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Satterlee General Hospital

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Coordinates: 39°56′57″N 75°12′40″W / 39.9491°N 75.211°W / 39.9491; -75.211
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An illustration of existing and proposed uses of land in West Philadelphia, produced around 1869 by real estate developers who sought to sell plots of land on the site of the Union's Satterlee Civil War hospital. Drawn with the west at the top.

Satterlee General Hospital, which existed from 1862 to 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the largest Union Army hospital during the Civil War. In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, thousands of Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners were treated at Satterlee.[1]

Founded in 1862 by order of Surgeon-General William Alexander Hammond, the hospital was built in the sparsely developed West Philadelphia neighborhood near the intersection of 42nd Street and Baltimore Avenue. Its 15-acre (6.1 ha) grounds ran north to 45th and Pine Streets. It was the second-largest hospital in the country and the largest Union hospital during the Civil War, with 34 wards and hundreds of tents containing 4,500 beds.[2] The hospital featured a library, reading room, barber shop and a printing office that printed its newspaper, The Hospital Register.[3]

It was commanded by Dr. Isaac Israel Hayes, surgeon, C.S.V. and famed Arctic explorer. Nursing was carried out by the Sisters of Charity, who lived in a convent on the grounds.

By the end of the war, Satterlee had treated more than 12,000 patients. Remarkably, only 260 died, a notable accomplishment considering the sanitary conditions and comparatively primitive medical techniques of the day.[4]

After the war, the hospital was closed and the buildings razed. In the 1890s, much of the site was covered with residential housing. The lower portion of the hospital grounds survive as Clark Park.

Gettysburg Stone marking hospital site

See also

References

  1. ^ Goldstein, Josh. "Gettysburg created crush at Philadelphia hospital". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  2. ^ Goldstein, Josh. "Gettysburg created crush at Philadelphia hospital". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  3. ^ Gay, James D. "Satterlee USA General Hospital West Philadelphia". Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  4. ^ Gay, James D. "Satterlee USA General Hospital West Philadelphia". Free Library of Philadelphia. Retrieved 9 May 2015.

39°56′57″N 75°12′40″W / 39.9491°N 75.211°W / 39.9491; -75.211


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