Sick and Wounded Confederate Soldiers at Hagerstown and Williamsport.

ErnieMac

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The following link connects to a website containing the names of over 200 Confederate soldiers captured after the Army of Northern Virginia retreated across the Potomac River following the Gettysburg Campaign in July, 1863. The list was kept by Dr. John M. Gaines, the surgeon of the 18th Virginia Infantry, who had remained behind to tend those wounded. In the late 1890s Gaines sent the list to Governor John H. Tyler of Virginia so the names would be "preserved to posterity". The list was originally published in the Southern Historical Society Papers Volume XXVII, Richmond,Va. Jan -Dec 1899 Pages 242 - 250. It appears that about 25% of the men listed died of their wounds.
http://www.csa-dixie.com/csa/prisoners/t71.htm

"Governor Tyler has received from Dr. J. M. Gaines, of Hagerstown, Md., late surgeon 18th Virginia infantry, Garnett's brigade, Pickett's division, Longstreet's corps, Army of Northern Virginia, a complete list of the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers left at Williamsport, Pa., and Hagerstown, Md., after the battle of Gettysburg, from July 13 to August 12, 1863.

Dr. Gaines made the report of the number of inmates of these hospitals. By order of General Lee, he was left at Williamsport to care for the wounded of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the hospital was established in Hagerstown, Dr. Gaines was sent thither by the Federal authorities to care for his wounded comrades. He remained with the wounded and sick until most of them were sent North, chiefly to Chester, Pa. Dr. Gaines was sent to Chester, and had charge of the ward of the Confederate sick and wounded until they were sent to Point Lookout. Dr. Gaines was sent to Fort Delaware, and finally to Point Lookout, where he was allowed to attend a ward filled with sick and wounded Confederates. About December 12, 1863, he was sent to Washington and Fort Monroe by way of Baltimore, and was exchanged.

The rolls sent the Governor are the original copies, and were recently found by Dr. Gaines in his library at Hagerstown. He is a native of Virginia, having been born at Locust Hill, near Culpeper. He is very anxious that the Governor make such disposition of the rolls as will insure their preservations to posterity.

The list has never been published, and the Dispatch presents it below. It will be read with interest, not only by the men who took part in the great struggle at Gettysburg, when what has been termed the "High-water Mark of the Rebellion" was reached, but by all old soldiers and by their children. The name, rank, regiment, date of wound, and date of death, if fatally ill or wounded, are given:"
 
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The OP notes that Dr. Gaines accompanied his charges to Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1862 the Federal government had accepted the donation by John P. Crozer, a wealthy, self-made cotton manufacturer, of a large stone building near Chester (Upland Borough) he had built for use as a normal school in 1857. The outbreak of the War had caused many would be students enlist in the army instead of continuing their education, so the building was unused. Crozer only stipulation was that the building be returned to him at the conclusion of the war in as good a condition as when he donated it. On June 18, 1862, after a number of internal changes to accommodate a hospital environment, the first patients arrived. For the first year of its existence the overwhelming majority of them were Union soldiers.

Circumstances changed in July, 1863. Lee's retreat resulted in large number of wounded and sick Confederates that needed care. At the same time these men were prisoners of war and need to be housed securely. Crozer's building was one of several sites selected. The hospital had 1000 beds available for use and was sited in a campus atmosphere that could be made secure. A twelve-foot high picket fence was place around the perimeter and the number of guards increased. The hospital treated over 6000 Confederate soldiers during the remainder of the war. Despite the efforts of the guards at least two Confederate officers are known to have escaped the facility. Recovering patients would be transferred to POW compounds, Fort Delaware and Point Lookout were close at hand. Those patients that died were buried at the nearby Chester Rural Cemetery.

At the conclusion of the war the building was returned to John Crozer, but the normal school did not reopen. It was leased to the Pennsylvania Military Academy (now Widener University) until 1868. Crozer died in 1866 and left provisions in his will that the building be used to house some type of educational institution. The Crozer Theological Seminary, operating under the auspices of the Baptist Church, was chartered in 1867 and began accepting students the following year. The Seminary operated until 1970 when it was merged with the Colgate Rochester Divinity School and the operations in Chester closed. Crozer's most notable graduate was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King who received a B. Divinity degree in 1951. The building still exists and is used as a medical office build for physicians associated with the Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
http://uplandboro.org/uplands-crozer-theological-seminary/

Old Post Card showing the building.
http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-1697
1-2-1697-25-ExplorePAHistory-a0l6j6-a_349.jpg
 
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