Carrie Amelia Nation (November 25, 1846 ? June 9, 1911) was perhaps the most famous person to emerge from the temperance movement?the battles against
alcohol in pre-Prohibition America?due to her habit of attacking saloons with a hatchet. She has been the topic of numerous books, articles and even a
1966 opera at the University of Kansas.
Born Carrie Moore in Garrard County, Kentucky, Nation attributed her passion for fighting liquor to a failed first marriage to an alcoholic. She got
her myth-making last name from her second husband, David Nation.
The spelling of her first name is ambiguous; both "Carrie" and "Carry" are considered correct. Official records list the former, and she herself used
that spelling most of her life; the latter was used by her father in the family Bible. Upon beginning her campaign against liquor in the early 20th
century, she adopted the name Carry A. Nation mainly for its value as a slogan, and had it registered as a trademark in the state of Kansas
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Nation grew up in Garrrard County, Kentucky on present day Fisher Ford Road in what most would consider trying circumstances. She was in ill health
much of the time; her family experienced a number of financial setbacks and moved several times, finally settling in Belton, Missouri. Some sources
indicate that her mother went through periods where she had delusions of being Queen Victoria, and that young Carrie was often tended to in the slave
quarters as a result.
In 1865 she met Dr. Charles Gloyd, and they were married on November 21, 1867. Gloyd was, by all accounts, a severe alcoholic; they separated shortly
before the birth of their daughter, Charlien, and he died less than a year later, in 1869. Nation attributed her passion for fighting liquor to her
failed first marriage to heavy-drinking Gloyd.
Nation acquired a teaching certificate, but was unable to make ends meet in this field. She then met Dr. David A. Nation, an attorney, minister and
newspaper editor, nineteen years her senior. They were married on December 27, 1877, and moved to a cotton plantation near Houston, Texas. Dr. Nation
became involved in the Jaybird-Woodpecker War, and as a result was forced to move back north in 1889, this time to Medicine Lodge, Kansas, where David
found work preaching at a Christian church, and Carrie ran a successful hotel. It was while in Medicine Lodge that she began her temperance work.
A large woman (nearly 6 feet tall and 175 pounds) she described herself as "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what he doesn't
like," and claimed a divine ordination to promote temperance by smashing up bars.
Alone or accompanied by hymn-singing women, she would march into a bar and sing and pray, while smashing bar fixtures and stock with a hatchet.
Between 1900 and 1910 she was arrested some 30 times, and paid her jail fines from lecture-tour fees and sales of souvenir hatchets. She published
newsletters and later in life even appeared in vaudeville.
Nation was a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874, which dealt with issues ranging from health and hygiene, prison reform
and world peace.
Near the end of her life, she moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas where she founded the home known as Hatchet Hall. A spring just across the street from
the house is named after her.
She collapsed during a speech in a Eureka Springs park and was taken to a hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas. She died there on June 9, 1911, and was
buried in an unmarked grave in Belton City Cemetery in Belton, Missouri. The Women's Christian Temperance Union later erected a stone inscribed
"Faithful to the Cause of Prohibition, She Hath Done What She Could."
Nation also operated under the alias Mary Pat Clarke.DaveMoral - 10-3-2006 at 05:35 PM
Wow.gavin - 10-3-2006 at 06:31 PM
cool
old school religious freak
good to know they have always been aroundupyerbum - 10-3-2006 at 07:23 PM
Imagine that crazy bitch coming at you as you're staggering out of the tavern.JawnDiablo - 10-3-2006 at 07:42 PM
id hit her right between the eyesmorgan - 10-3-2006 at 08:32 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by juandiablo
id hit her right between the eyes
By far the best thing I've read today.XHonusWagnerX - 10-3-2006 at 08:56 PM
I love the fact that she carried a hatchet! Almost every picture I could find of her she was holding it too.BDx13 - 10-3-2006 at 11:43 PM
and here i thought that was just the name of a hardcore band.
kidding.godabandonedme - 10-4-2006 at 03:44 AM
Psychological and sexual opression makes people crazy.XHonusWagnerX - 10-4-2006 at 09:57 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by BD
and here i thought that was just the name of a hardcore band.
kidding.
HAHAHA.... thats awesome!
I think CARRIE NATION would be a good name for an Edge band though.XnMeX - 10-4-2006 at 09:58 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by XHonusWagnerX
Quote:
Originally posted by BD
and here i thought that was just the name of a hardcore band.
kidding.
HAHAHA.... thats awesome!
I think CARRIE NATION would be a good name for an Edge band though.
That would be pretty fucking funny!BDx13 - 10-4-2006 at 10:17 AM
Carry Nation was a hardcore band back in the 80's.
BDx13 - 10-4-2006 at 10:25 AM
they were also on the nemesis "no control" comp with bad religion, insted and visual discrimination. it's in the middle of this pic...
XHonusWagnerX - 10-4-2006 at 10:49 AM
Oh shit... I think I have that comp with Bad Religion on it and I didnt remember that Carrie Nation was a band! Good catch BD!!