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Julia Ward Howe, who is best known for her literary and woman suffrage work, was born on May 27, 1819 into a prominent New York City family that had a distinguished lineage on both sides. While she was raised in a conservative, Christian home, as a young woman she rebelled against her father's strong Calvinist beliefs. Even though she became a liberal thinker, she always stood firm in her religious convictions.
Since Julia's mother died when she was only five years old, she was raised by her father with the help of various family members. Her father saw to it that she received the best education available. She attended various private girls’ schools and was also tutored at home. She grew into a gracious and intelligent young woman with a strong literary bent. Due to her remarkable abilities, she was readily accepted into the society of such notables as Margaret Fuller, Horace Mann, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
In 1843, Julia married the Boston Reformer, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, nearly 20 years her senior. While it was a stormy marriage, at best, they had four children. Julia proved to be a remarkable mother and all of her children went on to become eminently successful in the fields of science and literature.
Though Dr. Howe did not approve of married women in public life, Julia did, however, pursue her writing career, even against her husband’s wishes. In 1954, despite her husband’s disapproval, Julia anonymously published her first volume of poems, “Passions Flowers”. It was met with success and she continued writing and publishing volumes of poetry, several plays, and many magazine articles on various themes. This caused friction between husband and wife as Dr. Howe emphatically objected to Julia’s speaking in public and pursuing her literary career.
In the fall of 1861, after the Civil War began, Mrs. Howe accompanied her husband to Washington, D.C., where he was involved in medical service for the government. During the visit, Julia became deeply disturbed as she noted the growing angry mood of the Nation. Daily, Mrs. Howe watched troops marching off to war singing “John Brown’s Body”, a song about an unconventional man who had been hanged in his efforts to free the slaves. One day, a friend suggested that she write some “decent words for that tune”. Julia agreed. That evening, while in bed, the words came to Julia. She rose in the middle of the night and scrawled the verses of the poem that was to become famous as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. The poem was published in the Atlantic Monthly and Mrs. Howe received a mere $5 for this literary work. But soon the song was being sung by regiments all over the north and it wasn’t long before the entire nation was united in singing, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord...” This became one of our finest national hymns, finding its way into almost every American hymnal.
By the time she reached her eighties, Julia had become a national figure, beloved by the American people. In 1908, two years before she died at the age of ninety-one, Julia Ward Howe was the first woman to be elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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