Hospital No.1, located on the grounds of the old Hessian Barracks in Frederick, becomes the most innovative hospital in a vast hospital national network that coped with all the death and destruction during the Civil War.
Frederick suffers through every day of the War. After the Battle of Antietam (1862) it cares for more wounded than the town’s population. Advances at Hospital No.1 include eliminating hospital gangrene and using plastic surgery for disfiguring wounds.
Another major Civil War hospital is at Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County, now a state park.
In 2000 the National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) opens in downtown Frederick, the first museum devoted entirely to the story of the medical challenges associated with the four years of conflict.
Baltimore City is unique in the U.S. at 1850
In 1850 Baltimore, America’s third largest city, is a singular urban mix of immigrants, free and enslaved Blacks, white leadership and energetic industry. As a border state it is an example of the country’s divisions and challenges before the Civil War.
