I wonder how many doctors working at Yale University Hospital and the School of Medicine realize that when they the enter the door to the Boardman Building at 330 Cedar Street that they are now on the grounds of a former Civil War hospital.

The first hospital building, shown below, opened in 1833 on the seven-and-a-half acres between Cedar Street and Howard, Congress and Davenport Avenues.

During the Civil War the federal government leased that building and its grounds for $1,000 a year for use as a military hospital. They renamed it the Knight United States Army General Hospital in honor of Dr. Jonathan Knight. Dr. Knight was part of the original faculty of the Medical Institution of Yale College, and the 7th president of the American Medical Association. He was the second Professor of Surgery at Yale, a position he held until his death in 1864.

During the Civil War the regular hospital that served the community was moved to Whalley Avenue. Temporary buildings and tents were erected on the Cedar Street property and the Knight Hospital could accommodate up to 1,000 patients at its peak. It functioned as a city within a city under the control of the Federal government. Initially there were four pavilions or barracks that served as patient wards. Each was 187 feet long and 24 feet wide and accommodated about 100 patients. There were separate buildings built for use as a mess hall, kitchen, dispensary, quartermaster supplies, bakery, linen room, wash houses, chapel and library. The facility had its own police and fire department.

The original hospital building on the property was not felt to be adequately ventilated for patient care and served as an office building that contained a post office, printing office, administrative offices, and housing for some of the staff. Over time five additional patient wards were added.

After the war a monument was erected in 1870 in Evergreen Cemetery at 769 Ella Grasso Boulevard to the 204 Union soldiers who died in the Knight hospital, many of whom are buried adjacent to the monument (41.3031660, -72.9453352). Pictures of the monument and headstones of the deceased soldiers are shown below.

Sources-

New Haven’s Civil War Hospital, A History of Knight U.S. General Hospital, 1862-1865 by Ira Spar, M.D.

The Hospital published a weekly 4-page newspaper of which there were 40 issues. These were collected and published in a single volume but only about 50 copies are known to exist. It can be viewed online in the Hartford Medical Society digital archive.