Caroline Amelia Nation (1846-1911) aka Hatchet
Granny
Photo c. 1900
I.
One rarely hears people today using the amusing twentieth-century term battle-axe to describe a tough old bird who can at times be belligerent, overbearing, and bullying.
I suppose it's now regarded (perhaps rightly) as sexist and derogatory in nature, although originally it was a gender-neutral descriptor and usually said with a certain amount of affection; who doesn't love Hattie Jacques's Matron in the Carry On movies, or Violet Carson as Ena Sharples in Coronation Street?
Arguably the greatest (non-fictional) example of a battle-axe, however, was Caroline Nation [1]; a militant member of the temperance movement, who played up to her own popular image by actually wielding a hatchet and making it her trademark symbol.
II.
Caroline Nation (née Moore) was born in Kentucky, in 1846.
Although he suffered financial difficulties from time to time, her father, of Irish descent, was a successful farmer and slaveholder. Her mother - like other members of the family - suffered mental health issues; believing, for example, that she was Queen Victoria [2].
In 1865, Caroline met and fell in love with an alcoholic young doctor and, despite parental objections, she married him in November 1867. They separated, however, shortly before the birth of a daughter the following year and he died of alcoholism in 1869.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Caroline thereafter developed a vehement hatred for liquor and, after qualifying as a teacher, gaining a history degree, and marrying a much older second husband in 1874 [3], she convinced herself she had a divine mission to sober up America.
And so this formidable woman became involved with the more radical wing of the temperance movement which demanded prohibition long before it was passed in 1920. Caroline soon gained a fiercesome reputation for attacking establishments which served booze, justifying her actions by saying she was carrying out God's work:
I am a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus and barking at what the Good Lord hates [4].
III.
Initially, Nation would simply protest outside saloons, singing hymns accompanied by a hand organ and telling bartenders they were responsible for the destruction of men's souls. This had little effect, however, and she was mostly laughed at.
And so Nation prayed for guidance and, finally, in the summer of 1900, the Lord spoke unto her; instructing her to enter the saloons and smash them up with rocks and promising that He would stand by her.
As her arrest sheet lengthened [5] and her notoriety increased in Kansas and other mid-western states, such as Missouri and Oklahoma, she became increasingly violent and, at her husband's suggestion, she put down the rocks and picked up a small hand axe (or hatchet) in order to inflict maximum damage.
It was this that really made her name and before long she was publishing her own newspaper, The Hatchet, which promised its readers that all drinkers would get what they deserved.
In a very American manner, Nation also exploited her fame by appearing in vaudeville in the United States and music halls in Great Britain [6] whilst promoting her autobiography [7] and selling all manner of merchandising, including photos like the one above, in which she holds a hatchet in one hand and a Bible in the other.
Nation died, aged 64, in 1911, having told her family, friends, comrades, and supporters: I have done what I could.
Those who might wish to pay their respects will find her grave in Belton, Missouri. And any readers who happen to find themselves in Wichita may also like to visit the life-size bronze statue of the old battle-axe erected in front of the Eaton Hotel [8].
'I am the destroyer of the works of the Devil
by the direct command of God.'
Notes
[1] Her name was originally shortened to Carrie, but she changed it to Carry A. Nation believing she was ordained to carry a nation to sobriety (and salvation).
[2] Sadly, Caroline's mother Mary died in an insane asylum in 1893, having been placed there by her son (Caroline's brother Charles) three years earlier.
[3] The couple divorced in 1901.
[4] It might be noted that Nation also regarded herself as a suffragette or women's rights
activist, and campaigned against tight clothing, including corsets, on the grounds that such garments not only
restricted movements, but had a damaging effect on internal organs.
[5] Between 1900 and 1910, Nation was arrested more than thirty times for her militant activities. She paid her fines
from lecture-tour fees and sales of stick pins in the shape of
hatchets and which had the words Death
to Rum engraved on the handle.
[6] Sadly, she wasn't really cut out for showbiz, more given to sermonising than entertaining as she was. Whilst appearing in London in 1909, she was hit with an egg thrown by an audience member and not only did she immediately leave the stage, she ripped up her contract with the theatre and returned to the States. Like many self-righteous and self-serious types, she couldn't stand being embarrassed or made to look foolish (i.e., having egg on face).
[7] The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation (F. M. Steves & Sons, 1908): click here.
[8] The six-foot bronze statue was sculpted by local artist Babs Mellor and erected in 2018.
