Edna Dean Proctor (September 18, 1829 – December 18, 1923) was an American author and poet. Although she occasionally wrote short sketches and stories, poetry was her field. Proctor was characterized as a master of pathos. Her early environment left a vivid impression and was a moulding force in her writing.

Early in life, Proctor was a writer of poetry, but not until the Civil War —which aroused the patriotic element within her— were her verses known around the country when her national poems sounded like a bugle. Her name became dear to loyal soldiers, and her appeals were read beside the camp fires as they were repeated in the New England homes and schools. No battle songs did more to sustain the sentiment of patriotism in the soldiery than those of Proctor, which were found in her volume of collected poems. "The Stripes and Stars," written in April, 1861; "Compromise," inscribed to Congress, July 4, 1861; "Who's Ready?" written in July, 1862, were really national anthems. A volume of her poems was published by Hurd & Houghton in 1867. A later collection was also published. Proctor never hastened the publication of anything she wrote, and being so fortunately situated in life as to be independent of circumstances, she wrote only when inspired to do so, hence the world received her best work.