Ethel Lynn Beers

Ethelinda Lynn Beers (January 13, 1827 – October 11, 1879) was an American poet best known for her patriotic and sentimental Civil War poem "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight".

Born Ethelinda Eliot in Goshen, New York, she was a descendant of Puritan missionary John Eliot. She published poetry as "Ethyl Lynn" and after her marriage at age 19 to William H. Beers appended her married name to her poems. Her most famous poem, "All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight", first appeared in "Harper's Weekly" on November 30, 1861 under the title "The Picket Guard". Her poems, including other notable works like "Weighing the Baby", "Which Shall It Be?", and "Baby Looking Out For Me", appeared in many publications, most frequently the "New York Ledger". In 1863 she published "General Frankie: a Story for Little Folks". She feared publishing her collected works as she thought she would die after its publication, a premonition which came true. The day after the publication of "All Quiet Along the Potomac and Other Poems" she died in Orange, New Jersey.

Publications

* Noonday Rest (1869) [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Noonday Rest |url= |quote=Calmer than midnight's deepest bush Is the sun-bright Summer nooning, With its cloudy shadows seeking rest, That fall on the hillside swooning. Great Night with its solemn starry eyes, Over Day's gate asks us whither We go, what our password is, To the camp beyond the river. ... |publisher=New York Times |date=June 12, 1869, Wednesday |accessdate=2007-07-21 ]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=pIW6GAAACAAJ&dq|All Quiet Along the Potomac and Other Poems] (1879)

References