Mary Martha Reid (September 19, 1812 – June 24, 1894) is Florida's "most famous nurse and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

heroine." She is best known for serving as the matron of the Florida Hospital, founded in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

in 1862 to treat convalescing Confederate soldiers from Florida. Her husband,

Robert Raymond Reid Robert Raymond Reid (September 8, 1789 – July 1, 1841) was the fourth territorial governor of Florida. Earlier in his career he was a Representative from Georgia and held several judicial positions. Robert Reid was born in Prince William Pari ...

, served as the territorial governor of Florida from 1839 to 1841. Mary Reid was born in

St. Mary's, Georgia St. Marys is a city in Camden County, Georgia, United States, located on the southern border of Camden County on the St. Marys River. The Florida border is just to the south across the river, Cumberland Island National Seashore is to the northea ...

, to James and Mary Thorpe Smith. She married Robert Reid, who was a federal judge, on November 29, 1836, after meeting him during a visit to

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

earlier that year. They had two sons, William and Raymond. Her husband died in 1841, and their son William died the following year. Following her husband's death, Reid worked as a schoolteacher in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and Fernandina. Her surviving son, Raymond, enlisted in the 2nd Florida Infantry, on May 23, 1861, and Mary Martha Reid's wish to be near him made her a nurse. Together with Dr. Thomas M. Palmer, Mary Martha Reid opened a 150-bed hospital in Richmond in September 1862 to treat Confederate soldiers from Florida. With Reid serving as its matron, the hospital treated over a thousand men in its first year of operation. Her requests for donations and supplies as well as letters of thanks to organizations that contributed aid to the hospital were printed in Florida newspapers, and her nursing work earned her the nickname, "Mother of the Florida Boys." Lt. Raymond Reid died of wounds received in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 7, 1864. He was buried by his mother in Richmond. The first Florida chapter of

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

was named in Mary Reid's honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Mary Martha 1812 births 1894 deaths People from St. Marys, Georgia American Civil War nurses Schoolteachers from Florida People of the Confederate States of America