Charlottesville General Hospital was founded July 15, 1861 and was made up of a makeshift complex of buildings that were converted into hospitals over the course of 1861, including those on the University of Virginia grounds, the courthouse, town hall, private homes, and hotels. Shortly thereafter, the sick and wounded began to arrive after the battle of first Bull Run with little warning and in far greater numbers than Dr. James Cabell (the Surgeon-in-Charge) and his staff expected. Twelve hundred sick and wounded quickly overwhelmed the University and town, quickly filling the hospital to capacity. Sites used at the University included the East and West Ranges, Dawson’s Row, the Rotunda, the Public Hall- burned, the Chapel, Moot Court Room, Morea and the student infirmary- now Varsity Hall.

UVA Varsity Hall- 136 Hospital Drive- Former Infirmary

An 1861 map of the UVA grounds is shown below

Hospitals converted from hotels included: the Delevan Hospital, the Midway Hospital, and the Monticello House.

Delevan Hospital (Mudwall) Division #1– was located at 632 West Main Street. It was originally the Delevan Hotel a 3-story brick building at Main and Ridge Streets near the grounds of the Southern Railroad at Union Station. There were 12 wards with 32-48 patients each. It was surrounded by a wall of clay, hence the name Mudwall. The First Baptist Church is on the site of the hospital today.

Midway Hospital, Division #2, Post Jefferson– formerly located at 100 Ridge Street on the corner of Main and Ridge atop Vinegar Hill. Originally a hotel, it was demolished when the Midway School was built in 1893. The Midway Apartments sit on the grounds today. 

Patients could be accommodated on three floors with 19 rooms. The kitchen and dining room were in the basement. It was established by the South Carolina Aid Association. South Carolina soldiers were also cared for at several boarding houses in the area. Surgeons in charge included Dr. Richard North, Dr. Theodore Gourdin, Dr. Charles Carter, and Dr. James McIntosh. E.E. Jackson was the apothecary and the nurse matron was Eliza Rion. Mrs. Francis Jane Clarke from Charleston kept a diary while working there which is referenced at the end of the post.

Monticello House- Formerly the Old Stone Tavern and the Central Hotel, which was the main hotel in Charlottesville. It consisted of 2 large buildings. There was an outbreak of typhoid fever there, and a fire in December 1862 destroyed the building. It was located near the Maupin House where the staff stayed. Ada Bacot from Society Hill, SC worked there and kept a diary which is referenced in the sources.

Soldier’s Home- was made up of a group of boarding houses near the University including the Dunham House, Ivy House, Daniels House, and the Harris House (Mrs. Lott).

The Court House

Town Hall- converted to the Levy Opera in 1888 and now an office building- 350 Park Street.

During the course of 1862 it was becoming increasingly clear that the mission of the University was being compromised by the Hospital and that other arrangements needed to be made to care for the sick and wounded outside the campus. Then came the Battle of Port Republic on June 9, 1862, only 40 miles away. By the 14th, 600 casualties had arrived, 10 days later the number had risen to 1400. Dawson’s Row, both Ranges, the Rotunda, the Public Hall, the Chapel and even the Moot Court Room were filled to capacity. Tents were erected in open fields. The University’s governing body, the Board of Regents, on July 25, 1862 requested that all patients be removed from the grounds.

The hospital closed in March 1865 when the Union under General Sheridan occupied Charlottesville. While it was open it treated over 22,700 men. Five thousand of them from gunshot wounds and the remainder with disease, 1100 died. Dr. James Lawrence Cabell, a Professor at the University was the Surgeon-in-Charge. His chief assistants were Dr. John Staige Davis and Dr. John Edgar Chancellor also faculty members at UVA (all are buried in the UVA cemetery). Drs. Theodore A. Michie, Sigmunds S. Neill, R.A. Kinloch and Orlando Fairfax were graduates of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Alexander Rives was from Bellevue Hospital. Dr. Edward Warren later became the Surgeon General of North Carolina. Dr. Oriana Moon, a woman born in Albemarle county, was one of the South’s first two women to be awarded an M.D. degree and worked at the hospital.

Several famous Generals were treated at the hospital. Isaac Trimble a native of Culpeper County was hospitalized for erysipelas in 1862. He would subsequently lose a leg at the Battle of Gettysburg. John Bell Hood was wounded in the left arm at Gettysburg and treated in Charlottesville in July 1863. Brigadier General Carnot Posey, a graduate of the UVA law school, received a minor thigh wound at the Battle of Bristoe Station in October of 1863. He was discovered by Dr. John Davis, his former UVA roommate at Culpeper Court House who brought him back to UVA. He died of a wound infection in the room that they both shared while students- room 33, West Pavillion 17 shown below. He is buried in the UVA cemetery in the Davis family plot. 

Sources:

Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in the Civil War by Ervin L. Jordan, Jr, pages 45-60.

The Magazine of Albemarle County History, Civil War Issue, Volume 22, 1963-1964, pages 91-160- The Charlottesville General Hospital 1861-1865 by Chalmers L. Gemmill, pages 161-189- Midway Hospital: 1861-1863 The diary of Miss Clarke of South Carolina edited by Chalmers L. Gemmill.

A Confederate Nurse The Diary of Ada W. Bacot 1860-1863. Edited by Jean V. Berlin.