Also called: The General Hospital, City Home Hospital, Alms House Hospital.
Built shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War by the City of Richmond as a
poor house. Rented by the City Council to the Confederate authorities in June
1861 as a military hospital. Continued in use as such until December 1864 when
it was reclaimed by the City for rental to the Virginia Military Institute as
their temporary location. Suffered heavy exterior damage when the nearby powder
magazine was exploded on evacuation night. Taken over by Federal authorities and
again used by them as a poor house. Returned to the City in December 1865. It
was used for many years as the City Alms House. Still in use and owned by the
City of Richmond. Earliest use by the Confederacy was for wounded Union
prisoners. Soon became the first of the large General Hospitals. Capacity about
500 patients. Dr. Charles Bell Gibson, surgeon-in-charge. Location: northside of
Hospital Street, between 2nd and 4th Streets, opposite
Shockoe Cemetery. (from
Confederate Military Hospitals in Richmond by Robert W. Wait, Jr.,
Official Publication #22 Richmond Civil War Centennial committee, Richmond,
Virginia 1964.)
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
3/28/1861; ad for the summer
schedule of classes at the Medical College - McCaw and Gibson are listed as
professors; students will have access to patients at Bellevue Hospital and
Alms House free of charge |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
4/15/1861; Dr. Charles Bell Gibson
(future surgeon of GH#1) has been appointed Surgeon General of Virginia
forces |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
4/26/1861; want ad for a drummer
for the 1st South Carolina, stationed at the "New Poor House Building"
(future GH#1) |
|
Richmond
Whig |
7/11/1861; soldiers have been
buried in an open field near the Alms House - advocates using Oakwood
Cemetery for soldier interments |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
7/22/1861; wounded Kentuckian is
taken to the hospital at the "new Alms House" (future GH#1) |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
7/25/1861; wounded POWs of
Ellsworth's Zouaves are taken to the Alms House for treatment - expresses
belief that these men are a very "hard set," and "villains of a low degree,"
and don't deserve any kindness |
|
Richmond
Whig |
7/26/1861; soldier is attacked by
another soldier and dies at the Alms House |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
7/27/1861; ten wounded soldiers
taken to the alms house hospital |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
7/30/1861;
City Alms House Hospital (Gen. Hos. #1) described. Used as a prison at this
time. |
|
Richmond
Whig |
7/31/1861; wounded Yankees
complain about the General Hospital (GH#1) |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/2/1861; majority of wounded POWs
are at the alms house; hospital established for prisoners at Ross' Factory |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/2/1861; 70 wounded POWs brought
to Richmond |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/2/1861; 15 negro men wanted to
work in the Alms House Hospital |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/8/1861; nearly 300 Yankee POWs
at Alms House; mentions Col. Wilcox and Capt. Ricketts being there |
|
Richmond
Whig |
8/8/1861; General Hospital #1
described |
|
Richmond
Whig |
8/10/1861; appeal for the Alms
House to be occupied by Confederate wounded, and the Yankees moved out.
Praises the hospital as a "large
and airy building" |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/12/1861; letter from POW of 69th
NY, at Alms House Hospital |
|
Richmond
Whig |
8/14/1861; recommendation that
negroes be employed as hospital assistants and that Yankees be moved out of
the Alms House |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/20/1861; detailed account of
visit to Alms House Prison Hospital |
|
Mary Chesnut's Civil War; C. Vann Woodward, ed. |
8/5-26/1861; Accounts of Mrs.
Chesnut's visits to Robertson Hospital and General Hospital No. 1
(8/23/1861) |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/26/1861; lists two Yankee
officers who died recently at Alms House |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/26/1861; list of prominent
Yankee POWs at Alms House |
|
Richmond
Whig |
8/26/1861; Improvements to General
Hospital #1. |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
9/17/1861; "Hospitals in Richmond"
list |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
9/23/1861; false alarm of fire near
the General Hospital |
|
Richmond Enquirer |
9/24/1861; Medical College notice
for the next term, includes listing of professors (McCaw, Gibson, Peticolas,
etc) |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
9/25/1861; list of hospitals in
Richmond with current capacities. Notes that POWs are at the General
Hospital |
|
Richmond
Examiner |
9/27/1861; A southern turncoat is
among the prisoners at General Hospital #1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
10/1/1861; Officer Winches has been engaged in
cleaning up the General Hospital and adding to the comfort of the inmates |
|
Richmond
Examiner |
10/4/1861; Yankee prisoners, kept
at General Hospital #1, to be exchanged |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
10/7/1861;
flag of truce
boat carries away 57 POWs - Charles Bell Gibson and St. George Peachy
accompany the departing prisoners |
|
Richmond
Examiner |
10/11/1861; 40 Federal prisoners
being treated at GH#1; details about Mrs. Ricketts coming to Richmond to
nurse her wounded husband |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
10/16/1861;
36 WIA prisoners
transferred from Alms House to prison. Authorities hope to use Alms House
for CSA only |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
10/16/1861; 36 prisoners
transferred from the General Hospital to the Confederate States Hospital
(probably Ross Factory) |
|
Richmond
Examiner |
10/16/1861; Federal prisoners
removed from GH#1 and moved to prison on Main st. |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
11/12/1861; statistics of burials in Shockoe
cemetery during the last quarter, including 97 Union POWs |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
11/12/1861; quarterly statistics of the Shockoe
Cemetery - 99 POWs buried there |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
11/23/1861; a baker is wanted at the General
Hospital (GH#1) |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
11/29/1861; C. B. Gibson at
G. H. #1 wants to hire 9 male nurses |
|
Richmond
Whig |
1/1/1862; use of the Alms House
(GH#1) is being urged to be returned to the poor |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
1/3/1862; Capt. Hugh
McQuaid, Co. I, 39th NY, died in the Military Hospital 12/26. 25 POWs died
in December. |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
1/4/1862; G. W. Archer,
Asst. Surgeon at GH#1, adv for lost scarf |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
1/6/1862; description of a visit
to "Hospital No. 1" where wounded Yankees are being treated |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
1/14/1862; Dr. Gibson adv for 10 servants to act as nurses at General
Hospital |
|
Richmond
Whig |
2/18/1862; burial statistics of the
Shockoe Hill Cemetery for the quarter ending 1/31/1862. Notes also that 37
POWs were buried during the same time. Gives statistics for previous years
as well. Notes that they have not seen such a report for Hollywood Cemetery.
|
|
Richmond Dispatch |
3/6/1862; Stable of Dr. Charles Bell Gibson, Franklin St., burned |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
3/6/1862; fire at Dr. Gibson's
stables - ascribed to arson |
|
Richmond
Whig |
3/6/1862; Dr. Gibson's stables were
partially burnt down |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
3/12/1862; Hollywood Cemetery asks City Council for land to expand; Wm. H.
Johnson looking to recoup losses from plastering Alms House |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
4/26/1862; counterfeiter to be hanged near New Alms House |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
5/13/1862; Peterfield Trent asks City Council to set aside Clay St Chapel as
hospital - request denied; quarter ending 4/30: 114 white interments at
Shockoe, 16 of them POW |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
5/23/1862; Chas. Bell Gibson is Surgeon in Charge, GH#1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
5/26/1862; details on Tom Rosser wound. Recuperating at Dr. Gibson’s
Franklin St |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
6/3/1862; “Alms House Hospital”
(GH#1) is in need of nurses and provisions; gives a good description of the
hospital, and mentions the Sisters of Charity helping at the hospital |
| Richmond
Examiner |
6/4/1862; ladies needed to help at
GH#1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/5/1862; List of
YMCA donations to GH#1, St. Charles, Byrd Island Hospital, Globe &
Richardson. |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/6/1862; Chas.
Bell Gibson needs 20 male nurses and 10 washerwomen for General Hospital |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
6/6/1862; 20 nurses and 12
laundresses needed at Gen. Hos. #1 |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
6/6/1862; casualty list from Seven
Pines, listing the hospitals where wounded were taken. |
|
Richmond
Whig |
6/6/1862; 20 nurses needed at
General Hospital #1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/7/1862; List of
donors & provisions for area hospitals |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/7/1862; Mrs.
Wyatt thanked by GH#1 for donations |
|
Charleston
Mercury |
6/9/1862; Description of the Battle
of Seven Pines - notes that Capt. Elliot is raising a force for local
defense; mentions the South Carolina Hospital in Manchester, Chimborazo,
Winder, and the Alms House Hospital |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/17/1862; Gen.
Hosp needs 20 gallons milk per day. J. S. Dorset acting steward |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
6/30/1862; Dr. C.
B. Gibson at G. H. wants 20 servants, black or white |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
7/8/1862; General
Hospital #1 thanks Ladies Relief Society of Powhatan |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
7/11/1862; J. S.
Dorset, steward at GH#1, adv. for 25 nurses |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
7/11/1862; Dr. C.
B. Gibson, Franklin between 7th and 8th, adv for wet nurse |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
7/15/1862; A. S.
Dorset, GH#1, thanks Miss C. A. Branch of Chesterfield Co. |
|
New York
Herald |
7/28/1862; wonderful general
description of the city of Richmond - mentions, Hollywood, Tredegar, the
Almshouse, appearance of the prisons, Odd Fellows Hall, and the James River
and Kanawha Canal |
|
National Archives, RG 109, Ch. IV |
8/1/1862; order from F. Sorrel,
re-designating existing hospitals into Gen. Hosps. with numbers. |
|
Ledger of Confederate Hospital Practice |
no date; Rules and Regulations for
General Hospital #1 |
|
Ledger of Confederate Hospital Practice |
no date; list of Surgeons at
General Hospital #1 |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
8/22/1862; counterfeiter to be
hung in the "poor-house gulley" (near General Hospital #1) |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
8/23/1862;
counterfeiter executed in gully east of Alms House. Elliott’s Battalion
assists. This is the first counterfeiter executed. |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
8/25/1862; slave
whipped for stealing surgical instruments from Charles Bell Gibson |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
8/25/1862; slave given fifteen lashes for
stealing surgical instruments from Dr. C. B. Gibson |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
8/29/1862; GH#1
wants 10 men or boys – purpose not stated |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
9/9/1862; "Glue
and Oil works" located just behind GH#1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
9/10/1862; City
report on expenditures, fiscal year ending 2/28/1862. Spent $30,409 on Alms
House, $567 for painting roof of Seabrook’s Warehouse, $509 for improvements
at Oakwood Cemetery; VCRR gets permission to use temporary Broad Street
tracks to connect RF&P RR with VCRR – wish to transfer 40 freight cars &
five passenger cars to VCRR; city council wonders why armory for volunteer
companies of the city, 9th between Main & Cary, not yet completed |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
9/17/1862; J. S.
Dorset, Hospital Steward at GH#1, thanks Chesterfield citizens for donations |
|
Richmond
Dispatch |
9/22/1862; ten servants needed at
General Hospital #1 |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
9/27/1862; J. S.
Dorset, steward at GH#1, tells slave owners to collect their fees today |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
9/29/1862; Dr. B.
A. Curtis, GH#1, selling his farm in New Kent County on RYRRR |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
9/30/1862; tabular report of sick
& wounded soldiers in the Hospitals in Richmond |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
10/1/1862; 150
ANV wounded arrive on VCRR – sent to GH#1 |
|
Library of Congress |
10/6/1862; reports on the
capacities of Richmond Hospitals and empty beds |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
10/15/1862; J. S.
Dorset, steward at GH#1, selling milch cows |
|
Library of Congress |
10/16/1862; reports on the
capacities of Richmond Hospitals, empty beds, and Patients in them |
|
Library of Congress |
11/1/1862; reports on the
capacities of Richmond Hospitals, empty beds, and Patients in them |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
11/3/1862; J. S.
Dorset at GH#1 anxious to pay owners of servants hired to hospital. Also
wants 10 black nurses |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
11/4/1862; F. S.
Skinner arrives 11/3 to be treated by Dr. Gibson |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
11/7/1862; Chas.
Bell Gibson adv. for 19 black male nurses for GH#1. $18.50 per month. |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
11/13/1862; John
Haley, 1SC, drunk, sent to Castle Thunder; John Norman, free negro, ordered
a “thrashing” for disturbing the peace near the “new Alms-House.” |
|
William A. Carrington CSR (M331) (no. 36) |
11/19/1862; Inspection Report, with
sketches |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
11/26/1862; City
council minutes: quarter ending 10/31/1862 at Shockoe – 291 white males,
total interned – 384, plus 189 negroes; basement of Mechanics’ Hall crowded
by storage of 100 benches owned by the city |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
12/9/1862; City
Council: discusses CSA smallpox hospital, now near corner 25th & Cary; 798
kegs of powder in city magazine; sells settees from Mechanics’ Hall to
Govt., for use of patients at Chimborazo Hospital |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
12/16/1862; Martha Ball, nurse at
GH#1, convicted of being a "woman of the town" |
|
Report of Hospital Committee |
1862; Congressional report
describing the Richmond hospital system. Notes that State hospitals are
superior to the Government ones. Describes the "Bird's Island Hospital" as
"obnoxious," but describes the General Hospital, Banner Hospital, and
Royster's factory favorably. Says that Royster's is a "model of neatness."
Also comments negatively on the system of furloughs and discharges |
|
Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War |
1863; prisoner's account of harsh
treatment in Richmond. Notes that while at the General Hospital (GH#1) he
was well-treated; at the tobacco warehouse he was not. Also notes that "a
lady named Van Lew" helped provide for him while in prison until she was
stopped by prison authorities |
|
William A. Carrington CSR (M331) (no. 26) |
1/7/1863; Memo regarding gangrene
at Genl. Hospls. #1, 8, 10, 4, and the Louisiana Hospl. |
|
RG 109, Ch. 6, Vol. 416, pp. 22-24 |
1/8/1863; Carrington writes on the baking of
bread in Richmond hospitals, urges the construction of ovens. Gives great
details on the Chimborazo Bakery. Notes that GH1, GH4, Winder, Chimborazo
and the South Carolina hospital all have their own ovens. GH9 and GH13
mentioned. |
| Richmond
Whig |
1/19/1863; Small Pox patients at
GH#1 |
|
Richmond
Enquirer |
5/7/1863; 1,000+ wounded men
brought to Richmond; the severely wounded are taken to General Hospital #1 |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
6/4/1863; people are stealing flowers from
Hollywood and Shockoe cemeteries |
|
Judith McGuire Notes |
7/23/1863; many anecdotes relating
to Judith McGuire's service at Robertson Hospital - Sally Tompkins mentioned
repeatedly; her husband gets a job at the "Officers' Hospital" (GH#1) as
post chaplain (7/23/1863) and has a description of visiting Shockoe Cemetery
after helping him there; mentions nursing briefly at Jackson Hospital, and
gives a description of the place |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
8/10/1863; list of hospitals in
Richmond and to which hospitals soldiers from the various states are sent |
|
Richmond Sentinel |
9/21/1863; list of hospitals in
Richmond and to which hospitals soldiers from the various states are sent |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
10/3/1863; Gen. Winder wants to
move all POWs to from Castle Thunder to the Alms House (GH#1) |
|
Richmond
Examiner |
10/5/1863; city wants Almshouse
(GH#1) back for the poor |
|
Richmond
Daily Whig |
10/6/1863; Gen. Winder wants
General Hospital #1 as a prison |
|
Official Records, Ser. I, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 1179-1180 |
1/25/1864; Moore directs that
patients be moved from Winder & GH#1 to Jackson. |
|
National Archives,
RG 109, Ch. 6, Vol. 709, pt. 1, p. 18 |
1/28/1864; patients from General
Hospital #1 and Howard's Grove are to be sent to Chimborazo; rescinds the
order closing down unoccupied Divisions of Chimborazo |
|
Richmond
Whig |
2/24/1864; lamentation that the
Confederate Government will not give the Alms House back to the city. Notes
that "Chimborazo, Camp Winder, Howard’s Grove, etc., afford ample room for
all the sick and wounded soldiers brought to this military department" and
if they fill up, there are many other places to put the patients |
|
Richmond
Whig |
3/14/1864; henhouse of Mr. John
Pearce, keeper of the Almshouse, was burglarized |
|
National Archives, RG
109, Ch. 6, Vol. 364, p. 38 |
3/31/1864; Carrington desires to
turn over the Alms House to the city, but no response has come from them |
|
RG 109, Ch. 6, Vol. 151, p. 1 |
9/1862 - 5/1864; Statistics of General Hospital
#1 - hospital closed after March, 1864 |
|
National Archives, RG 109, Ch. 6, Vol. 364, p. 103 |
6/1/1864; Surgeon of GH#4 is
directed to open a new hospital for officers at the alms house, "formerly
GH#1." |
|
CSMSJ Vol. I, No. 7 |
7/1864; report of Surg. Charles Bell
Gibson of a plastic surgeon operation at General Hospital No. 1 (includes
engraving) |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
8/5/1864; items from the Mayor's
docket: two negro girls are thrashed for calling a white man "poor white
trash;" a boy escapee from the Alms House is sent back there after stoning a
man at the Petersburg depot |
| Richmond
Whig |
8/8/1864; General Hospital #1
described. |
|
Richmond
Whig |
9/3/1864; man charged with stealing
hogs from the "almshouse hospital" (GH1) |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
11/12/1864; VMI will
commence its term starting Dec. 1 at the Alms House; all faculty and cadets
requested to report at that time |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
11/12/1864; order from
Superintendent of VMI for cadets and faculty to report to the Alms House
for the next term, and details financial arrangements |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
12/5/1864; VMI Board of
Visitors approves the occupation of the Alms House, and city agrees to
rent it to them |
| Richmond Whig |
12/5/1864; Letter to editor
concerning its efficiency |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
12/12/1864; a conductor
on the Fredericksburg railroad is shot by a criminal and dies at the
"officers’ hospital (City Alms House)." Gives a list of the doctors who
treated him |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
12/18/1864; Alms House
rented to VMI for $15,000 a year |
|
Hughes, Thomas. A Boy's
Experiences in the Civil War 1860-1865, 1904 |
late 1864; excellent description of the VMI cadets' use of the Alms House as
barracks and classrooms and cadet life in general; also mentions the cadets
tending Confederate graves in Hollywood cemetery after the war |
|
Richmond
Whig |
4/7/1865; 8 paupers at the Alms
House were killed in the city magazine explosion |
|
Richmond
Whig |
4/24/1865; Dr. Charles Bell Gibson,
former surgeon of GH#1, has died |
|
Richmond
Whig |
4/27/1865; Description of the
explosion of the City Magazine on evacuation night and damage to the
almshouse |
| William Klinger CSR, M331 |
various dates; supply lists for
GH#1 |
