2025-01 Raynors Historical Collectible Auctions
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/25/2025
A pair of pencil letters, unsigned, each datelined Office Com of Sub, General Hospital Army of the James, Point of Rocks, January 1, 1865 . One letter is written to General A.B.Eaton, Com. Genl. of Sub USA., Washington DC. The other written to General George Thomas, Adjutant General USA. Both in essence acknowledge the writers transfer to the General Hospital Army of the James.Shortly after the Army of the James landed in Bermuda Hundred, a field hospital was established here at Point of Rocks. The hospital originally consisted of tents set up in the orchard around the Strachan House. The tents were 50 feet long and contained enough cots and bunks to accommodate 40 or more patients. Sometimes when crowded, patients had to lie on straw bags with a blanket on the bare ground. As the Bermuda Hundred Campaign gave way to the Siege of Petersburg the hospital developed into large complex of wood buildings. In addition to the hospital, a Federal cemetery was established here that contained over 2,500 soldiers by the end of the war. Among them were over 850 United States Colored Troops. A handful of Confederate soldiers were also buried here. After the war, the dead were moved to the City Point National Cemetery. The wall around City Point cemetery is constructed of stone that was quarried from the bluff that gave Point of Rocks its name.
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