Annie Wittenmyer
| Annie Wittenmyer | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 26, 1827 Adams County, Ohio |
| Died | February 2, 1900 (aged 72) |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Social reformer |
Sarah "Annie" Turner Wittenmyer (August 26, 1827 – February 2, 1900) was an American social reformer and relief worker. She served as the first President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union from 1874 to 1879. The Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home was renamed the Annie Wittenmyer Home in 1949 in her honor.
Born in Sandy Springs, Adams County, Ohio. she attended a seminary for girls, then married merchant William Wittenmyer at age 20. In 1850, they moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and she started a Sunday School and a tuition-free school for underprivileged children in 1853. She also developed a Methodist congregation from these children and wrote several hymns. Three of her four children died before reaching adulthood, and her husband died in 1860.
When the American Civil War began in April 1861 and reports of suffering soliders reached the home front, she responded by traveling to military hospitals and describing the horrible conditions she witnessed prompting local support. When the Keokuk Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society began in May 1861, she became its field agent. In 1862, Wittenmyer became the first woman mentioned by name in an Iowa legislative document when she was appointed as a Sanitary Agent for the Iowa State Sanitary Commission. In 1863, she began advocating for war orphans, helping to create several new Iowa orphanages, including the Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Home, which was later renamed the Annie Wittenmyer Home. After she encountered public and prolonged disagreements between the Keokuk Ladies Aid Society and the Iowa Army Sanitary Commission, she resigned her local relief work in 1864 to work with the United States Christian Commission in developing their special diet kitchens for Civil War hospitals.
This program was designed both to improve the health of soldiers who were reportedly dying from inadequate diet in hospitals and also provide a vehicle for women with an interest in missionary work to gain entry to Civil War hospitals and access to soliders. Mary and Amanda Shelton and other "lady managers" created diet kitchens in a number of hospitals, not without encountering considerable resistance. After the war, Wittenmyer wrote Under the Guns, chronicling her relief work.
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