Overview

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.

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9781958363416

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Reviews

Heart in Tatters adds depth and dimension to the stories of people who became presidents, congressmen, and key military figures, bringing to the forefront Eunice Tripler's enormous contributions to the life and career of her husband. She endured lengthy separations from him, often raising her children alone or with scant help, and took on a bureaucracy in defense of her husband and family. As the descendant of a Civil War veteran, I am gratified to see the contributions women made to that new birth of freedom being recognized. Eunice Hunt Tripler is a prime example from which to begin. -Nancy Hancock is a history author, blogger who gives lost stories a voice, preservationist, and self-described historical entrepreneur This volume enables us to hear the voice of a woman, and her words reveal the experience of the Civil War through a gendered lens, one we don't often get to see through. This perspective prompts the reader to think about the Civil War and the experience of war in new ways. This exciting inaugural volume stands as a tremendous contribution and sets the stage for the series of MCWA publications to follow. -Dr. Martin J. Hershock, historical author, Dean and Professor of History at University of Michigan-Dearborn During the Civil War, military wives did more than keep home and hearth intact while their husbands fought hundreds of miles away. Some of those fiercely proud and determined wives insisted on meeting with President Lincoln during the Civil War to urge him to promote their husbands in the U.S. Army. Eunice Hunt Tripler did that - and much more. Her story, told in this first volume of the MCWA's projected series, launches this project with candid insights into some of the war's most famous men and fascinating details of life during that era that I have not seen anywhere else before. -Candice Shy Hooper. Historian, author of the award-winning Lincoln's Generals' Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War for Better and for Worse, contributor to the New York Times' Disunion blog In this inaugural publication of the Michigan Civil War Association, I was privileged to be introduced to a remarkable woman who had a front-row seat to the social, political, and military challenges of this tumultuous time. Eunice Hunt Tripler was an astute observer; her description of the city of her birth, Washington, D.C., and the politicos who populated it (for example, a surprisingly warm-hearted Andrew Jackson); the many military leaders she encountered (including that old humbug Gen. Scott ) after marriage to an Army doctor; and her own experiences raising children in Detroit during such terrifying events as a cholera outbreak while her husband served a thousand miles away were both pointed and poignant. This book would be a welcome addition to the shelves of anyone who enjoys reading about the lesser-known stories surrounding the Civil War, especially works by or about women who contributed to the preservation of the Union in their own unique ways while confronting the social mores of the time. -Patricia Majher, author of Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service and Great Girls in Michigan History, former editor of Michigan History magazine, former assistant director of Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (now Herstory Museum)

"Heart in Tatters adds depth and dimension to the stories of people who became presidents, congressmen, and key military figures, bringing to the forefront Eunice Tripler's enormous contributions to the life and career of her husband. She endured lengthy separations from him, often raising her children alone or with scant help, and took on a bureaucracy in defense of her husband and family. As the descendant of a Civil War veteran, I am gratified to see the contributions women made to that ""new birth of freedom"" being recognized. Eunice Hunt Tripler is a prime example from which to begin. -Nancy Hancock is a history author, blogger who gives lost stories a voice, preservationist, and self-described historical entrepreneur This volume enables us to hear the voice of a woman, and her words reveal the experience of the Civil War through a gendered lens, one we don't often get to see through. This perspective prompts the reader to think about the Civil War and the experience of war in new ways. This exciting inaugural volume stands as a tremendous contribution and sets the stage for the series of MCWA publications to follow. -Dr. Martin J. Hershock, historical author, Dean and Professor of History at University of Michigan-Dearborn During the Civil War, military wives did more than keep home and hearth intact while their husbands fought hundreds of miles away. Some of those fiercely proud and determined wives insisted on meeting with President Lincoln during the Civil War to urge him to promote their husbands in the U.S. Army. Eunice Hunt Tripler did that - and much more. Her story, told in this first volume of the MCWA's projected series, launches this project with candid insights into some of the war's most famous men and fascinating details of life during that era that I have not seen anywhere else before. -Candice Shy Hooper. Historian, author of the award-winning ""Lincoln's Generals' Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War for Better and for Worse,"" contributor to the New York Times' ""Disunion"" blog In this inaugural publication of the Michigan Civil War Association, I was privileged to be introduced to a remarkable woman who had a front-row seat to the social, political, and military challenges of this tumultuous time. Eunice Hunt Tripler was an astute observer; her description of the city of her birth, Washington, D.C., and the politicos who populated it (for example, a surprisingly warm-hearted Andrew Jackson); the many military leaders she encountered (including ""that old humbug Gen. Scott"") after marriage to an Army doctor; and her own experiences raising children in Detroit during such terrifying events as a cholera outbreak while her husband served a thousand miles away were both pointed and poignant. This book would be a welcome addition to the shelves of anyone who enjoys reading about the lesser-known stories surrounding the Civil War, especially works by or about women who contributed to the preservation of the Union in their own unique ways while confronting the social mores of the time. -Patricia Majher, author of ""Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service"" and ""Great Girls in Michigan History,"" former editor of Michigan History magazine, former assistant director of Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (now Herstory Museum)"

Author Information

Editor Jack Dempsey is an award-winning author of works on the Civil War and Michigan history and culture. A graduate of James Madison College at Michigan State University and George Washington University's National Law Center, he first became fascinated by the Civil War in the third grade. He served as chairman of Michigan's Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, as Vice-President and President of the Michigan Historical Commission between 2007-2018, a member of the Michigan World War I Centennial Commission, and on the boards of several heritage-focused nonprofit organizations.

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