Juliet Ann Opie Hopkins was an American nurse. She served during the Civil War and provided assistance to wounded Confederate soldiers.
Background
Juliet Ann Opie Hopkins was born on May 7, 1818 in Jefferson County, Virginia, United States. the daughter of Hierome Lindsay and Margaret (Muse) Opie. She was a descendant of Thomas Opie who came to America from Bristol, England, and about 1672 Hopkins married the daughter of Reverend David Lindsay, the son of Sir Hierome Lindsay of Scotland. At that time the death of her mother made her the mistress of her father's plantations and hundreds of slaves.
Education
Hopkins was educated by English tutors and in private schools until she was sixteen years old.
Career
Hopkins offered her services to the state of Alabama in 1861 and was sent to Richmond, where she established a hospital. When her husband, Arthur Francis Hopkins, was appointed state agent for Alabama hospitals, she was made matron. Possessing considerable executive ability, she quickly brought these hospitals to a high state of efficiency.
Among her papers are to be found letters from soldiers in other hospitals, begging her to have them transferred to the Alabama hospitals because they had heard of the superior care afforded there. General Joseph E. Johnston is reported to have said that at Bull Run she was more useful to his army than a new brigade.
Wounded at Seven Pines while rescuing disabled soldiers from the battlefield, she was lame for the rest of her life. She passed her last years in New York, but died in Washington while she was on a visit there. She was buried at Arlington with military honors.
Achievements
Politics
Hopkins was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy.
Connections
In 1837 she married Commander Alexander George Gordon of the United States Navy, who died a few years later, and in 1854 she married Judge Arthur Francis Hopkins. Later they adopted a girl named Juliet.