Rebecca Harding Davis, who came to maturity during the Civil War, wrote about the effects of that war on those who awaited its outcome at home. An astute and imaginative observer, she is noted for her skill in developing character and motivation, but she is most often remembered as the author of "Life in the Iron Mills" (Atlantic Monthly, April 1861), a story whose exposure of inhumane factory-working conditions made her one of the first American realists.

The eldest of five children, Rebecca Blaine Harding was born on 24 June 1831 to Richard and Rachel Leet Wilson Harding in Washington, Pennsylvania. Her mother's Irish grandfather has the distinction of being the first white settler in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Her mother had returned to her family home from Big Spring (now Huntsville), Alabama, where Richard Harding was in business, to give birth to her first child. The Hardings lived in Huntsville until...