| From National Park Service - w/out permission
Capital of the Confederacy and one of the South's most developed cities,
Richmond was the primary target of Union campaigns in the East. It was also the
central destination for the 1,000's of wounded Confederates from the
battlefields of Virginia.
The city was flooded with casualties after the 1st battle of Manassas, quickly
overwhelming existing hospitals. The wounded were treated in any space
available - hotels, private homes, even barns. Realizing that a long war and
thousands of casualties lay ahead, Southern leaders ordered the construction of
5 general hospitals in Richmond to treat the military injured and ill. The most
famous of these was the hospital on the hill - "Chimborazo".
Chimborazo hill was an excellent site for a medical facility for several
reasons. It's location near the James River was convenient for the
transportation of supplies on the Kanawha Canal. Fresh water was readily
available from natural springs and dug wells and steep slopes on 3 sides of the
hill afforded good drainage.
Opened in October, 1861, the hospital covered over 40 acres and operated
between 75 and 80 wards grouped into 5 separate divisions. Each ward was a hut
made of whitewashed pine boards that housed up to 40 patients, giving the
entire hospital a capacity of over 3,000. Every division had it's own laundry,
kitchen and bathhouse, and a central bakery and dairy served the entire
facility making Chimborazo one of the Confederacy's best equipped hospitals
as well as one of the largest. Directly outside the grounds were the JD Goodman
brewery and the city's Oakwood Cemetery.
More than 76,000 Confederate sick and wounded were treated at Chimborazo. It
had a patient mortality rate of 20%, dismal by today's standards, but quite good
in terms of 19th century medicine before the days of antibiotics, antiseptic
surgery and widespread understanding of germ theory. Indeed, it was viewed by
Confederate leaders as one of the finest hospitals their nation had.
Several techniques were pioneered there. It's use of separate wards allowed
patients to be grouped together by state - a forerunner of the ward system
in modern hospitals.
The hospital was not a beautiful sight to behold. With insufficient soap or
staff for cleaning, the wards were constantly littered with piles of dirty
rags, blood and water. In the summer, the heat made the odor and the flies
almost unbearable. Yet, it must be remembered that this hospital faced a
monumental task and significant problems with accomplishing that task.
The buildings of Chimborazo hospital are gone. But the site is set aside
as the visitor center for the Richmond National Battlefield Park. Where
all the wards once stood is now grass on a hill overlooking the James River.
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| I will be travelling to Richmond in May. With only 2 days time and 2
kids and a wife in tow, I'm going to be limited in the amount of time
that I can walk the available sites. Certainly the Confederate Museum,
and the White House are on the must list. We'll hit Petersburg on hte
way to Myrtle Beach. What would you recommend as "musts" for the
Richmond area? Is the battlefield well worth it? How about the cemetary
where Pickett and a few others are buried?
Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Jac
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| Petersburg is *very* much worth seeing. The museum of the Confederacy
and the Confederate White House in downtown Richmond are good also,
although the latter has virtually nothing that was the Davis' property.
(It was redecorated later and is undergoing restoration as time and
money permit.) When we were in Richmond a year or so ago, the Museum
had a spectacularly good temporary exhibit on blacks, their lives, and
their experience. That alone was worth the trip to Richmond. I hope
they have something even half as good in its place now.
I was very impressed with Cold Harbor, not so much with the present
appearance of the place (which is really quite ordinary) but just with
walking around, and driving through the site, and feeling a sense of
the armies' presence. I'm not sure that's a translatable thing,
though; it was a point in my own space, and it might not work for you.
-dick
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