Antimicrobial fibrous materials and methods of making same. The antimicrobial fibrous material can include a plurality of absorbent fibers and a quaternary ammonium compound covalently grafted to the plurality of fibers. The quaternary ammonium compound can be derived from quaternary amine-functionalized ethylenically unsaturated monomers. The method can include providing a plurality of absorbent fibers irradiating the plurality of fibers with high energy irradiation to generate a plurality of irradiated fibers providing quaternary amine-functionalized ethylenically unsaturated monomers and combining the plurality of irradiated fibers with the quaternary amine-functionalized ethylenically unsaturated monomers to form antimicrobial fibers with a quaternary ammonium compound covalently grafted thereto
