Adaline Couzins
Adaline Weston Couzins
Adaline Weston Couzins (August 12, 1815 - May 9, 1892) was a civil servant, a suffragist, and an American Civil War nurse who worked for the Ladies' Union Aid Society of St. Louis.[1] She spent most of her career as a nurse during the Civil War on hospital ships that tended to Union and Confederate soldiers all along the Mississippi River.[1][2]
Adaline moved to St. Louis around 1815 from England and eventually married John Edward Decker Couzins in 1834. Adaline and John had four children, one of them being Phoebe Couzins who was one of the first female lawyers in the United States.[1][3]
Adaline's first civil service was during the cholera epidemic of 1859 as her and her husband headed its relief corps. After Adaline heard of the Civil War she began working under Dr. Charles Pope, a surgeon in St. Louis. Adaline then joined the Ladies' Union Aid Society of St. Louis and was sent out to work in the field. While on the hospital ships she worked under Simon Pollack who was the chief surgeon for the Western Sanitary Commission.[3]
While rescuing and caring for soldiers, Adaline was injured twice. She was first severely frostbitten in 1862 and then struck by a minie-ball fragment in 1863 at the siege of Vicksburg. Despite her injuries Adaline continued her nursing duties.[3]
After the Civil War, Adaline continued on her work as a civil servant. She founded the Female Guardian Home of St. Louis, headed the Ladies' Sanitary Corps of the Special Department of St Louis, and campaigned for women's suffrage. Before her death, she was granted government pension on May 27, 1888, for her unrelenting services during the Civil War.[2][3]
Early Life
References
- ^ a b c Trout, Carlynn (September 9, 2016). "Adaline Weston Couzins". American Association of University Women Columbia (MO) Branch. American Association of University Women. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
- ^ a b MacLean, Maggie (October 1, 2015). "Adaline Weston Couzins". Civil War Women. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Christensen, Lawrence O. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN 9780826212221 – via EBSCOhost.