Julia Ward Howe

American composer and suffragist

• Born: May 27, 1819
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: October 17, 1910
• Place of death: Newport, Rhode Island

Howe is best remembered for composing the lyrics to the patriotic song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and was an active crusader for women’s right to vote.

Early Life

Julia Ward Howe was born Julia Ward, the second daughter and the fourth of seven children of Samuel Ward and Julia Rush Cutler Ward. Another Julia had previously been born to the Wards, only to die at the age of three. All the surviving Ward children enjoyed good relations with one another for most of their lives, especially the girls. Samuel Ward’s ancestors had migrated to the United States from Gloucester, England, and settled in Rhode Island, a state that two Wards served as early governors. Samuel Ward himself was a partner in the prestigious Wall Street banking firm Prime, Ward, and King. Julia Cutler Ward, young Julia’s mother, had been born in Boston but had relatives living in South Carolina, where her own mother had been a southern belle. Among the Cutler ancestors was General Francis Marion, the celebrated “Swamp Fox” of the American Revolution.

Little Julia, or “Little Miss Ward,” as her family called her, had an intelligent nature combined with a sometimes fiery temper. As an adolescent, she developed scholarly habits that would remain with her throughout her life. Her father saw to it that all of his daughters were well educated; their private tutor, Joseph Cogswell, had them follow the Harvard curriculum of the early nineteenth century. Julia was also tutored in the Romance languages and took lessons in voice and piano from an Italian master.

All these things Mr. Ward was able to provide because of his comfortable financial status. He had a roomy, well-decorated house built at the corner of Bond Street and Broadway; one section of this dwelling housed his private art gallery. Mr. Ward was also, however, a strict and deeply religious man; he did not like his daughters to attend the theater or to mix too freely in New York society. Indeed, he delayed their entrance into society formally for some time, much to Julia’s disappointment.

Once Julia entered New York society, she was an instant favorite. She was a petite young woman, only five feet tall. She had bright blue eyes and red hair combined with a creamy white skin in a lovely, oval-shaped face. She began to attend New York parties with some regularity when her brother, Samuel Ward, Jr., married Emily Astor of the wealthy Astor family, in 1837.

Julia Ward faced two tragedies in her early life. Her mother died when she was five; she had been tubercular and died of a fever days after giving birth to her seventh child. Mr. Ward was devastated by the early death of his wife, who was only twenty-eight; he invited her intelligent, witty sister, Miss Eliza Cutler, to reside in his home and care for his children. Little Julia showed much of the wit for which her aunt was noted; she also liked to write poetry, as her mother had done.

Julia had recently turned twenty when her father died. At that time Edward Ward, an uncle, looked after the orphaned children and managed their finances. Julia was deeply upset by her father’s death. Shortly after, in 1841, she journeyed to visit friends in Boston to try to end her depression. Among her Massachusetts acquaintances was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a longtime friend of her brother, Samuel. While in Boston, Julia accompanied Longfellow on a visit to the Perkins Institute for the Blind. There she met the school’s director, a famous educator and reformer, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe . Dr. Howe, also a physician, was a tall and handsome bachelor of forty. Julia, now twenty-two, was attracted to him. They first appeared publicly as a couple in 1842 at a farewell dinner given for Charles Dickens in Boston, and shortly thereafter, their engagement was announced. They were married on April 23, 1843, after what is recorded as a stormy courtship.

The transition from girlhood and a relatively happy life among the cultured society of New York to that of a wife, mother, and homemaker in the unfamiliar setting of Boston was not easy for Julia Ward Howe. In New York she had been a favorite child in the extended Ward family living on clannish Bond Street; she had a quick wit, a winning charm, and skill as a conversationalist—all of which endeared her to New York society on the whole. In Boston, however, the new Mrs. Howe was a stranger. Her husband’s friends included such men as Horace Mann, an educator of the deaf, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Transcendentalist, and while she got along well with these men, Boston society as a group did not embrace her.

Some of Howe’s own actions caused Bostonians to keep their distance from her during the early years of her marriage. She did not know how to entertain guests in her home, because she had had servants to do that in New York. She also became a controversial figure because of her gift for repartee, which she could at times direct sharply against people. Howe had always been high-spirited—meaning that she had a mind of her own and often spoke her opinions. These traits not only hurt her in Boston society, where women were demure and passive, but also caused trouble between her and Dr. Howe, especially during the 1850’s.

Dr. Howe was attracted to his wife for her beauty and vitality, but he never reconciled himself to her independent spirit. One of the greatest sources of argument for the couple was her literary career. She had a volume of lyric poetry published anonymously in 1854 under the title Passion Flowers , and some of the pieces in it proved too passionate to meet with her husband’s approval. Dr. Howe was infuriated when Julia Ward Howe (by rumor) became publicly known as the book’s author. Dr. Howe did not approve of women working outside their homes, and this was especially true for his own wife, who had their six children to rear.

Life’s Work

In the tense, unstable years before the Civil War, Dr. Howe did turn to Julia for literary assistance. He was an active abolitionist and edited a newspaper, The Commonwealth, to aid the cause. Julia Ward Howe wrote literary columns for this paper and reviewed books, plays, and concerts, and was also its proofreader. Also, during the late 1850’s, Howe and her husband helped shelter fugitive slaves, who were fleeing to Canada and freedom, in their South Boston home.

When the Civil War broke out, Howe was frightened that the North would not win. She had hoped to do volunteer work to aid the army, but she was not as adept at bandage-rolling and knitting as were her women friends. Instead, she joined the women’s auxiliary unit of the United States Sanitary Commission, of which Dr. Howe was a prominent member. This group worked for sanitary conditions for soldiers in camps and in hospitals; the organization was a forerunner of the American Red Cross.

It was on work for the American Sanitary Commission that Dr. and Mrs. Howe traveled to Washington, D.C., in November of 1861. Howe, her minister, and his wife were taken by carriage one morning to review the Union troops just outside the city. A sudden Confederate raid, however, forced them all to march back into Washington. During the slow ride, Howe and her companions sang “John Brown’s Body,” a popular tune of the day. Her friends in the carriage suggested that she write more meaningful lyrics for the song. At dawn the next morning, Howe arose from her bed in the Willard Hotel to write the poetry that would make the song beloved and famous. Howe wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” on the stationery of the American Sanitary Commission on the morning of November 18, 1861, and in February of 1862, it was published in the Atlantic Monthly.

The hymn quickly became a favorite, probably because of its inspirational quality. Howe had written her finest poem for this hymn; her language was evocative of the Bible and indicative of patriotism. The men of the Union Army sang the new tune as a spur to fight on for freedom for all men in the bloody months of the Civil War. Howe was always proud to have written “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” for she felt it was her own contribution to the cause of justice for which the Union Army was struggling.

Howe had a full and illustrious public career even after the war years. In 1868, she became a founding member of the New England Woman’s Club, a group that advocated the improvement of woman’s place in American society; she would serve as its president for forty years. A similar group on the national level was the Association for the Advancement of Women, which Howe helped begin during the mid-1870’s; she would lead it as president from 1878 to 1888. Howe firmly espoused her beliefs that women had to be allowed the freedom of a complete education and admission into the professions; she also became an advocate of suffrage for women.

As an elderly man, Dr. Howe suffered increasingly from ill health. Howe nursed him in his final illness and was with him when he died of a stroke in January of 1876. In her widowhood, she became even more dedicated to the causes of woman suffrage and world peace. She traveled throughout the United States and Canada, inspiring women to form women’s clubs and suffrage associations in their cities. She also helped found the Women’s International Peace Association beginning in 1871 and attended conferences in Europe on its behalf. Howe, despite her long life, would not live to see either of these two major causes reach fruition. She firmly believed, however, that the glory in her life had been in waging a noble battle for justice and peace for all men and women. She remained an active lecturer and essayist up to the last day of her life. Howe died in Newport, Rhode Island, at her summer home on October 17, 1910; she was ninety-one years old.

Significance

When Howe died, she was greatly mourned. She had been a popular lecturer and social reformer active in American life for several decades. Although not all Americans agreed with her ideas, almost all admired her courage in living by her convictions. She was also much admired for her great vitality and sound intelligence, which she sustained for all of her ninety-one years.

Howe became a familiar figure at the Boston State House, where she testified for many years before the state legislature on bills advocating women’s and children’s rights, world peace, female suffrage, and improvement of sanitation systems. In her earliest days as a public speaker, Howe had specialized in lectures on philosophers (her favorites were Immanuel Kant and Baruch Spinoza) and religion. After reading her essays to her friends in her home during the mid-1860’s, she was asked to speak at area churches as well. On her first such lecture in her own Unitarian church in January of 1864, she wore a sedate black dress and placed a white lace cap on her head; this garment was to become her standard dress on lecture platforms in the United States and Europe.

At the time of her death, Howe had written four volumes of poetry, two plays (one of which was produced), a memoir of Dr. Samuel G. Howe, a fine biography of Margaret Fuller, and several books of essays reflecting her travel experiences, social views, and religious beliefs. Howe accomplished all this in an era when women were strongly discouraged from having public careers.

Bibliography

Clifford, Deborah P. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979. A scholarly study with illustrations and a good bibliography. Clifford is the first modern author to write a life of Howe. She judges Howe’s literary talents for the reader, demonstrating the brilliance of the lectures in comparison with the poetry. Interesting discussion of Howe’s difficulties with her marriage.

Elliott, Maud H., and Laura E. Richards. Julia Ward Howe: 1819-1910. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1915. Howe’s two daughters won a Pulitzer Prize for this excellent study of their mother. They relied on many of Howe’s own letters to tell her fascinating story—her personal life as well as her public life is recounted in this lively narrative.

Grant, Mary H. Private Woman, Public Person: An Account of the Life of Julia Ward Howe from 1819-1868. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson, 1994. A feminist biography, covering Howe’s life from birth until her decision to become an activist on behalf of women. Describes her transformation from a frustrated housewife to the first president of the New England Women’s Club.

Hall, Florence Marion Howe. Memories Grave and Gay. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1918. The eldest surviving daughter of Julia Ward Howe gives the reader an intimate portrait of her mother in her reminiscences. Hall includes chapters on the antislavery movement, the Civil War, and her mother’s work on behalf of soldiers and women. She also pays tribute to her mother in closing this book.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Story of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” New York: Harper & Brothers, 1916. Howe’s eldest daughter re-creates the scene of the writing of the patriotic hymn. She also details how the song was used on subsequent occasions and how its fame affected her mother. Hall also carefully recalls the turmoil, bitterness, anguish, and tragedy of the Civil War era that affected the hymn’s reception.

Howe, Julia Ward. Reminiscences: 1819-1899. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1899. Howe, from the perspective of age eighty, reminisces about many interesting and famous people she met in her life, including such luminaries as Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and William Wordsworth. She also discusses her husband and their life together.

Howe, Maud. The Eleventh Hour in the Life of Julia Ward Howe. Boston: Little, Brown, 1911. Howe’s daughter wrote this small volume immediately after her mother’s death to read to family friends. It gives insight into the old age of a remarkably spry and solidly intelligent woman who faced her final years with unusual vigor and courage. Emphasizes Howe’s keen wit and her need to give of herself for worthy causes.

Tharp, Louise H. Three Saints and a Sinner: Julia Ward Howe, Louisa, Annie, and Sam Ward. Boston: Little, Brown, 1956. A well-researched book with a good bibliography. The author keeps the reader eager for more of her engrossing and well-paced narrative. She is good at presenting the essential interactions among the Ward siblings, as she places them in the social background of nineteenth century New York, Boston, and Europe.

Williams, Gary. Hungry Heart: The Literary Emergence of Julia Ward Howe. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. Reexamines Howe’s literary career and her emergence as a writer. Analyzes Passion Flowers and Howe’s unpublished story about a hermaphrodite protagonist, relating these writings to Howe’s life.

Ziegler, Valerie H. Diva Julia: The Public Romance and Private Agony of Julia Ward Howe. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2003. Balanced biography, depicting Howe as a “superwoman,” juggling the demands of a troubled marriage, her children, and her desire to write and participate in the world.