Ella King Newsom
Born1838
Brandon, Mississippi
DiedJanuary 18, 1919
NationalityAmerican [1]
OccupationNurse

Ella King Newsom (1833–1919; also known as Ella King Newsome) was a nurse for the Confederacy in the American Civil War.[2][3] She earned the nickname of the "Florence Nightingale of the South."[3][4] Newsom served as he matron of Chattanooga's Academy Hospital, working on the front in Tennessee from 1861–1862.[5][3] Newsom also served at the Corinth House Hotel Hospital with Kate Cumming.[6][7]

Pre-war life

Ella King Newsom was born in Brandon, Mississippi, in 1838 to Julia and Thomas S. N. King.[1][8] Her father—T.S.King—was a Baptist minister; she was the second of seven children.[2][8] The family, soon after Ella King's birth, moved to Arkansas, where she spent most of her young life.[2] In 1854, King married Dr. Frank Newsom from Tennessee, a wealthy physician and planter.[2][1] After his death a few years later, Newsom inherited his estate.[1] Newsom, her younger sisters, and other young women lived in a house together in Tennessee while attending Mary Sharp College.[2]

Civil War service

Newson's war experience began with her buying supplies with her own money and assisting the Southern Mothers' Home Hospital and the Overton Hospital.[2] Following where the need for help was, Newsom soon relocated to Kentucky, working grueling hours to make up for the need.[2] Newsom's work continued to move her around the south, eventually earning her a position as a matron for the Foard Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[2] Newsom continued working in numerous locations until the end of the war.[2][9]

Post-war life

Newsom spent the entirety of her wealth during the war on supplies and supporting the medical effort.[2] She remarried to Confederate veteran Colonel W.H. Trader in 1867.[2] The two had one surviving child, Mary.[2] Newsom died of an illness on January 18, 1919.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Angels of the Confederacy". Southern Heritage 411. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R. (April 2008). The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine. ISBN 9780765630780. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  3. 1 2 3 Tsui, Bonnie (2006). She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Guilford: TwoDot. p. 123.
  4. ↑ Richard, J. Fraise (Jacob Fraise) (1 January 1914). "The Florence Nightingale of the Southern army; experiences of Mrs. Ella K. Newsom, Confederate nurse in the great war of 1861-65". New York, Broadway Publishing Co – via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Wagner, Margaret E.; Congress, Library of (2002). The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference. ISBN 9780684863504. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  6. ↑ "Corinth Civil War Sesquicentennial - Corinth, Mississippi Civil War visitor information".
  7. ↑ Hall, Richard H. (2006). Women on the Civil War Battlefront. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 250. ISBN 9780700614370.
  8. 1 2 James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3. ISBN 9780674627345. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  9. ↑ Hall, Richard H. (2006). Women on the Civil War Battlefront. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 235. ISBN 9780700614370.
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