Annie+Wittenmyer


 * Annie Wittenmyer **
 * Original Author: Takea Burrage, ENG206 SP10 **
 * Revised Author: Danielle Graff, ENG 340 FL11 **

Annie Wittenmyer was born Sarah Ann Turner on August 26, 1827 in Sandy Springs, Ohio to John G. Turner and Elizabeth Smith Turner (Daniels). Unlike parents of that time, her parents regarded education as equally important for both boys and girls; subsequently she was sent to a seminary for young ladies (Wesson). From an early age, she discovered a talent for writing, and she had her first poem published when she was 12 years old. Annie married William Wittenmyer, a much older merchant from a nearby town, when she was 20 years old. In spite of the age difference, all accounts point to their marriage being a happy one. They both decided to pursue opportunities in the west, and moved to Keokuk, Iowa in 1850. Having only recently become a state, Iowa did not have public schools available at this time. In Keokuk, few parents could afford the financial means to send their children to private schools. This became important for Annie to remedy because, like her parents, she believed everyone deserved an education, whether they were rich or poor. In March of 1853, she started a tuition-free school for underprivileged children. At first, she held classes in her home, but as the size of her school grew, she eventually had to move it to a warehouse. Local citizens and visitors started helping to support the school, having seen the example that Annie had set. In fact, one visiting Chicago businessman overheard Annie charging 30 textbooks to her own account because her students could not afford them, and was so amazed by her generosity that he paid for the books himself. Not only did Annie start the school that helped teach so many, she started a Sunday school class for children whose families didn’t attend church. By 1857, the Chatham Square Methodist Episcopal Church was built to accommodate the congregation that had grown from her Sunday school. In 1860, when Annie was just 33, her husband William died, leaving her with two children to take care of (Daniels). One was William’s daughter, Sally, from his previous marriage. The other was the only one out of her four children to survive past early childhood: her son Charles Albert.

During the Civil War, Keokuk was one of the centers for the Iowa war effort, and both Union and Confederate soldiers were taken there for medical attention (Wesson). Annie volunteered at the Estes House, a hotel that was converted into an army hospital, and it was there that she first discovered the horrible conditions that soldiers faced: mainly bad food and filthy campsites. In 1861, Annie became an active member of the Keokuk Ladies’ Soldiers’ Aid Society that had formed. While her parents and sister took care of her affairs and child, Annie fulfilled her role as secretary for the Society, traveling to army camps and spreading the word about the needs of the soldiers. She even discovered her own brother, David, in one such camp hospital, sick with dysentery and typhoid fever, with only rotten food to eat. It is of this memory Annie wrote, “it was an inside view of hospitals that made me hate war as I had never known how to hate it before”. The local newspapers reported Annie’s efforts, and other Iowan women were encouraged to help by donating their time and money. Annie ultimately distributed more than $150,000 worth of supplies, risking her life in the process by still insisting to travel among the army camps. In September of 1862, Annie was appointed to the Iowa State Sanitary Commission, the first time a woman was specifically named in an Iowa legislative document. As the state’s first Sanitary Agent, Annie reported unclean conditions, requested supplies, organized regular and medical leave and discharges, and wrote letters to families of wounded or killed soldiers. The rival all-male organization, the Iowa Army Sanitary Commission, attempted to take control and the two groups feuded during Annie’s presidency (“Annie Turner Wittenmyer”). Though she was successful in overturning charges of mismanagement, Annie left the Commission in May 1864. Annie then became an agent of the U.S. Christian Commission in 1864 (Martin). In this capacity she became responsible for the staffing and general supervision of dietary kitchens in U.S. army hospitals. It is thought that Annie did more than anyone else to provide care for the sick and wounded in the Union army (Daniels). General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union army, once said, “no soldier on the firing line gave more heroic service than she did”.

In 1863, Annie also started a new passion of helping children orphaned by the war, and she helped organize the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home Association (Martin). She used her connections with the Ladies’ Aid Society and Iowa newspapers to advertise the need for a facility and to raise money (“The Annie Wittenmyer Home”). Heavy contributions were made, and Iowa soldiers alone raised $45,263 to support the cause. The first Orphans’ home was opened in the summer of 1864 in Farmington, Iowa. But in just one year, the Farmington Home became extremely overcrowded, and while a second home in Cedar Falls was already under construction, a third home was looked into. Because there were several camps used to house and train soldiers in Davenport that were no longer needed after the war, the government donated Camp Kinsman (on present-day Eastern Avenue) to the Association. Consequently, on November 11, 1865, more than 150 orphaned children went to live at the new Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home. Annie herself was the matron of the home until 1867, and the home was renamed after her in 1949 by the Iowa State Legislature.

At the invitation of Bishop Matthew Simpson, Annie went to Philadelphia to organize women’s work in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1868 (Martin). Her work there contributed to the formation of the Ladies’ and Pastors’ Christian Union in 1872, of which she was the secretary. The goal of this Union was to reach out and minister to the disadvantaged. Annie was also elected the first President of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, an organization devoted to the removal of alcohol from American life, in 1874 (Daniels). She held the office for five years, but by 1879 the aims of the Union started changing, and Frances Willard replaced Annie as president (Martin). Annie put emphasis on prayer, education, and moral “suasion” in focusing on the transformation of individuals. However, Willard advocated woman suffrage and many other reforms for the Union to support, causing Annie and many other conservative members to resign. Also during this time, Annie started having her books published. Her book //History of the Women’s Temperance Crusade// was published in 1878 and //Women of the Reformation// in 1884 (Daniels). Again in 1889, Annie took on another title, this time as President of the Women’s Relief Corps. In this capacity she fought for the interests of aged veterans and widows of soldiers (Martin). She was also successful in obtaining federal pensions for hundreds of women who served the Union as military nurses. She wrote her autobiography, //Under the Guns//, in the early 1890’s (Daniels). Finally in 1898, Congress recognized her for her service to the country with a pension of her own (Martin). On February 2, 1900, Annie died of a cardiac asthma attack in Sanatoga, Pennsylvania (Daniels).


 * Works Cited **

“Annie Turner Wittenmyer”. Biography. //American Experience//. PBS. WGBH Educational Foundation: Copyright 1996-2010. Web. <  @http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/grant-wittenmyer/ >.

Daniels, Sarah E. “Wittenmyer, Annie”. Spring 2006. Web..

Martin, Robert F. “Wittenmyer, Sarah Ann “Annie”. //The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa//. University of Iowa Press Digital Editions. The University of Iowa. Web. <  @http://lib-cdm5.iowa.uiowa.edu/uipress/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=415 >. “The Annie Wittenmyer Home”. //Quad City Memory//. Special Collections Center. Davenport Public Library. Copyright 2005. Web.<http://www.qcmemory.org/Default.aspx?PageId=243&nt=207&nt2=239>.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Wesson, Sarah. Librarian, Richardson-Sloane. “Annie Wittenmyer”. //Quad City Memory//. Special Collections Center. Davenport Public Library. Copyright 2005. Web. <[]>.

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