North Carolina, Rockingham County, Eden
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Anne “Annie” Eliza Johns, volunteer nurse, poet, teacher, and author of Cooleemee, A Tale of Southern Life, is buried here with her family in the Church of the Epiphany Cemetery. She was born in Pittsylvania Co.,Va., on July 16, 1831. Her father, Dr. Anthony Benning Johns, moved the family here to Leaksville in 1835. In 1846, Annie Johns attended the Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C. The Right Rev. John Johns, who later administered the oath of office to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, confirmed her in the Episcopal Church on November 3, 1851.
Johns rose to fame as a nurse during the Civil War. In April 1862, Dr. James Cabell, surgeon in charge of the newly established Confederate hospital complex in Danville, Va., offered her the position of chief matron. She instead became assistant matron, superintending the hospital’s clothing and bedding. Besides her assigned duties, she ministered to the sick and wounded patients, read to them, wrote letters for them, and did her best to make them comfortable. She and her fellow nurses urged authorities to provide better transportation for the wounded and furloughs for recuperating soldiers. When a hospital was constructed in the winter of 1863-64 for Union prisoners, Johns volunteered her services there as well and remained to care for them after Confederate patients were moved to Richmond. She left Danville on March 1, 1865, after the Union prisoners were transported to the Confederate capital.
Johns lived in Leaksville for the rest of her days, a dedicated member of the Church of the Epiphany. She died on October 22, 1889.
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Anne “Annie” Eliza Johns, volunteer nurse, poet, teacher, and author of Cooleemee, A Tale of Southern Life, is buried here with her family in the Church of the Epiphany Cemetery. She was born in Pittsylvania Co.,Va., on July 16, 1831. Her father, Dr. Anthony Benning Johns, moved the family here to Leaksville in 1835. In 1846, Annie Johns attended the Edgeworth Female Seminary in Greensboro, N.C. The Right Rev. John Johns, who later administered the oath of office to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, confirmed her in the Episcopal Church on November 3, 1851.
Johns rose to fame as a nurse during the Civil War. In April 1862, Dr. James Cabell, surgeon in charge of the newly established Confederate hospital complex in Danville, Va., offered her the position of chief matron. She instead became assistant matron, superintending the hospital’s clothing and bedding. Besides her assigned duties, she ministered to the sick and wounded patients, read to them, wrote letters for them, and did her best to make them comfortable. She and her fellow nurses urged authorities to provide better transportation for the wounded and furloughs for recuperating soldiers. When a hospital was constructed in the winter of 1863-64 for Union prisoners, Johns volunteered her services there as well and remained to care for them after Confederate patients were moved to Richmond. She left Danville on March 1, 1865, after the Union prisoners were transported to the Confederate capital.
Johns lived in Leaksville for the rest of her days, a dedicated member of the Church of the Epiphany. She died on October 22, 1889.
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
