Lincoln’S Loyal Lady

Lincolns Loyal Lady: Anna Ella Carroll, a BriefThe story of Abraham Lincolns female kitchen cabinet member?a formidable, trailblazing woman?is a tale some dont want to be told.Anna Ella Carroll broke all the rules for a woman of the Civil War era. A politician, pamphleteer, adviser to President Lincoln, and military secret agent, Carroll operated in the highest political and government circles for more than a quarter of a century.Washington, DC, the White House, May 12, 1862I will tell you what Mr. Lincoln said of you last night. Miss Anna Ella Carroll is the head of the Carroll race, and when the history of this war is written, she will stand a good bit taller than ever old Charles [Carroll] did.Rep. William Mitchell (R-Ind.), 13 May 1862The Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, former chairman, Committee on the Conduct of the War, May 10, 1876, House Misc. Doc. 58, May 18, 1878, p. 24:In the very last interview with Mr. Stanton, just before his death, he referred to your [Carrolls] services . . . in the strongest terms he could express, and . . . stated that if his life should be spared, he would discharge the great duty of seeing your services to the country properly recognized and rewarded. Your claim is righteous and just, if ever there was one and, for the honor of my country, I trust and hope that you will be suitably rewarded, and so declared before the world.Lucinda B. Chandler, Anna Ella Carroll: The Great Unrecognized Military Genius of the War of Rebellion, Godeys Magazine, 1896Can we afford to leave in the archive of our history only this record of ineffable meanness and ingratitude?Kay Larsons insightful account of the contributions made to our nation by Anna Ella Carroll redresses a major inequity in the historiography of nineteenth-century America.Col. James S. Wheeler, professor of history retired, US Military Academy, West Point, New York