Depot Field Hospital

During the Siege of Petersburg, the Depot Field Hospital at City Point was the largest of seven hospitals built there and reflected what the Union army had learned about medical care since the beginning of the Civil War. Severely wounded soldiers were sent north, while those who remained in the field received the best care available. Running water pumped from the Appomattox River helped keep the two hundred-acre complex "as neat as a pin," according to one observer. African American women worked in the hospital laundry to ensure that each soldier received fresh linen, and other women, black and white, worked in the kitchens. By providing meals and clean bedding, these women also raised morale and reminded wounded men of home. President Abraham Lincoln spent the last day of his two week stay at City Point touring the hospital and visited more than six thousand patients, including Confederate Colonel Henry L. Benbow, who at first hesitated to shake Lincoln’s hand because he had fought for the Confederacy for four years before finally extending both hands to clasp the president’s offered arms.

Hopewell, Virginia · United States