Hagerstown Female Seminary

Hagerstown Female Seminary. . The Hagerstown Female seminary, a women’s college founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, opened its doors in 1853. Its name was changed in the 1890s to Kee Mar College, and operated at this location until 1911 when the campus was sold to the Washington County Hospital. Hospital operations moved to this site in 1912 and functioned here for nearly 100 years, until moving to new facilities on Robinwood Drive in 2010-11. , , The Campus was frequently occupied by Union and Confederate forces throughout the War. After the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns of 1862 and 1863, the campus was used as a military hospital for both Federals and Confederates. During the Battle of Hagerstown on July 1863, Battery E, 4th U.S. Artillery deployed here and exchanged cannon fire with Chew’s Battery (Confederate) which was posted near Zion Reformed Church on North Potomac Street., Col. Samuel Lumpkin, CSA (1833-18 63) commanded the 44th Georgia Infantry when severely wounded in the leg at Gettysburg. The leg was amputated in a field hospital and Lumpkin was transported in a wagon train of wounded to Hagerstown, where he fell into Union hands. Confined at the Hagerstown Female Seminary Hospital, he contracted typhoid fever and died on September 18, 1863. Initially buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery on South Potomac Street, he was reinterred 50 years later in Washington Confederate Cemetery. , Steven Stoteforyer , 1st. Lt. Samuel Sherer Elder, USA (1826-1885), commanding officer, Battery E, 4th United States Artillery , Library of Congress , Hagerstown as viewed from the heights at Hagerstown Female Seminary. , Washington County Historical Society , Surgeon John M. Gaines, CSA (1837-1915) served in the 8th Virginia Infantry when he was captured while tending to the wounded after the Battle of South Mountain. He was later exchanged, only to be captured again at Williamsport in the retreat from Gettysburg. He was temporarily assigned by his captors to tend to his wounded and ill Confederate prisoners at the Hagerstown Female Seminary Hospital. Exchanged a second time, he served in the rest of the war as a medical officer in the 18th Virginia Infantry. After the war he settled in Boonsboro and in retirement, lived on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown. , Doug Beer, Hagerstown Female Seminary, circa 1860 , Washington County Historical Society