Elizabeth E. Hutter, an influential Civil War nurse and fundraiser, described by Abraham Lincoln as "one of the very best friends of the soldiers"
Later in 1863, she presented Lincoln with a new type of earmuff for use of Union soldiers. On her behalf Lincoln wrote to Quartermaster General, Montgomery C. Meigs, asking him to "Please see Mrs. Hutter, who has given most of her time to the soldiers, during the war, and who wishes to present an invention of hers for the soldier's comfort, which she would like to have introduced into the service . . . I certainly would prefer having it over my ears in cold weather, to their being naked." (October 16, 1863, Collected Works, 6:519).