Life span: 05/27/1819 to 10/17/1910TabsLife SummaryFull name: Julia Ward HowePlace of Birth: New York, NYBurial Place: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MABirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: FemaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Spouses: 1No. of Children: 6Family: Samuel Ward, Jr. (father), Julia Rush (mother), Samuel Gridley Howe (husband, 1843)Occupation: Writer or ArtistRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderOther Affiliations: Women’s Rights Note Cards Julia Ward Howe (American National Biography) ScholarshipBy far Howe's most famous work, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. She wrote the poem in 1861 while in Washington, D.C., with her husband, who was helping distribute supplies to Massachusetts regiments. Set to the music of "John Brown's Body," her poem became the rallying song for the North during the final year of the Civil War. The "Battle Hymn" also brought Howe the fame required to more actively pursue a writing career. In 1867 she produced eleven issues of a literary magazine, Northern Lights. That same year she wrote about her European travels in From the Oak to the Olive (1868). In 1870 she founded the weekly Woman's Journal, a successful, widely-read suffragist magazine to which she contributed for twenty years. She edited a defense of coeducation titled Sex and Education in 1874 and brought out a collection of her own addresses, Modern Society, in 1880. She published a biography of Margaret Fuller in 1883, and another collection of lectures, Is Polite Society Polite?, in 1895. Her popular memoirs, Reminiscences, appeared in 1899. Indeed, Howe continued to write lectures, poems, and articles until her death.Sandra F. VanBurkleo and Mary Jo Miles, "Howe, Julia Ward," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00348.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 11/19/1861 11/19/1861 Julia Ward Howe composes the verses that will become the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" 02/01/1862 02/01/1862 Verses of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly Documents Images Julia Ward Howe, photograph, circa 1861 Julia Ward Howe, photograph, circa 1861, detail Julia Ward Howe, engraving Julia Ward Howe, engraving, detail Julia Ward Howe, aged eighty-nine Julia Ward Howe, aged eighty-nine, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Grant, Mary H. Private Woman, Public Person: An Account of the Life of Julia Ward Howe from 1819 to 1868. Brooklyn: Carlson Pub., 1994. View Record Clifford, Deborah Pickman. Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979. View Record
Julia Ward Howe (American National Biography) ScholarshipBy far Howe's most famous work, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. She wrote the poem in 1861 while in Washington, D.C., with her husband, who was helping distribute supplies to Massachusetts regiments. Set to the music of "John Brown's Body," her poem became the rallying song for the North during the final year of the Civil War. The "Battle Hymn" also brought Howe the fame required to more actively pursue a writing career. In 1867 she produced eleven issues of a literary magazine, Northern Lights. That same year she wrote about her European travels in From the Oak to the Olive (1868). In 1870 she founded the weekly Woman's Journal, a successful, widely-read suffragist magazine to which she contributed for twenty years. She edited a defense of coeducation titled Sex and Education in 1874 and brought out a collection of her own addresses, Modern Society, in 1880. She published a biography of Margaret Fuller in 1883, and another collection of lectures, Is Polite Society Polite?, in 1895. Her popular memoirs, Reminiscences, appeared in 1899. Indeed, Howe continued to write lectures, poems, and articles until her death.Sandra F. VanBurkleo and Mary Jo Miles, "Howe, Julia Ward," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00348.html.