L'Ouverture Hospital And Barracks
Virginia
S Payne St
Alexandria, VA 22314
United States
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The U.S. Army opened L鈥橭uverture Hospital near this site during the Civil War to treat sick and wounded United States Colored Troops (USCTs). While patients at L鈥橭uverture, Black soldiers fought for equal treatment and for proper recognition of their service.
Quartermaster map showing L'Ouverture Hospital.
City of AlexandriaAlexandria was a logistical center for Union forces during the war. The army operated roughly 30 temporary hospitals in the city to provide care for thousands of sick and wounded soldiers. Named in honor of the prominent Haitian revolutionary leader and general (c. 1743-1803), L鈥橭uverture opened in early 1864 to serve USCTs. Black civilians - many of whom had escaped from slavery - also received treatment here.
Encompassing most of this block, L'Ouverture could accommodate about 600 patients at a time. As you may see on the 1865 Quartermaster鈥檚 map (near the top of this page), structures once included barracks, a mess room, a linen room, an office, a sutler鈥檚 store, a dead house, a dispensary, and a school room. The only building that still stands today is a residence on S. Payne Street that served as an administrative headquarters.
Scroll through the photos below to read more about some of the soldiers who received care at L鈥橭uverture:
Pvt. John Cooley, of the 27th USCT, was the first Black soldier who died at L鈥橭uverture Hospital. Cooley鈥檚 service record states that he died in 1864 鈥渇rom effects of hard marching.鈥
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Pvt. Nelson Smith, of the 27th USCT, died while he was a patient at L鈥橭uverture Hospital in November 1864. He was originally interred at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery.
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Pvt. Eugene Underwood, of the 115th USCT, died at L鈥橭uverture Hospital when he was just around seventeen years old. An inventory taken of his personal effects upon his death included clothing such as a cap, blouse, trousers, shirt, and boots.
Fold3Black soldiers challenged discriminatory burial practices at L鈥橭uverture. Initially, many soldiers who died at the hospital were first interred with civilians in the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery on South Washington Street rather than in the Soldiers鈥 Cemetery (now Alexandria National Cemetery).
This would change. On December 26, 1864, Superintendent of Contrabands Rev. Albert Gladwin prevented a hearse carrying Pvt. Shadrick Murphy from going to the military cemetery. Outraged, over 400 patients supported a petition demanding Black soldiers be laid to rest in the Soldiers鈥 Cemetery with full honors, stating:
鈥溾. As American citizens, we have a right to fight for the protection of her flag, that right is granted, and we are now sharing equally the dangers and hardships in this mighty contest, and should shair [sic] the same privileges and rights of burial in every way with our fellow soldiers, who only differ from us in color鈥︹ (National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 92; read the full transcription )
Patients first presented their demands to the hospital鈥檚 head surgeon, Maj. Edwin Bentley. Eventually the petition reached the quartermaster general of the U.S. Army, Maj. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, who agreed with the men of L鈥橭uverture. From then on, Black soldiers who died at the hospital were buried in the Soldiers鈥 Cemetery. Many of the soldiers who had been buried at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery were disinterred and reburied.
The Black soldiers who received treatment L鈥橭uverture fought for equality both on and off the battlefield. Though little physical evidence of the hospital remains, their stand against injustice here left a lasting mark. Their actions ensured that 鈥 to this day 鈥 their fellow soldiers have resting places that are testaments to the sacrifices they made for the nation. Follow the links to learn more about , as well as the
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