Mary Livermore

Mary Ashton Livermore (née Rice; December 19, 1820 – May 23, 1905) was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. In addition to articles, she published numerous books of poetry, essays, and stories.

When the American Civil War broke out, Livermore volunteered at the regional headquarters of the United States Sanitary Commission at Chicago and worked extensively for it as a nurse and also an organizer. She helped to organize the 1863 North-western Sanitary Fair and in 1887 published her reminiscences of nursing during the war as My Story of the War.

After the war, she instituted a newspaper advocating for women's suffrage called the Agitator, where she continued as an associate editor after its merger with the Woman's Journal. She also lectured widely, mostly on behalf of the women's suffrage and temperance movements. She delivered the historical address for the centennial celebration of the first settlement in the Northwest Territory in Marietta, Ohio on July 15, 1788. For many years, she traveled 25,000 miles (40,000 km) annually and spoke five nights each week for five months of the year.