginable." She told her side of the story--her father opposed the match, saying, "the boy is too poor," and she answered angrily that she was poor herself. The "poverty" on her part came from a slave-owner's lack of ready cash.

Howe was and is most famous for having written the words to a war song, "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." She worked with her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, on abolitionist causes. We do not know whether Julia agreed with all Samuel did in this area, but Samuel Howe is often believed to be one of the "Secret Six" who bankrolled John Brown’s actions. For the liberation of the slaves the Howes would back war.

The daughter of a Scots soldier in the British army, she was born in the army camp at Caffraria on the African coast in 1842. She had moved to Providence, Rhode Island and married a mechanic, Robert S. Brownell, and was only 19 when Fort Sumter surrendered to the Rebel forces in May of 1861. The army having been her whole life, she signed up with him the day after into Company 11, Rhode Island Infantry, a three month enlistment.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kate Cumming's family moved to Montreal, and then to the bustling cotton port of Mobile, Alabama. Early in the Civil War, Kate was inspired by an address of the Rev. Benjamin M. Miller of Mobile to volunteer to help in Confederate hospitals. Kate was also greatly influenced by the work of Florence Nightingale, having known at least two people who had served with Nigthingale during the Crimean War.