author
Mary C. Vaughan
A largely elusive nineteenth-century writer and reformer, she is best remembered for helping preserve the stories of women whose labor and courage shaped the Civil War. Her work brings together activism, history, and a strong belief that women’s public efforts deserved to be recorded.
1 Audiobook
Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience
by L. P. (Linus Pierpont) Brockett, Mary C. Vaughan
About the author
Mary C. Vaughan was an American writer associated with temperance and women’s rights work in the nineteenth century. One reliable reference links her to the founding of the Woman's New York State Temperance Society alongside Susan B. Anthony, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton serving as president, suggesting that she moved in the circle of major reformers of her day.
She is best known as the coauthor of Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience (1867), written with L. P. Brockett. Contemporary material connected to the book credits her with collecting and organizing much of its material, and the volume remains her most visible legacy.
Surviving biographical details about Vaughan appear to be sparse, so many standard reference pages focus more on her books than on her personal life. Even so, her published work helped document the service, endurance, and leadership of women during the Civil War, giving lasting shape to stories that might otherwise have been forgotten.