Carry Nation

Caroline Amelia Nation (November 25, 1846 – June 9, 1911), often referred to as Carrie, Carry Nation, Carrie A. Nation, or Hatchet Granny, was a radical of the American temperance movement, which opposed alcohol consumption before the advent of Prohibition. Nation is noted for attacking alcohol-serving establishments (most often taverns) with a hatchet. She was previously known by her birth name Carrie Moore, then as Carrie Gloyd upon her first marriage in 1867, before she married David Nation in 1874.

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 destroying bars. She was known as "Mother Nation" for her charity and religious work, which she thought of as an extension of her fight against drunkenness. In 1890, Nation founded a sewing circle in Medicine Lodge, Kansas to make clothing for the poor as well as prepare meals for them on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 1901, Nation established a shelter for wives and children of alcoholics in Kansas City, Missouri. This shelter would later be described as an "early model for today's battered women's shelter".

In her autobiography, The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation (1908), she also strongly opposed Freemasonry. Nation also fought against the fashion for corsets that constricted women's vital organs.

Early life and first marriage Caroline Amelia Moore was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, to George Moore and Mary Campbell. Her father was a successful farmer, stock trader, and slaveholder. There is speculation that the family did not stay in one place long because of rumors about Mary Moore's mental state. Some writers have speculated that Mary believed she was Queen Victoria because of her finery and social airs. Mary lived in an insane asylum in Nevada, Missouri, from August 1890 until her death on September 28, 1893. Mary was put in the asylum through legal action by her son, Charles, although there is suspicion that Charles instigated the lawsuit because he owed Mary money. Gloyd taught school near the Moores' farm while deciding where to establish his medical practice. He eventually settled in Holden, Missouri, and asked Moore to marry him. Moore's parents objected to the union because they believed he was addicted to alcohol, but the marriage proceeded.

Second marriage and "call from God"

In 1874, Carrie Gloyd married David A. Nation, an attorney, minister, newspaper journalist, and father who was 19 years her senior.

The family purchased a 1,700 acre (690 ha) cotton plantation on the San Bernard River in Brazoria County, Texas. As neither knew much about farming, the venture was ultimately unsuccessful. Her name is on the roll of Columbia Methodist Church in West Columbia. She lived at the hotel with her daughter, Charlien Gloyd, "Mother Gloyd" (Carrie's first mother-in-law), and David's daughter, Lola. Carrie Nation's husband also operated a saddle shop just southwest of this site. The family soon moved to Richmond, Texas, to operate a hotel.

Carrie Nation began her temperance work in Medicine Lodge by starting a local branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and campaigning for the enforcement of Kansas' ban on the sale of liquor. Her methods escalated from simple protests to serenading saloon patrons with hymns accompanied by a hand organ, to greeting bartenders with pointed remarks such as, "Good morning, destroyer of men's souls." Between 1902 and 1906, she lived in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Alone or accompanied by hymn-singing women, Nation 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 at least 32 times for "hatchetations", as she came to call them. Nation paid her jail fines from lecture-tour fees and sales of stick pins in the shape of hatchets. The souvenirs were provided by a pharmacist from Topeka, Kansas.

In April 1901, Nation went to Kansas City, Missouri, a city known for its wide opposition to the temperance movement, and smashed liquor in various bars on 12th Street in downtown Kansas City. She was arrested, taken to court, and fined although the judge suspended the fine under the condition that she never return to Kansas City. Reportedly she was placed in the Washington, D.C., poorhouse for three days for refusing to pay a $35 fine.

Nation also conducted women's rights marches in Topeka, Kansas. She led hundreds of women who were part of the Home Defender's Army to march in opposition to saloons. In Amarillo, Texas, she received a strong response, as she was sponsored by the surveyor W. D. Twichell, an active Methodist layman.

Nation's anti-alcohol activities became widely known, with the slogan "All Nations Welcome But Carrie" becoming a bar-room staple. She published The Smasher's Mail, a biweekly newsletter, and The Hatchet, a newspaper.

Later life and death Later in life Nation exploited her name by appearing in vaudeville in the United States Seeking profits elsewhere, Nation sold photographs of herself, collected lecture fees, and marketed miniature souvenir hatchets. In October 1909, various press outlets reported that Nation claimed to have invented an aeroplane.

Near the end of her life, Nation moved to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where she founded the home known as "Hatchet Hall". She gave her final speech on January 14, 1911, collapsing mid-way through, having previously suffered health problems. Nation fell into a coma and was taken to Evergreen Place Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas, where she eventually died on June 9, 1911. One myth is that the fountain was nearly destroyed at one time by a beer truck hitting it; Jamie Tracy, a curator of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, has not found any evidence for this ironic tale. In July 2018 a life-size bronze statue of Nation was erected in front of the Eaton Hotel (at the time called the Carey Hotel ), the location of her raid in Wichita, Kansas.

The play Carry Nation ran on Broadway and starred Esther Dale. Beverly Wolff performed the title role in the opera Carry Nation. Nation was portrayed by Valerie Buhagiar in Season 9 Episode 6 of the Canadian TV series Murdoch Mysteries. In "Bar Fights" (Episode 3, Season 4) of Comedy Central's Drunk History, Nation is portrayed by Vanessa Bayer. A fictionalized version of Nation is portrayed in the musical Queen of the Mist, wherein she crosses paths with Annie Edson Taylor. Nation was portrayed by Julia Murney in the original Off-Broadway production.

In the satirical musical melodrama Beyond the Valley of the Dolls the band the Kelly Affair change their name to the Carrie Nations. In the Kurt Vonnegut story, Welcome to the Monkey House, the fictional J. Edgar Nation's name is a mixture made up from J. Edgar Hoover and Carrie Nation. F.B.I. director Hoover "was vigorous in his moral judgments." Nation's message is also present through the character Nancy McLuhan, who is convinced that gin is the worst drug of all. DJs Nita Aviance and Will Automagic formed the duo The Carry Nation.

Neil Munro gives a satirical account of an encounter with Carrie Nation in his Erchie MacPherson story, "Erchie and Carrie", first published in the Glasgow Evening News of December 14, 1908. In 1977 Gary Dahl, inventor of the Pet Rock, used his proceeds from that fad to renovate and open a bar in Los Gatos, California which he jokingly named "Carrie Nation's Saloon". Broken Hatchet Brewing, a microbrewery in Belton, Missouri, is named in her honor.

Carry A. Nation House in Kentucky was a home of Carrie Nation, and was a 10-room house then. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Garrard County, Kentucky, United States. It was built in 1846. Nation's home in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, the Carrie Nation House, was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.