This Heroic Civil War Army Nurse Sacrificed Her Life for Wounded Soldiers

Though she likely never served in the US military, Emma Stephenson was laid to rest at Marietta National Cemetery, a symbol of thanks and in commemoration of the comfort she provided to injured and dying soldiers.

Little is known about how the formerly enslaved woman came to serve as a nurse in a Union Army hospital near Marietta, GA. But what we can deduce from stories like hers and learn from the few facts available is that Emma Stephenson definitely earned her final resting place in a US national cemetery among those for whom she cared.

Conflicting accounts indicate that Stephenson likely was born into slavery in either Kentucky or Tennessee.

Civil War nurses like Emma Stephenson worked in converted local buildings or simply collections of tents near a battlefield.Photo byJames F. Gibson 1862

A National Park Service biography indicates that she voluntarily served as a nurse with the U.S. 17th Army Corps, part of General William T. Sherman's Army of the Cumberland which fought throughout the South.

Stephenson's recorded service as a nurse for the Union Army is recalled in a film now shown at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. She also is mentioned in a PBS miniseries, Civil War: Untold Story.

At the center of Emma Stephenson's known story sits the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, which took place in June 1864. After several frontal attacks by the Union Army on entrenched Confederate positions, the Confederate Army withdrew to the Southern bank of the Chattahoochee River.

With more than 3,000 Union soldiers dead, wounded or missing, a hospital was set up at the Masonic Lodge in Marietta for the Union wounded. It's here that Emma Stephenson's service was recorded. And it's also here where she would die, her life taken by a camp and hospital disease outbreak less than one month after the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

Most of the references to Emma Stephenson are recorded in the letters of Union soldiers to their families back home. Those letters often refer to her as the "slave nurse," although she was a free woman.

After her death in the Union camp on July 16, 1864, from an unknown disease, Stephenson was buried at the Army Corps Hospital in Marietta. When Marietta National Cemetery was established in 1866 as the final resting place for US Army soldiers, Emma Stephenson was reinterred there. Having earned a spot in the cemetery for her care and service, Stephenson lies among those for who she gave her life.

Emma Stephenson is buried at Section F, Plot 4841, in Marietta National Cemetery.

Our Memorial Day Rememberance Series:

See these stories on Newsbreak for more from this series commemorating Memorial Day 2024:

Georgia Wrestler Trained WWII Spies in Deadly Arts

UGA's Hero Coach: From Gridiron to WWI Battlefield

Recalling Heroes and Unforgetable Stories

More from DeanLand:

If you enjoyed these history stories, you may like other articles by DeanLand. You'll find more than 100 posts about Georgia, the Southeastern US and beyond at DeanLand's website, OurTravelCafe.com