Matilda Gilruth Carpenter (1831–1923) was a prominent member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, known for leading the crusade against alcohol sales in Ohio in 1874.

Carpenter is best remembered as the leader of the Woman's Crusade at Washington Court House, Ohio, during which women prayed in local bars saloons in protest against alcohol use.

[2] The crusade began in 1870,[3] and Carpenter provided guidance to towns interested in the movement.

[4] On Christmas Day in 1874 Carpenter led the women into saloons and collected pledges from businesses that they would stop the sale of liquor.

[8][9] In 1920 prohibition in the United States was enacted, by which time Carpenter was 88 years old and she enthusiastically shared her remembrances of the crusade that she led in 1873.