by Sandra Merville Hart

Wounded Civil War soldiers often went to temporary hospitals set up in tents, homes, churches, public buildings, and barns during and immediately after battles. Many ended up on trains headed to the capital cities—Washington DC in the North and Richmond, Virginia, in the South.

In Richmond, barracks originally intended to be comfortable winter quarters for up to 10,000 Southern soldiers were converted into Chimborazo Hospital in the fall of 1861. One-story wooden building covered a plateau at the eastern end of Broad Street and overlooked the scenic James River. A deep gulch called Bloody Run separated Chimborazo Hill from the affluent Church Hill neighborhood.

Samuel P. Moore, chief surgeon at Chimborazo Hospital, appointed James B. McCaw as physician. The hospital’s 150 one-story, white washed buildings became patient wards and were arranged in rows. A wide avenue separated each row to provide plenty of fresh air. Each building could care for 40 – 60 patients each. In addition to the one-story buildings, patients were also housed in 100 tents. At Chimborazo, wounded soldiers were housed with others from their state, such as Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Under McCaw’s management, the hospital was a well-organized one. It owned hundreds of goats and milk cows that grazed nearby. Canal boats brought fresh produce from the country. There was also a large garden on a nearby farm. The hospital had its own kitchens, bake houses, 5 ice houses, guard house, bathhouse, chapel, and a large stable. Blacksmith, carpenter, and apothecary shops were also located on the 40-acre plateau.  

During the Civil War, Richmond had 44 hospitals of various sizes. Winder Hospital, located at Richmond’s western border, was almost as large as Chimborazo.

Unfortunately, even all these weren’t always enough to care for the wounded that poured into the city after a battle. So many wounded came into the city in late June/early July of 1862 that Chimborazo erected tents for them. It wasn’t enough space, so the patients were laid around the tents.

Almost 78,000 Confederate soldiers were cared for at Chimborazo Hospital. Of these, between 6,500 – 8,000 died.

In Boulevard of Confusion, Book 2 in my “Spies of the Civil War” series, two cousins volunteer at Chimborazo Hospital. The soldiers they care for are from Tennessee.

Sources

“Chimborazo Hospital,” Civil War Richmond, 2021/07/05 https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/hospitals/chimborazo-hospital.

“Chimborazo Hospital,” Encyclopedia Virginia, 2021/07/05 https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/chimborazo-hospital/.

“Chimborazo Hospital,” U.S. National Park Service, 2021/07/05 https://www.nps.gov/rich/learn/historyculture/chimborazo.htm.

Ferguson, Ernest B. Ashes of Glory: Richmond at War, Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

The Richmond Enquirer, 10/2/1861, p. 3, c. 3., 2021/07/05

https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/military-organizations/military-camps.

The Richmond Daily Whig, 11/01/1861, 2021/07/05 https://www.civilwarrichmond.com/military-organizations/military-camps.

Thomas, Emory M. The Confederate State of Richmond, Louisiana State University Press, 1998.