Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Clara Barton, Julia Ward
Howe, and Sarah Josepha Hale came from backgrounds that ranged from
abject enslavement to New York City's elite. Surmounting social and
political obstacles, they emerged before and during the worst
crisis in American history, the Civil War. Their actions became
strands in a tapestry of courage, truth, and patriotism that
influenced the lives of millions—and illuminated a new way forward
for the nation. In this collective biography, Robert C. Plumb
traces these five remarkable women's awakenings to analyze how
their experiences shaped their responses to the challenges,
disappointments, and joys they encountered on their missions. Here
is Tubman, fearless conductor on the Underground Railroad,
alongside Stowe, the author who awakened the nation to the evils of
slavery. Barton led an effort to provide medical supplies for field
hospitals, and Union soldiers sang Howe's "Battle Hymn of the
Republic" on the march. And, amid national catastrophe, Hale's
campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday moved North and
South toward reconciliation.