Social Reformer. She was an prominent antislavery advocate, the first woman to found a newspaper in the United States, a prominent lecturer, a feminist and a Civil War nurse. She was was a staunch advocate of feminism, but disagreed with most of the more prominent feminist in many significant points; she saw the advocacy of bloomers, for example, as simply a recognition that pants were more important than dresses in society. She became an abolitionist when she moved, with her husband James, to Kentucky and saw the evils of slavery at first hand…but was chosen by the Minnesota legislature to go to Washington to convince President Lincoln not to commute the sentences of 330 Dakota Sioux, prisoners after the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862 in Minnesota. She was a nurse, but disagreed vehemently with the surgeons of her time, and the other women who came to help during the war. She was the first woman newspaper editor in the country, and was the first woman to sit in the Senate Press gallery. She established the Pittsburgh Daily Visitor, in Pittsburgh, in 1848. This was moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was burned by a mob, because of her strong anti-Slavery position. With the help of friends, she established a second antislavery journal, the St. Cloud Democrat. When the war broke out, Swisshelm sold the newspaper and moved to Washington to tend to the wounded soldiers. She was one of the few women to go to Fredericksburg, after the battle, and graphically describes the poor conditions of the soldiers, at the front, and the difficulties she found trying to find the means to tend to them. After the war Swisshelm retired to Swissvale, Pennsylvania, where she wrote her autobiography, "Half a Century" (1880).
Social Reformer. She was an prominent antislavery advocate, the first woman to found a newspaper in the United States, a prominent lecturer, a feminist and a Civil War nurse. She was was a staunch advocate of feminism, but disagreed with most of the more prominent feminist in many significant points; she saw the advocacy of bloomers, for example, as simply a recognition that pants were more important than dresses in society. She became an abolitionist when she moved, with her husband James, to Kentucky and saw the evils of slavery at first hand…but was chosen by the Minnesota legislature to go to Washington to convince President Lincoln not to commute the sentences of 330 Dakota Sioux, prisoners after the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862 in Minnesota. She was a nurse, but disagreed vehemently with the surgeons of her time, and the other women who came to help during the war. She was the first woman newspaper editor in the country, and was the first woman to sit in the Senate Press gallery. She established the Pittsburgh Daily Visitor, in Pittsburgh, in 1848. This was moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was burned by a mob, because of her strong anti-Slavery position. With the help of friends, she established a second antislavery journal, the St. Cloud Democrat. When the war broke out, Swisshelm sold the newspaper and moved to Washington to tend to the wounded soldiers. She was one of the few women to go to Fredericksburg, after the battle, and graphically describes the poor conditions of the soldiers, at the front, and the difficulties she found trying to find the means to tend to them. After the war Swisshelm retired to Swissvale, Pennsylvania, where she wrote her autobiography, "Half a Century" (1880).
Bio by: Cump
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