Satterlee U.S.A. General Hospital

First of the Federal government's new Pavilion Hospitals   Satterlee Hospital, located in West Philadelphia, was one of the two largest military hospitals in the North, and the first of the Federal government's new pavilion hospitals.   Author and artist Frank Taylor described it in 1913 in his book, "Philadelphia in the Civil War".   "The site was then in the open country. The ground was about 90 feet above tide level, sloping into the valley of a small creek, thus receiving good drainage. The open portion along Baltimore Avenue was used as a parade, and after the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg was covered with tents for the wounded soldiers.   "The Administration Building occupied the center of the enclosure. The wards were furnished with 3,124 beds In addition to the hospital buildings proper quarters were provided for a host of surgeons, attendants, nurses, guards, musicians, cooks, printers and other essential employees.   "Much of the heavier, more trying work at this and other hospitals was done by male assistants known as 'contract men'.   "A good military band, under Prof. Theodore Hermann, provided daily concerts and music for the dress parades and dirges for the dead.   "Always hovering above their charges i the hospital wards were the Sisters of Charity, forty-two in number, under the orders of Mother Mary Gonzaga Grace. These nurses were not paid, but the Government reimbursed for their services the order to which they belonged."

Posted in: Civil War Hospitals,Institutions