SECOND ALABAMA HOSPITAL

Opening of the Hospital

In the Confederate military system, each state was responsible for its sick and wounded. Shortly after war began in 1861, the State of Alabama appointed Mrs. Juliet Ann Hopkins, a native of Alabama who had married Arthur Francis Hopkins, a prominent Alabaman, and at the time of their marriage a judge in New York, in charge of the care of the Alabama war casualties in the Richmond area. To help in this work, she recruited many women in Richmond. A Mrs. Fannie A. Beers was one of these. In December of that year Mrs. Hopkins established two "state" hospitals in the Confederate capital, one being Second Alabama Hospital.

When it became necessary to open this facility, also known as the Turpin-Yarbrough Factory Hospital, located in the Turpin-Yarbrough Tobacco Factory, Mrs. Hopkins drafted Mrs. Beers for this specific task: "A large number of sick and wounded Albamans will arrive this morning. I have found a place to put them but someone must be there to prepare for their accommodations, to receive hospital supplies, and direct their arrangement..." On the way to the Turpin-Yarbrough Tobacco Factory at 23th and Franklin Streets, the two ladies stopped to order cots, mattresses, and other supplies from the Medical Purveyors Department. When they arrived, there were about 50 patients already on the scene with the surgeon assigned to the new hospital, Dr. C. J. Clark; and William J. Yarbrough with them. The latter had "given up the keys to Mrs. H(opkins)." That first night four of the sick died. Mrs. Beers gave further evidence that the Confederates had not planned Second Alabama far ahead: after that first day she contracted with carpenters to build rooms, shelving, and other partitions to make the buildings suitable for its new purpose.

Mrs. Hopkins fitted up "two excellent rooms at the end of a long, large wing of the factory, formerly the offices of the owners," for Mrs. Beers; one a bedroom, the other a sitting room and office. Her title was "matron-in-charge," which position she held "for many months" until she became ill and went to her husband's home in Alabama to recover.

The hospital encompassed the entire three stories of the main building and also "a large storage room in the yard." The surgeon's and steward's offices and store rooms occupied the first floor. On the second and third floors were two "immense sick-wards." Besides Mrs. Beers' quarters, the first floor wing along Franklin Street contained kitchen and sleeping apartments for servants, and another ward for any sick military personnel in whom Mrs. Beers had a particular interest, not necessarily Alabamans. It was well the buildings were large, for they filled rapidly with those ill from disease and battle wounds.

The Operation of Second Alabama Hospital

Mrs. Hopkins did not lack for either responsibility or authority in carrying out her mission. Her husband, Judge Hopkins , in a letter to Alabama Governor John G. Shorter in October 1863, wrote that both he and Mrs. Hopkins "understood with you her duty" to "rent(ed) the buildings, hire(d) the servants & ma(k)e the purchases of the provisions, &c for the use of (the three hospitals)."

An inspection of the entries for any month of her record, "Mrs. A. F. Hopkins in Account with the State of Alabama," indicates she provided those goods and services any hospital administrator must for the daily needs of the patients and treatment of their illnesses. In February 1862 she paid Turpin & Yarbrough $330 for rent of their buildings to house Second Alabama; she bought bacon, potatoes, soap, thread, meal, sugar. The bill with the butcher that month totaled $165.64; whiskey cost her almost as much, $158.00. (Evidently each amount was a total for the three hospitals, since it was not otherwise designated.) H. N. Sinclair, Second Alabama's druggist, received his monthly wages of $30.00. As with any Army, coffee was a big expense: $300.00 in July 1862; $1000 in January 1863; $461.00 in June 1863. (Each amount was for the three facilities.)

In many months Mrs. Hopkins did not record any payments to Mrs. Beers. In May 1862 she paid her $100 for services as "Matron, 2nd Alabama Hospital;" and to the hospital's nurse, Susan (no last name given) $12.00. Other nurses at this facility received a total of S31-75. Second Alabama's steward or manager received $50-00. (This expenditure varied from month to mouth.) The same amount went to pay the "laundresses." The outlay for slaves to help staff 2^nd Alabama, or "servants hire" as she termed it, varied considerable from mouth to month: $56.00 in May 1862; 482.00 in September 1862; $914.00 in March 1863.

There were one-of-a-kind expenditures: 75¢ for forcep repairs; $10.00 to William J. Yarbrough for a bathtub. In December 1862 Mrs. Hopkins reimbursed Surgeon C. J. Clark $1,000.00 for extra services. That same mouth she incurred two bills for advertising, $10.50 and $3.25. She bought drugs for the three hospitals, mostly small dollar amounts. The October 1862 purchase of $506.54 and the October 1863 of $166.00, both from John T. Gray, were unusually large. I did not find any expenditures of bandages in this record. Evidently, the hospitals depended on the women of Richmond's churches to supply this need.

The hospitals could also count on the citizens of Alabama for a steady stream of bedding, wines, clothing, new and used, "and every delicacy." At 2nd Alabama, William J. Yarbrough and other neighbors frequently brought in food to spice up the hospital fare.

Judge A. F. Hopkins, in his letter to Governor Shorter, referred to earlier, attested to the magnitude of his wife's task of managing the three hospitals: "Mrs. Hopkins ) certainly makes much more judicious expenditures of the fund (from the State of Alabama) than I could and it is a business I never would have undertaken to do." Later Alabama officially recognized with thanks her efforts on behalf of their wounded in Richmond and subsequently in other areas of the Confederacy." Indeed some referred to her as "the Florence Nightingale of the Confederacy."

Her records witness to the hard work she put forth to maintain a sound financial operation: frequent auctions and sales disposed of surplus materials, obtaining needed cash; she secured private contributions which provided a significant part of the hospitals' operating funds, especially in the first year. At the end of October 1862 she summarized the finances for the three hospitals in the following table, from the opening in December 1861:

There is a record in the National Archives labeled "Prescription Book, Alabama, Hospital, 1864-65." This was a daily record, kept week by week, of each of the thirty-five beds in one of the hospital wards. The date of the first entry was December 25, 1864; the last, April 10, 1865. Although this record had no connection with Second Alabama it does indicate the medical resources available to Confederate doctors. These included castile soap, castor oil, turpentine, mush poultices, iodine of mercury to treat syphilis; potassium iodide, sublimate of Nitrate Bismuth-"4 powders, one every 3 hours" for chronic diarrhea; Dovers powders, "one every 3 hours" to reduce temperature; tincture of "camphorated" (sic) opium; morphine; and to perk up the spirits, brandy and whiskey.

The record gave the soldiers name, rank, organization, his injury or illness, and his bed number. As long as he was there, some one, presumably a medical orderly, initialed his record daily, even though no medication was administered. Upon a patient's furlough, return to active duty, discharge, or as was the case in one instance-desertion, another casualty almost invariably filled the space the next day. Battle wounds, "flesh-mini," "amputation," sent many son to this hospital. Others were there from battle related illnesses, dysentery, malaria, "icterus (jaundice), lumbago, gangrene, "intermittent favor," "general dibility," etc. Syphilis affected several. (The film is of poor quality. That combined with the difficulty of deciphering the handwriting left much of the record a mystery.)

In the table on the next page, Mrs. Hopkins set forth the total number of patients served by Second Alabama for the period September 1862 through July 1863. During these eleven months the hospital treated 1,228 patients (199 population at the beginning of September 1862 plus 1,029 admitted.) Of these, 439 "returned to duty;" 271 received furloughs from the hospital. (From her method of accounting, if any of these returned to this hospital they entered again as new patients. Thus Mrs. Hopkins' records probably counted some men twice.) The hospital surgeon, C. J. Clarke, ordered nineteen men discharged from the army for medical reasons. An equal number deserted. There were 81 deaths at Second Alabama during these eleven months.

The number of deaths as a percent of the total number of patients for 1^st Alabama was 7.4%; for 2^nd Alabama 8.1%; and for 3^rd Alabama 5.7%.

In July 1863, possibly in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate authorities sent approximately 200 Federal prisoners to Second Alabama Hospital. There is nothing in Mrs. Hopkins' records from July 1863 on concerning theme captured Union soldiers, no special funding, for example; indicating that the Confederates housed them there for a period of time separately from the hospital. Beginning July 27 and continuing through the 29^th, Confederate doctors vaccinated 194 prisoners against small pox. Most of these were not battle casualties, or if so, had recovered by this time: in recording information on the men vaccinated, the medical orderly listed only fifteen as "not healthy." (A large number of the names on the July 1863 Second Alabama prisoner roster appeared on Andersonville's records in 1864.)

The Closing of Second Alabama Hospital

In March 1863, the Confederate Medical Department assumed control over all hospitals. In Richmond this caused the transfer of so many patients to larger, better planned hospitals such as Chimborazo, Winder, and Jackson, that thirty-five units closed down. The three Alabama Hospitals were among these. Mrs. Hopkins withdrew them from service October 31, 1863.

From the data on page 75 (see table below) it appears that already in February 1863 the medical department was anticipating such a move: that month Second Alabama received only 33 patients, down considerably from each of the previous months. In the two months following the decision to employ chiefly larger Confederate hospitals, not a single war casualty entered this facility. But after Chancellorsville in early May 1863, and perhaps after Gettysburg several months later, the Confederates again sent sick and wounded to Second Alabama. These, however, in the maln were the "slightly wounded" who "left in ten or fifteen days upon furlough(.)" The authorities had moved out a large percentage of the 443 admissions of May, June, and July by the end of these three months. Evidently no more patients entered.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Published Materials

Unpublished Materials