author
Adelaide W. Smith
1831–1914
A Civil War nurse and later women’s suffrage activist, she wrote a vivid firsthand memoir about caring for wounded soldiers near the front lines. Her work offers a rare personal view of war, nursing, and the determination of women who served outside the spotlight.
1 Audiobook
Reminiscences of an army nurse during the Civil War
by Adelaide W. Smith
About the author
Born in 1831, Adelaide W. Smith is remembered for Reminiscences of an Army Nurse During the Civil War, published in 1911. Library of Congress records identify her as a Civil War nurse and connect her with the U.S. Sanitation Commission, while later collections and library records place her lifespan as 1831–1914.
Special collections materials from DePaul University describe her as the only woman from Brooklyn, New York, known to have served as a nurse along the front lines of the Civil War. In camp she was reportedly known as “Miss Ada” or “The Colonel,” and her memoir reflects the practical, intimate perspective of someone who worked directly among wounded soldiers rather than observing events from a distance.
After the war, she was also involved in the women’s suffrage movement. That mix of frontline service, reform work, and late-life memoir writing gives her story a special place in American history: she preserved not just battlefield memories, but also the voice of a woman who stepped into public life during a time of enormous change.