![]() Tripler created plans to enlist regimental surgeons to travel with armies in the field, and the creation of general hospitals for the badly wounded to be taken to for recovery and further treatment. McClellan appointed the first medical director of the army, surgeon Charles S. McClellan and the organization of the Army of the Potomac. This view changed after the appointment of General George B. Union commanders believed the war would be short and there would be no need to create a long-standing source of care for the army's medical needs. After the Battle of Bull Run, the United States government took possession of several private hospitals in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, and surrounding towns. When the war began, there were no plans in place to treat wounded or sick Union soldiers. This was a common scenario in wars from time immemorial, and conditions faced by the Confederate army were even worse. Harsh weather, bad water, inadequate shelter in winter quarters, poor policing of camps and dirty camp hospitals took their toll. There were no antibiotics, so the surgeons prescribed coffee, whiskey, and quinine. Operations in the South meant a dangerous and new disease environment, bringing diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, and malaria. First came epidemics of the childhood diseases of chicken pox, mumps, whooping cough, and, especially, measles. The hygiene of the camps was poor, especially at the beginning of the war when men who had seldom been far from home were brought together for training with thousands of strangers. As there were seldom any Masonic orphans to house, the orphanage building was sold in 2006, with the proceeds going for college scholarships to those that have Masonic heritage.Main article: Union (American Civil War) § Medical conditions The groundbreaking was the last weekend of March, and the building was used beginning in November. Thirty-three years later, Clark Lodge used the property to build their new Masonic temple, as the old one was difficult to maintain and its stairs inhibited older members from participating in lodge meetings. In 1962, the Indiana Historical Bureau placed a state historical marker on the property. At his death he bequeathed the property to his Masonic Lodge, Clark Lodge #40 as a Masonic orphans home around 1915. Eventually, a man named James Holt came into ownership of the property. Until 1874 it was used as storehouses for army materials such as clothing and blankets. After two months possession, the proposed home was instead built near Knightstown, and the buildings returned to the US Government. Those that died while in the hospital were buried down the hill, where Meijer Fields now lies.Īfter the hospital closed, the buildings were intended for a soldier's home, and given to the state of Indiana for that purpose. In total, 16,120 people were treated at the hospital. The executive office, the second command, was held by four different people. Middleton Goldsmith was its Chief Surgeon, assisted by Chief Nurse Mrs. Throughout the period the hospital was in use, Dr. Meijer Fields, formerly Shannon Park, built above the Civil War cemetery Inside the perimeter made by the buildings was a chapel with reading rooms, post office, drug & instrument house, and a "dead house". Each ward had 4 large cast iron stoves, which warmed the building. 24 of the buildings were wards, each having 53 beds for patients and one for the ward master. 27 buildings, each 175' by 20', encircled a corridor that was 0.5 mile in circumference. The Hospital was built to replace the existing hospital at Camp Joe Holt. ![]() Union authorities took the property without compensation, similar to what happened at Arlington National Cemetery. ![]() Bright was sympathetic to the Confederates, and was expelled from his position as Senator in 1862. Jefferson General Hospital was the third-largest hospital during the American Civil War, located at Port Fulton, Indiana (now part of Jeffersonville, Indiana) and was active between Februand December 1866. For the hospital in Washington, see Jefferson Healthcare. This article is about the hospital in Indiana.
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