Mary Abigail Dodge, a Washington, D.C., correspondent before and after the United States Civil War, was one of the most acclaimed women journalists of the nineteenth century. Unknown today, Dodge wrote on politics, religion, and contemporary issues for newspapers and magazines and commented prolifically on the role of women in society. After feminist leanings as a young woman, she became increasingly conservative as she grew older. Her most celebrated articles appeared in the "New York Tribune" in 1877 and 1878 and attacked the efforts at civil service reform attempted under the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes. Throughout her 40-year career, Dodge insisted on writing under the pseudonym, "Gail Hamilton." Dividing her life into two totally different spheres, she remained "Abby" to her family and refused to acknowledge in public that she was also "Gail," the famous literary figure. Well-known as a brilliant and witty conversationalist, she had wide-ranging contacts in literary and political circles. Her career illustrates that an able woman could carve a place for herself in Victorian journalism, but it also illuminates the self-doubts and insecurities of a woman trying to function in a man's occupation. (Author)