Huguenot Springs

Huguenot Springs. Confederate Hospital and Cemetery. In 1862, the spa at Huguenot Springs Hotel became a convalescent hospital for Confederate soldiers. Trains brought patients from Richmond hospitals to Robious Station on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, where they were transferred to wagons for transportation here. Local women served as nurses and treated the men to roast chicken and homemade jellies. Ministers tended to the men’s spiritual needs. After the war, Harvey Hatcher, a Baptist army evangelist, wrote that, “In May, 1863, 1 went to the Huguenot Springs (convalescent) Hospital … and aided the chaplain, Geo. W Hyde, for three weeks in a series of meetings. About thirty men professed faith in Christ. I baptized some seven or eight. Rev. D.B. Winfree of Chesterfield preached five times in the meeting. In June 1864, by the request of brother Hyde, I aided him again at the same place for two weeks. Our meeting was suddenly closed by a large number of men coming to the hospital and occupying the chapel. About twenty professed to have a hope in the Gospel. Hyde baptized six or eight while I was there and some after I left.”, Buried in this mass-grave cemetery are the remains of more than 250 soldiers, most of whom died of disease rather than battle wounds. About 92 have been identified as being from the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The hotel burned in 1890, and the surviving cottages were made into private homes. In 1915, the Powhatan United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the monument you see over the cemetery., (sidebar) , Huguenot Springs stood 500 yards to your left. Popular for years with Richmonders, the resort was incorporated in 1846 and new buildings were constructed. The spa included a grand hotel, a spring house, bathing facilities, and cottages. Huguenot Springs accommodated about 150 guests at a time during its antebellum heyday., (captions) , Gen. Robert E. Lee joined soldiers holding a prayer service, Nov 1863. Religious revivals swept the Confederate army in 1863-64, and prayer meetings and baptisms occurred in camps and hospitals such as Huguenot Springs., Huguenot Springs Hotel