Carry Amelia Moore Nation -- Carrie Nation, as she came to be known -- was a militant crusader against illegal saloons. She launched her career of saloon-smashing in Kiowa, Kansas, on June 1, 1900. She and other Women's Christian Temperance Union members had already closed the local saloons in her home town of Medicine Lodge. She did not adopt the use of her now-famous hatchet until her visit to Wichita some six months later.

At nearly 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, Carrie Nation cut an imposing figure. Wielding a hatchet, she was downright frightful. In 1900, the target of Nation's wrath was alcoholic drink. A brief marriage to an alcoholic in the late 1800s fueled Nation's disdain for alcohol. Between 1900 and 1910 she was arrested some 30 times after leading her followers in the destruction of one water hole after another with cries of "Smash, ladies, smash!"