The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy. . , In April 1861, thousands of Confederate troops converged on Portsmouth to protect the Confederate States Navy Yard at Gosport. When disease struck the camps and began taking it toll, several of the city's prominent women decided to come to the men's aid., Banding together as Sisters of Mercy, they, according to some sources, became the first civilian organization to nurse troops in the Confederacy. The ladies began their work at the Ocean House, a fashionable city hotel at the corner of High and Courts streets (now the site of the Tidewater Community College Fine Arts Center). By March 1862, Dr. George Blacknall, surgeon in charge at the Confederate States Army Hospital (formerly the U.S. Naval Hospital), called upon the Sisters to minister to the sick and dying there., During the Union occupation of Portsmouth, the Sisters continued to aid the families of local Confederate soldiers and sailors by supplying food and other necessities. On June 12, 1866 the Sisters became the Ladies Memorial Aid Association and continued to care for war widows and orphans. Also, the organization made plans for a monument to the local Confederate dead and dedicated themselves for caring for Confederate graves., In front of you is The Strangers Lot. It contains graves of soldiers not native to the city who died here while under Confederate control. The Ladies Association placed the marble stones here in 1901. The marble urn is a memorial to the Sisters of Mercy., On Confederate Memorial Day, the ladies placed sprigs of pine on the graves to keep the memory of the soldiers "green". The Stonewall Camp # 380, SCV now holds an annual Memorial Day service and decorates the graves with Confederate Battle Flags.