Carry Nation

Carry A. Nation (Carrie A. Nation) (Nov. 25, 1846 – June 9, 1911)

Carry A. Nation was a key member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Carry Amelia Moore was born in Garrard County, Ky., on Nov. 25, 1846. Her family moved several times before settling in Cass County, Mo.

Although her father signed her name as "Carry" Amelia Moore in the family Bible, she used the spelling "Carrie" through much of her life. She reverted to "Carry" to help promote her temperance activities. (1)

In 1880, Kansas became the first state adopt a constitutional amendment banning alcoholic beverages. In her autobiography's 1905 revised edition, "The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation," Nation said there was a "crisis" of enforcement of prohibition laws. (2)

The frustrated reformer turned to the hatchet.

While living in Medicine Lodge, Kan., she received a vision to attack saloons. She traveled to Kiowa, Kan. (1)

As astonished bartenders and patrons watched, Nation entered Dobson Saloon. Saying, "Men, I have come to save you from a drunkard's fate" she destroyed the saloon's bottles with rocks. She later wrote in her autobiography, "The first smashing was like the opening of a battle. The crashing glass sent a thrill through the community and resounded o'er the land a talisman of destruction to the liquor traffic. It set everybody to talking, even the public school children and students in all the higher institutions were profoundly interested. The press and the pulpit broke their silence and from all over the state came the echo. It was the firing of the signal guns." (2)

She then attacked two other saloons in Kiowa. Shortly later, a tornado heavily damaged the town.

Two online exhibits have been developed by the Kansas Museum of History:

"Carry A. Nation: The Famous and Original Bar Room Smasher" addresses the reformer's life and times. It is a companion piece to "Sinners and Saints: Vice and Reform in Kansas." (1)

She retired to Eureka Springs, Ark. Her home became known as “Hatchet Hall.” Across the street from the house is a spring named for her.

Nation collapsed during a speech in an Eureka Springs park and was taken to a Leavenworth, Kansas hospital, where she died June 9, 1911. (2)

She is buried in Belton Cemetery, Belton, Mo. (Cass County)

1. Kansas Historical Society, http://www.kshs.org/exhibits/carry/carry1.htm 2. "The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation," 1905 revised edition, Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1485/pg1485.html 3. Arkansas Department of Heritage