Adelaide Elizabeth Thompson Spurgeon (born about 1826 – died March 4, 1907) was a nurse during the American Civil War, and a philanthropist in Washington, D.C.
Adelaide Thompson Spurgeon | |
|---|---|
 Adelaide Thompson Spurgeon, from an 1895 publication | |
| Born | Adelaide E. Thompson New York |
| Died | March 4, 1907 Washington, D.C. |
| Other names | Ada Spurgeon |
| Occupation(s) | Nurse during American Civil War, philanthropist |
Early life
editAdelaide Elizabeth Thompson was born in England about 1826.[1] She lived in New York before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1861.[2][3]
Career
editIn May 1861, began volunteering as a nurse and cook at a smallpox hospital in Washington, D.C. She collected donations for the hospital from New York friends. When she became ill herself, she had to resign from the hospital, but she continued as a "secret service" agent at the provost general's headquarters.[2][4] She told of interviewing two young women who enlisted in disguise, "They both wept bitterly, not only at the disgrace [of being discovered], but at being obliged to return to their homes, leaving their loved ones, perhaps never to see them again."[3] She later petitioned Congress for compensation for her wartime service, and was granted a pension in 1890,[5] when the Senate committee found her to be "very clearly ... a meritorious case".[6]
Later in life, Spurgeon took an interest in the lives in children in Washington, D.C., and the work of the city's Church of the Epiphany. She sponsored about 150 baptisms at the church in the 1880s.[2] In the 1880s and 1890s, she served as a missionary at the city's Freedmen's Hospital, helping patients find homes after discharge.[7][8]
Personal life
editAdelaide Thompson married a soldier from New York, Thaddeus C. Spurgeon, in 1863. They had a daughter, Ella Virginia Spurgeon (later Neely). Spurgeon was widowed when her husband died in 1897, and she died in 1907, in Washington.[9][10] Her grave is in Arlington National Cemetery, with the inscription "Adelaide E. Spurgeon, Army Nurse".[2] Her death was one of seven marked in August 1907 at the annual convention of the Army Nurses of the Civil War.[11]
References
edit- ^ In the 1870 United States census, Spurgeon gave her age as 40, suggesting an 1829 or 1830 birth date. In the 1900 United States census, Spurgeon gave her birth date as August 1826, and her birth place as England. (via Ancestry)
- ^ a b c d "March 4: Adelaide Elizabeth Thompson Spurgeon (1907)". EpiphanyDC. 2017-03-03. Archived from the original on 2021-05-18. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ a b Mary A. Gardner Holland, Our army nurses. Interesting sketches, addresses, and photographs of nearly one hundred of the noble women who served in hospitals and on battlefields during our civil war (B. Wilkins 1895): 454-465; via Internet Archive
- ^ "Had Eventful Career". Evening Star. 1907-03-07. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-05-18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Spurgeon's Pension". Evening Star. 1889-02-01. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-05-18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ United States Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1891.
- ^ United States Department of the Interior (1886). Report of the Department of the Interior ... [with Accompanying Documents]. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 789.
- ^ Freedmen's Hospital (Washington, D.C.) (1893). Report. Government print-Office. p. 4.
- ^ "Funeral of Army Nurse". The Washington Post. 1907-03-08. p. 34. Retrieved 2021-05-18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Deaths in the District". Evening Star. 1907-03-08. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-05-18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Army Nurses". The National Tribune. 1907-08-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-05-18 – via Newspapers.com.
