Burkittsville in Frederick County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Burkittsville
Houses of Worship Become Houses of Misery
— Antietam Campaign 1862 —
Union surgeons turned Burkittsville, a quiet rural village of some 200 people, into a hospital complex after the September 14, 1862, Battle of Crampton’s Gap. The building in front of you, the German Reformed Church, was Hospital D.
Twenty-year-old Henrietta Biser gasped when she saw the church pews strewn in the front yard and “a pile of amputated limbs lying just inside the door of the church. Blood was running...over the floor...and things were torn to pieces.” Henry M. Wiener remembered amputations being conducted in the church and “seeing blood on...the walls of the church.” Wounded Union and Confederate soldiers lay on the floor, their seeping blood ruining the carpet, until straw was brought in. When it became soaked, it was pitched outside and replaced with cots.
The red brick St. Paul’s Lutheran Church also served as a hospital, and the Reformed Church parsonage, which stood between the churches, may also have served a medical function. The Henry McDuell farm north of town was Hospital A.
The hospitals operated until January 1863, when the remaining patients were transferred to Frederick. The soldiers who died in Burkittsville were temporarily interred in the town cemetery. The Federals were removed to the Antietam National Cemetery in 1867 and the Confederates to Hagerstown’s Washington Confederate Cemetery in the 1870s.
Hospital D stands as a reminder of the misery and destruction the Antietam Campaign brought into the heart of this quiet town.
(captions)
The Henry McDull farm, north of Burkittsville, served as Hospital "A". Union wounded filled the main house and several out buildings, and Confederate injured were kept on the large porch of the main house. Courtesy Melvin J. Berman via Timothy J. Reese.
VI Corps Surgeon James D. Robinson ran Hospital “A”. - National Archives via Timothy J. Reese
Erected by Maryland Civil War Trails.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Churches & Religion • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Maryland Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1862.
Location. 39° 23.621′ N, 77° 37.753′ W. Marker is in Burkittsville, Maryland, in Frederick County. Marker is at the intersection of East Main Street and Potomac Street (Maryland Route 17), on the right on East Main Street. On the grounds of the Resurrection Reform Church. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3 East Main Street, Burkittsville MD 21718, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Cobbled Stagecoach Stop (within shouting distance of this marker); Confederate Forces (approx. 0.4 miles away); “Sealed With Their Lives” (approx. 0.7 miles away); Chew’s Ashby Artillery (approx. 0.7 miles away); Burkittsville: Henry Burkitt’s Town (approx. 0.7 miles away); The Confusion of Battle (approx. 0.9 miles away); Cobb's Georgia Legion (approx. 0.9 miles away); Gath's Empty Tomb (approx. 0.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Burkittsville.
Also see . . .
1. Our History - Burkittsville, MD. Town website homepage (Submitted on July 25, 2007.)
2. Everyday Life in a Civil War Hospital. American Battlefield Trust website entry (Submitted on July 25, 2007.)
3. Burkittsville Preservation Association. Association website homepage (Submitted on January 15, 2022.)
Additional commentary.
1. The Hospitals
As detailed in the marker, Hospital A was the Henry McDull Farm originally standing to the north of town. The St. Paul's Lutheran Church was Hospital B. Hospital C was the parsonage for the German Reformed Church. And Hospital D was the German Reformed Church itself. President Abraham Lincoln visited the hospitals in Burkittsville after the Battle of Antietam.
— Submitted July 25, 2007, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 7, 2022. It was originally submitted on July 25, 2007, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. This page has been viewed 2,851 times since then and 59 times this year. Last updated on January 12, 2022, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on July 25, 2007, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia. 7. submitted on January 12, 2022, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.