The Hospital at Point of Rocks, Va
At Point of Rocks, near City Point, a vast hospital was established for thousands of sick and wounded Union soldiers while fighting raged nearby. Its first cooking facilities were crude log cabins without floors or chimneys, and patients received unappetizing food in blackened cups and rusty, greasy platters. Disturbed by the conditions, the narrator frankly tells the surgeon in charge that a proper kitchen, floors, chimneys, ranges, clean dishes, and capable women cooks could quickly transform the hospital. With support from George H. Stuart and the Christian Commission, she obtains lumber, lime, ranges, supplies, and a thousand cups and platters. Mrs. E. W. Jones and Miss Hattie Noyes arrive to organize the work. Within a week, the hospital’s meals are transformed into home-like fare: baked potatoes and apples, beef-tea, steak when permitted, toast, jellies, soups, and other suitable food for the severely ill and wounded. The patients respond with tears, kisses for the clean dishes, and expressions that the meals make them feel near home. The women endure severe rain that pours through their canvas-roofed quarters and kitchen, yet Mrs. Jones reports that their spirits and zeal remain strong. New roofs soon end this hardship. As the hospital expands, a second kitchen is opened and three more women join the staff. The kitchens gain fame along the line for supplying excellent food to patients near the front. General Grant visits in disguise, watches food being issued, examines the fare, and follows it to the wards. He is astonished that so many men are fed so well and is further surprised to learn that much of the food comes from commuted government rations. Mistaken for a Christian Commission delegate, he promises a convalescent soldier a pair of socks and ensures that the man receives them. The narrator later recalls the workers’ varied lives: Mrs. Jones, devoted to benevolent and reform work, lives at Wellesley, Mass.; Miss Noyes continues missionary work in Canton, China; and other women face poverty, hardship, widowhood, and danger. Whatever their later fortunes, they can remember their labor at Point of Rocks with satisfaction.
By Annie Wittenmyer · First published 1895 · Genre: Civil War History, Memoir, Autobiographical Nonfiction · 2,021 words
First lines
When the Union army was massed at City Point in the desperate struggle to capture Petersburg and Richmond, it became necessary to establish a large hospital at Point of Rocks, a few miles above City Point.
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Genres
- Civil War History — The work documents a Union military hospital near City Point during the Petersburg and Richmond campaign, including battlefield conditions, General Grant, and wartime medical logistics.
- Memoir — Wittenmyer recounts events she personally witnessed and actions she personally directed, using first-person narration and retrospective reflection.
- Autobiographical Nonfiction — The narrative presents a chapter from the author's own life of Civil War relief work, emphasizing her decisions, observations, and leadership.
- War Literature — Its setting, atmosphere, and central concerns are shaped by active warfare, wounded soldiers, artillery fire, military command, and the human consequences of combat.
Tags
American Civil War · Union Army · Virginia · City Point · Petersburg Campaign · military hospitals · field hospitals · wounded soldiers · army medicine · hospital kitchens · food and nourishment · sanitation and hygiene
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The Hospital at Point of Rocks, Va is listed on Textopian as a historical account by Annie Wittenmyer, dated 1895 CE.
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- Work type: Historical account
- Author: Annie Wittenmyer
- Date: 1895 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Civil War History, Memoir, Autobiographical Nonfiction, War Literature, Medical History
- Length: 2,021 words
- Structure: 1 section, 43 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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