Smallpox Epidemic

Near this location during the Civil War, a smallpox hospital quarantined thousands of people after the disease struck the prison camp and officials built a second hospital to isolate victims. Smallpox was highly contagious, dreadful to behold, and often fatal, and Union, Confederate, and civilian patients were all confined here. Surgeons, hospital stewards, and nursing sisters from the Daughters of Charity cared for patients so well that some survivors preferred the hospital to the prison camp, but many did not survive. About 1200 people died of smallpox and were buried in a separate cemetery, isolated even in death. Because the hospital stood on the far edge of camp and was poorly guarded by soldiers who feared infection, it also became a point of escape for Confederate prisoners of war. Among those who provided care were Dr. E.S. Bronson, a surgeon from the 2nd New Hampshire regiment, and Asst. Surgeon Sylvanius Bunton of the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteers, the senior medical officer when the epidemic broke out.

Maryland · United States