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Doctor John R. Gildersleeve, when president of the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy, in 1904, delivered an interesting address upon Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond. When the necessity for larger hospital accommodations became evident, SurgeonGen-eral Moore, after consultation with Doctor James B. McCaw, of Richmond, chose Chimborazo Hill, on the outskirts of Richmond, as a site for the new hospital, and Doctor McCaw was placed in charge. Some of the buildings were opened early in 1862, and before the end of the war one hundred and fifty wards had been constructed. They were usually commodious buildings, one hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, and one story high, each ward having a capacity of from forty to sixty patients. The buildings were separated by alleys and streets, and the hospital presented the appearance of a town of considerable size. Five divisions were created, each in charge of a surgeon with the necessary assistants. These divisions were arranged, as far as possible, upon the basis of States. So far as possible troops from the same State were assigned to one division, and were attended by surgeons and attendants from that State.
The celebrated farm, ‘Tree Hill,’ was loaned to the hospital by Mr. Franklin Stearns, and afforded pasturage for a large number of cows and several hundred goats. The meat of young kids was found to be much relished by the soldiers. ‘The hospital trading canal-boat, Chimborazo, with Lawrence Lotier in command, plied between Richmond, Lynchburg, and Lexington, bartering cotton yarn and shoes for provisions. This was only one of the hospital's many resources.’ An additional fact is that the hospital never drew fifty dollars from the Confederate States Government but relied solely upon the money received from commutation of rations.
The total number of patients received and treated at Chimborazo Hospital amounted to seventy-six thousand (out of this number about
