Jarvis Hospital

Jarvis U.S. General Hospital was a military hospital founded in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1861, at the beginning of the American Civil War, for the care of wounded Federal soldiers. The hospital was built on the grounds of Maryland Square, the former residence of the Steuart family, which had been confiscated by the Federal government at the outbreak of war. The hospital closed at the end of the war.

History

Although Maryland was a slave state, she remained in the Union during the Civil War. However, many Marylanders were sympathetic to the Confederacy, including the Steuart family of Baltimore, who were planters and slave owners along the Chesapeake Bay. On April 16, 1861 Brigadier General George H. Steuart, then a captain in the US Army, resigned his commission, left Maryland and joined the Confederacy. His father, Major General George H. Steuart, did the same, though he was by then considered too old for active service. As a consequence of these actions, the family home at Maryland Square, on the Western outskirts of Baltimore, was confiscated by the US government.

In February 1862 a Massachusetts soldier described the property (by then known as "Camp Andrew", after Massachusetts Governor John Andrew):

"We are nicely quartered on a high hill situated on the west of Baltimore formerly owned by Gen. Stewart [sic] now of the Rebel Army and the property is now confiscated. There are about 36 acres in the field and a house and out buildings and it must have been a very nice place before the troops went in there.

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On May 25, 1862 the property was taken into the control of the medical director of the US Army, and Jarvis U.S. General Hospital was established. The hospital had a capacity of 1500 beds and specialized in the care of wounded soldiers during the American Civil War. It served as a vital medical facility for the Union Army throughout the war.

After the war ended in 1865, Jarvis U.S. General Hospital closed its doors. The property was eventually returned to the Steuart family, but the hospital itself ceased to exist. Today, the former site of Jarvis U.S. General Hospital is part of the historical legacy of Baltimore and the American Civil War.