Gallagher was the company's first commercial traveller, and is believed to be the first woman in Ireland to undertake such a position. In the beginning, her male contemporaries ostracised her, but she eventually won a number of them over. She developed relationships with shopkeepers across Ireland which formed a solid customer base for their company. During the Anglo-Irish war of 1919 to 1921 and the subsequent Civil War from 1922 to 1923, travelling in Ireland was hazardous, resulting in Gallagher needing two passes to travel, one for Free State roadblocks, and the second for Republican ones. After the destruction of a bridge in Dingle, Gallagher had to wade across a river and be given a lift into town on a manure cart. Following an ambush in Castleisland, she witnessed a mound of corpses.