Adaline Weston Couzins

Adaline Weston Couzins (August 12, 1815 – May 9, 1892) was a British-born American civil servant, a suffragist, and a Civil War nurse who worked for the Ladies' Union Aid Society of St. Louis. 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.

Adaline moved to St. Louis, Missouri, around 1823 from England and eventually married John Edward Decker Couzins in 1834. Adaline and John had four children. Their daughter, Phoebe Couzins, was one of the first female lawyers in the United States.

Adaline's first civil service was during the cholera epidemic of 1849 as she 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.

Early career In 1849 there was a cholera epidemic in St. Louis, Missouri. During this time in U.S. history there were few hospitals established and not near enough nurses to handle an epidemic like this. That left the responsibility of caring for the sick to family members and volunteers. During the debate for her pension in the Congressional House of Representatives it was said by Mr. O'Neill that she deserved the pension because she had done more "for the suffering, sick, and wounded soldiers, Confederate and Federal alike, than any other women in the Mississippi Valley". After debating the amount of money she would receive,

Final days She died at age 76 in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 9, 1892, and is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.