Changes ← Previous editNext edit → Mary Cole Walling 211 BYTES ADDED, 1 HOUR AGO c/e; wls [[File:MARY COLE WALLING A woman of the century (page 753 crop).jpg|thumb|Mary Cole Walling, "A woman of the century"]] '''Mary Cole Walling''' (June 19, 1838 – June 12, 1925) was an American patriot. She was known during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] as "The Banished Heroine of the South." ==Early years== Mary Cole was born in [[Pike countyCounty, Pa.Pennsylvania]], 19thJune June19, 1838. She iswas a lineal descendant of the patrician families of Stephen Cole, of Scotland, and Hannah Chase, of England. She was known during the Civil War as "The Banished Heroine of the South." Her parents moved to [[Cass countyCounty, Ill.Illinois]], in 1850.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=743}} ==Career== In CasseCase County, in 1850, she married Captain F. C. Brookman, of [[St. Louis, Mo.Missouri]], who died shortly after fellof a[[yellow victim to yellow-fever]]. The young widow went to [[Texas]], where she becamemarried the wife of C.Creed A. Walling. She was the mother of four children, in a happy and luxurious home, when the alarm of war was sounded, and her husband joined the Confederate army. The wife's patriotism and love for the Union was so pronounced that, in 1863, she was warned by the vigilance committee to "leave the country within a few hours." The heroic woman, with four little children, the oldest a mere baby, ordered the family carriage, and, with a brother eleven years of age for a driver, started through the wilds of Texas for the Union lines, with no chart or compass for her guide save the north star. The brave woman engineered her precious load for twenty-three days, and her joy at the first sight of the flag she loved so well repaid her for her trials. Upon learning that seven of her brothers were in the Union army, where they all fought and died, she determined to lecture in defense of the Stars and Stripes, and was so cordially received that, upon being introduced to a large audience in [[Cooper Institute]] by [[Horace Greeley]], he declared her "The greatest female speaker of the age." She delivered speeches in nearly all the large cities of the North. On 10th May 10, 1866, the [[United States Senate]] passed a resolution according to her the privilege of addressing that honorable body, which distinction was unprecedented in the history of our country. Before that distinguished body, she delivered her famous argument on reconstruction. Surrounded by her children in her Texas home, as a fist literary task, she is writingwrote an autobiography of her ante-bellumantebellum days and and her subsequent trials and successes.{{sfn|Willard|Livermore|1893|p=743}} She died June 12, 1925, in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], and was buried in that city's Cave Hill Cemetery. == References == {{DEFAULTSORT:Walling, Mary Cole}} [[Category:1838 births]] [[Category:1925 deaths]]Mary Cole