The Farmville VA General Hospital

On April 23, 1862 the Orange Courthouse General Hospital was closed and moved to Farmville along with its Chief Surgeon Dr. Horace Dade Taliaferro. He then organized the Farmville General Hospital with a capacity of 1200-1500 beds. It was a center primarily for less acutely ill patients with chronic diseases or convalescents moved from hospitals either near the battlefield or in larger cities. Tobacco warehouses and factories in town made up the first and second Divisions. Dr. Walton was in charge of the 1st Division and Dr. Tuft the 2nd Division. These buildings along the river all burned in 1898 and the current warehouses there are not the original structures present during the war.

The 3rd Division consisted of 10-12 wards to the west of the city limits on the line of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Dr. James L. White was the Surgeon-in-Charge. Physicians working with him included Drs: Mathews; Chandler; Garden; Ladd; Boatwright and Grayson. Soon after the war most of the buildings were torn down. In 1916 only the extreme western ward was partially intact which was located behind the residence of ex-Governor Philip McKinney extending back toward the river on the south side of the railroad tracks. The Governor’s address was 408 Beech Street. The railroad tracks were removed and are now the High Bridge walking trail. In 1916 the buildings that were the Office of the Surgeon-in-Charge, the bakery, and commissary department were then occupied as dwellings. The patient wards were on the north side of the railroad tracks in the area of what is now 402 Appomattox Street. None of these buildings on the north side of the tracks remain.

Confederate Cemetery 835 Longstreet Road- During the war between 300 and 400 soldiers were buried in the cemetery but the register with their names was lost at the end of the war. During the retreat of Confederate troops, the bridge across the Appomattox River was destroyed and a temporary burial ground was established near the railroad depot for those that died after that point. These bodies were subsequently removed to the Confederate Cemetery after the war. At that point about 500 soldiers were buried there. Some of these were subsequently relocated by friends and family leaving what are thought to be a total of 350-400 soldiers. A full list of those buried in the cemetery has been compiled by Moffatt Evans the past Commander of High Bridge Camp 1581 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Recently the Confederate monument was relocated to the cemetery. The last 2 pictures of the block are from Westview Cemetery on South Main Street in Farmville where Dr. Horace Dade Taliaferro the Surgeon-in-Charge of the Farmville General Hospital is buried (37.2872401, -78.3970454). His grave is toward the front of the cemetery not far from S. Main Street (US Business 15).

Another Surgeon who worked at the Farmville Hospital was Dr. John Cooke Grayson Sr. He is buried on the property where he lived- Salubria- 19173 Salubria Lane, Stevensburg, Virginia (shown below).