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Mary Henry
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Eyewitness to the Civil War

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 Mary Henry
Eyewitness to the Civil War in the City of Washington
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Mary Henry
Mary Henry

"We went up into the high tower to see the troops pass over into Virginia." Mary Anna Henry (1834-1903) wrote this line in her diary on July 16, 1861. She was living with her family in the Smithsonian Institution Building, on the Mall in the City of Washington, in the United States of America, but from her home, she could see the Confederate States of America. This was the world Mary Henry lived in for much of the Civil War, on the border between two countries at war.

Born in Princeton in 1834, Mary Henry was the second child of Professor Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and his wife, Harriet. She had one older brother, William Alexander, born in 1832, and two younger sisters, Helen Louisa, born in 1836, and Caroline, born in 1839. When Joseph Henry was appointed Secretary of the Institution in 1846, he was promised accommodations, so when the Smithsonian Institution Building was completed in 1855, a suite of eight rooms was constructed on the second floor of the East Wing, and the Henry family moved in. They remained in these apartments until Joseph Henry died in 1878.

With the move to Washington, Mary Henry was surrounded by those at the top of the scientific community, the social elite, and the politics of the Capital city. She had an insiders view of the country as it headed towards war, and during the war. But Mary was also typical for a young woman of her upbringing. She worked with the News Boys Association, was an active member of the Presbyterian Church where she taught Sunday School for children, and did volunteer work and benefits for wounded soldiers during the Civil War. Mary and her sisters were also well educated. They were taught the domestic arts, as well as being tutored in the visual arts, language, and music. Mary even had an artist's studio in the East Range of the Smithsonian Institution Building, even though she confessed, "I had no talent."

When Joseph Henry died in 1878, the Henry family left the Smithsonian Institution Building. For the remainder of her life, Mary continued to be a prominent citizen of Washington, promoting the significance of her father's work as a scientist. While on an annual trip with her sister to Europe, Mary died in Seville, Spain, on April 10, 1903, at the age of 69.

Documents On-Line

Mary Henry's diaries came to the Smithsonian with her father's papers. They give us a unique and personal insights into life in Washington during the Civil War.


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