Mt. Jackson General Hospital, CSA

Mt. Jackson General Hospital, CSA. "Many dying on our hands". , In September 1861, the Confederate Medical Department built a large general hospital on this site to care for sick and wounded southern soldiers. It was located here because Mt. Jackson was the western terminus of the Manassas Gap Railroad, which facilitated transportation from northern Virginia battlefields. The hospital consisted of three two-story buildings, each "150 feet in length, perfectly ventilated, and yet warm," and several small support structures, and could accommodate 500 patients., Dr. Andrew Russell Meem, a Shenandoah County resident, was Surgeon-in-Charge. He resided at Harrison House, the home of local businessman Col. Levi Rinker, who owned the hospital site and a plot across the Valley Turnpike where "Our Soldiers' Cemetery" was established to bury those who died here. Meem, two assistant surgeons (contract physicians), five stewards, ten nurses, eight cooks, and five laundresses comprised the staff., The Union army occasionally took over the hospital, including after the Battle of New Market when Federal surgeons worked into the night, with, one remembered, "many mortally wounded dying on our hands.", After the war, the U.S. Army dismantled the hospital and used the lumber to build a military installation at Rude's Hill. The installation included a courthouse, guardhouse, ballroom, and gallows., In February 1865, after falling ill, Meem was admitted to Harrisonburg General Hospital where he died at age 41. His wife, Ann Jordan Meem, had assisted him at the Mt. Jackson Hospital, and in October 1861 organized the Ladies' Soldiers Relief and Aid Association to provide clothing, food, and supplies. The Association held one of the earliest Confederate Memorial Day services at "Our Soldiers' Cemetery" on May 15, 1866., (Captions):, Mt. Jackson General Hopital, Oct. 7, 1864. , Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, October 29, 1864, Surgeon's kit. , Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum, Dr. Andrew Meem. , Courtesy Collection of Farnham Denton Blair