Lynchburg Civil War Hospitals

Lynchburg Civil War Hospitals. Knight and Miller Tobacco Factories. , These tobacco factories, built in 1845, were typical of the nineteen in Lynchburg converted into hospitals during the Civil War. Surgeon J.K. Page supervised Knight’s and Miller’s as divisions of General Hospital No. 2., The thirty-two hospitals established in Lynchburg treated 3,000 to 4,000 patients at any given time, a remarkable achievement since Lynchburg’s 1860 population was 6,853. Citizens opened their own homes after major battles such as Gettysburg and the Wilderness when the deluge of casualties arriving by train exceeded 10,000., Lynchburg’s hospitals made considerable progress during the war in hygiene and the treatment of wounds. Physicians like John J. Terrell and William Otway Owen worked constantly to improve conditions, saving the lives of hundreds of patients who otherwise would have died., (captions) , Dr. John J. Terrell (1829-1922), a Quaker, served in the Confederate Medical Corps. He supervised the Pest House and discovered Glanders Disease, a fatal horse infection. He saved hundreds of army mounts by using water buckets instead of troughs to prevent Glanders from spreading. - From the Lynchburg Museum Collection, Lucy Wilhelmina Otey (1801-67) opened the independent Ladies’ Relief Hospital in the former City Hotel on Main St. in Aug. 1861. Leading 500 of Lynchburg’s most prominent women, she established one of the South’s exemplary health-care facilities during the Civil War. Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg College, built in 1856-57, stood vacant at 10th and Wise Streets when it became Lynchburg’s first military hospital in 1863. It was designated General Hospital No.3 in 1864. The Catholic Sisters of Charity provided nursing care there. - Lynchburg Museum Collection, Locations of Lynchburg's Civil War hospitals.