Richmond, VA Civil War Hospital



Conf hospital- adams, alfredDuring the American Civil War, one specific facility was in great demand – that being hospitals. With so many wounded or suffering from diseases on both sides and especially the Confederacy side with thousands wounded since most battles were in the South. In Richmond, Virginia, the capital city of the Confederacy, the house of Judge John Roberts located on Main Street was put into operation as a hospital from July 1861 to June 1865. It was was a private hospital run by Sally Louisa Tompkins. With larger military hospitals later being created, to keep the hospital on Main Street in operation, Sally Tompkins was commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army in September 1861. The facility became known as the Robertson Hospital.

What makes this hospital so important is the handwritten register kept throughout the war of patients in the Robertson Hospital. The first patient’s name was recorded August 3, 1861 and the last on April 2, 1865. Over those years were were 1,329 entries made. Each entry has the person’s name, case number, rank, company, regiment, captain’s name for that regiment, patient’s residence, date admitted, their disease or medical condition and date discharged or furloughed, returned to duty, transferred, died and any additional information in a “Remarks” column.

Those records have been transcribed and made digital so they are searchable and Free. This has been done by the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries in connection with the Museum of the Confederacy. Using the search and the browse page there are all 1,329 entries in alphabetical order. To help in the search, you can the search box to the upper left to help narrow down the looking for an ancestor. Again, it would be someone admitted who served in the Confederacy between 1861 and 1865. They could have been suffering form a disease while in another state and then transported to Richmond.

Conf hospital- Loudensjager, Thomas D.If you find one of interest, click on the name to see the transcribed report. Check various spellings for the name. There is no scan of the original handwritten registry. However, if you do find an ancestor, this record could really provide some missing information about that ancestor’s fate.

For Pvt. Thomas D. Loudenslager there was more to locate on the Fold3 site with scanned copies of his papers including his time at the Richardson Hospital. When he was discharged June 3, 1864, he was captured in Richmond on April 3, 1865 by Federal forces.  Conf hospital- Loudensjager, Thomas D.-image

Photos: Alfred Adams – 1862 and Thomas D. Loudensjager (correct spelling was Loudenslager and Loudenslayer and Goudenslager) – wounded May 30, 1864 in the Battle of the Second Cold Harbor, Va. Loudenslager was born Dec. 21, 1842 and died Feb. 4, 1897 in Baltimore where he had worked as a clerk for years.

Related FamilyTree.com genealogical blogs:

Confederate Veterans

Civil War Photos

 

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