Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, poet, and the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic . She was educated by private tutors and in schools for young ladies until she was sixteen. Due to her father's status as a successful banker, she was brought into contact with some of the greatest minds of her time. In 1843 she married Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876), a physician and reformer who founded the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts. She was inspired to write The Battle Hymn of the Republic after she met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861. It was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It quickly became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the American Civil War. After the war she focused her activities on the causes of pacifism and women's suffrage. In 1869, she became co-leader with Lucy Stone of the |