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.

Military Intelligence Center, Fort Detrick and Camp David are created by the emergency of WWII
The Ritchie Boys, trained in Maryland in 1942, are an important secret weapon for the allies in World War II. Exiled European Jews are trained in intelligence for the allies. They interrogate prisoners, interpret, translate and read code.



