Tinbridge Hill in Lynchburg, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

Lucy Mina Otey and the Ladies' Relief Hospital

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, May 26, 2014

1. Lucy Mina Otey and the Ladies' Relief Hospital Marker

Inscription. The unsung and frequently unappreciated heroes of the Confederacy were the Southern women who worked in hospitals. Mrs. Lucy Mina Otey, age 60 and a recent widow who eventually lost three sons in the Civil War, formed a corps of 500 Lynchburg women, the Ladies' Relief Society, to make bandages and uniforms. As the carnage of war continued, women’s roles quickly expanded to become nurses and hospital matrons.

Greeted and rebuffed at a post hospital one day with the orders: “No more women, no more flies,” Lucy Mina Otey traveled to Richmond and petitioned President Jefferson Davis to establish the independent Ladies' Relief Hospital on Main Street. With a capacity ofor 100 patients, The Ladies' Hospital was staffed by the Women’s Corps with “Mrs. Captain Otey” as its President. Even though it became an unwritten law always to send the worst casualties to Ladies' Hospital, their mortality rate was the lowest of the local military hospitals, and it became renowned as one of the finest hospitals in the South.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Science & Medicine • War, US Civil •

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Women.

Location. 37° 24.93′ N, 79° 9.418′ W. Marker is in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is in Tinbridge Hill. It can be reached from the intersection of Taylor Street and 4th Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 401 Taylor Street, Lynchburg VA 24501, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Central Virginia.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Confederate Section (here, next to this marker); Lynchburg, Virginia (here, next to this marker); Crippled Corps and V.M.I. Cadets Form Inner Defenses in Old City Cemetery (here, next to this marker); Women In Lynchburg's Confederate Hospitals (here, next to

Lynchburg Civil War Hospital Markers image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher

2. Lynchburg Civil War Hospital Markers

this marker); Lynchburg’s Confederate Surgeons (here, next to this marker); The Confederate Memorial Arch (here, next to this marker); Removal of Federal Dead (here, next to this marker); Silas Green (here, next to this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lynchburg.

Also see . . . Confederate Hospitals in Lynchburg. Old City Cemetery (Submitted on May 28, 2014.)

Credits. This page was last revised on September 19, 2024. It was originally submitted on May 28, 2014, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,739 times since then and 76 times this year. Last updated on September 18, 2024, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 28, 2014, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.