Heart in Tatters

Eunice Hunt lived during tumultuous times. Youth in Washington, D.C., brought her into personal contact with Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, famous military leaders including Winfield Scott, and other notable persons in America's early history. Descended from patriots who fought in the Revolution and the War of 1812, she knew first-hand the costs of military service. Still, she fell in love with and married a U.S. Army surgeon who was sixteen years her senior. Of their nine children, five predeceased her. Dr. Charles Stuart Tripler provided medical care to troops in Florida, Louisiana, on the Pacific Coast, during the Mexican-American War, and at a major Army recruiting base in Kentucky on the eve of the Civil War. As the first Medical Director of the ill-starred Army of the Potomac, he was charged with the health of the largest American armed force ever created. Eunice aided his office work, invested in Congressional reform of the Medical Bureau, and lobbied President Abraham Lincoln and Major-General George B. McClellan for her husband's career. Widowed in 1866 by her husband's painful death from cancer, she spent the long remainder of her life pressing for recognition of his service and remuneration as surviving spouse for his contributions to U.S. victory in the War of the Rebellion. Experiencing national and personal tragedies, her fortitude and spirited character become evident throughout these revealing and intimate reminiscences.