Thursday, March 01, 2007

Scheme, Connive, and Maneuver As Well As Any Man

I'll probaby be a goddamn celebrity someday!
Wow, we just had a little earthquake a few minutes ago. How fun! I like the little ones. I was just sitting here trying to decide who I was going to write about tonight, Matilda Joslyn Gage or Anna Ella Carroll, and since I was looking at a picture of the latter when my desk started rattling, I'm taking it as a sign. Today is the first day of the National Women's History Month, so I wanted to learn about some of those UN-well-behaved women who did make history.

During the civil war, President Abraham Lincoln took military strategic advice from Anna Ella Carroll that helped kick serious ass against the Confederacy. Of course, because she was a woman, Lincoln decided "for political and military reasons," it was better not to tell anyone. Yet. He promised that he'd give her public recognition later, but he went and got himself assassinated before he actually did. The only real recognition she received was indirect, and by another cool woman. In 1864, Francis B. Carpenter did a painting of Lincoln and his cabinet signing the Emancipation Proclamation, where she left an empty chair for the "unrecognized member of the cabinet."


Chair reserved for Anna Ella Carroll.
Among many other military and political things Anna spent her life working on, one was a writer. She wrote articles for several newspapers, and in the 1850's wrote a book, The American Battle, which was about political corruption at the polls.

Political corruption at the polls, even in the 1850's. Wow. I guess.

Now it's your turn. Go learn about some amazing women in history. Here's a good place to start, the National Women's History Project.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go here and report you felt it: http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/ca/
I don't think I felt it, altough I felt dizzy standing up a few minutes ago. but it might not have been the earthquake. Damn! Not fair!

Anonymous said...

Be careful what you dig for in our country's history. You might not like what you find. Remember Planet of the Apes?

Donna Piranha said...

I love Planet of the Apes. I'd rather find something like that than what I saw on the news the other day. Scary stuff. I'm not watching it again for another year.

Anonymous said...

You need to do more thorough research into Ms. Carroll. She was, for the most part, a nuisance to the Lincoln Administration and not one shred of reliable documentation exists to support the claims that she was in any way responsible for " The Tennessee Strategy." Also, the painter Carpenter was a "he"...not a "she."