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Shortly after the first battle of Manassas in July 1861, the city of Richmond was flooded with wounded Confederate soldiers. Existing hospitals were quickly filled to capacity, and the Confederate government appealed to the local population for assistance. Scores of individuals and organizations quickly responded, establishing numerous private hospitals for the relief of the wounded.
The most famous and efficient of these facilities was founded by Sally Louisa Tompkins in the home of judge John Robertson on the corner of Main and Third Streets. The Robertson Hospital, as it was known, treated patients continuously throughout the war, discharging its last soldier on 13 June 1865. During its four-year exist, ence, Robertson Hospital treated 1,333 wounded with only seventythree deaths, the lowest mortality rate of any military hospital during the Civil War.
For her charitable efforts on behalf of the wounded, Tompkins received a commission as Captain in the Confederate Cavalry (unassigned) from President Jefferson Davis on 9 September 1861, thus becoming the only woman officer to serve in the Confederate army. Her story demonstrates the significant contributions of countless southern women who gave of their time, talent, and treasure from Fort Sumter to Appomattox.
"Captain Sally" was born at Poplar Grove in Mathews County, Virginia, on 9 November 1833, the youngest child of Colonel Christopher Tompkins and Maria Patterson Tompkins. Her family had boasted a proud military tradition since the Revolutionary War when Sally's grandfather, Colonel John Patterson, was commissioned by General Washington after the Battle of Monmouth.
That young Sally Tompkins was keenly aware of this tradition is certain. When one of her brothers left to serve in Texas during the Mexican-American War, Sally, then only thirteen years old, wrote: "I hope you will be able to distinguish yourself in the battle and be a second George Washington and come home to receive congratulations from all your friends."
This family tradition of martial valor led Tompkins to believe fervently in the southern cause. After the Confederate victory at Mannassas, she wrote to her sister, "I felt that we could indeed say `thy right hand, 0 Lord, is become glorious in power; thy right hand, 0 Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy'."
The Tompkins family also shared a deep commitment to the Episcopal Church....