Did Harriet Beecher Stowe really meet Abraham Lincoln?
Born into a distinguished New England family, Stowe began her career writing stories for a Cincinnati literary club. Stowe was fortunate to have begun her career before writing had become sufficiently remunerative in the United States to allow men to dominate the profession. First published in weekly installments from June 5, 1851 to April 1, 1852 in the journal National Era, Stowe’s novel created such a controversy that when she was introduced to President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, he is said to have greeted her with the words: “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!
