Emory and Henry College Hospital - Prelude

Prelude

The cozy hills of southwest Virginia seemed a perfect spot to the Confederate command in Richmond, Virginia for a hospital. The secluded environment, they concluded, was an unlikely location to see combat. The command chose the Emory & Henry College for their hospital. This campus was located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and was adjacent to a railroad. Thus, the General Hospital at Emory and Henry College was born in May 1862.

The medical corps of Virginia agreed to pay the college $2,500 in Confederate dollars for the first year of use. One year later the Secretary of war agreed to increase the amount paid to $4,000 at the request of the trustees. Stevenson writes, "The rent received was invested in Confederate and Virginia bonds to serve as an endowment for the future." The rental of the farm, located adjacent to the campus, was a further source of income. The board of Trustees voted in 1861 to allow Professors Wiley, Davis, Buchanan, and Longley to have equal shares of the farmland for $500 a year. These revenue sources allowed the college to maintain its grounds and survive the war years.

However, the war did come to Emory, Virginia. In October 1864, a major force of over 10,000 troops clashed at the salt works at Saltville, Virginia. Following the battle, Federal black soldiers of the 5th United States Colored Cavalry, and white soldiers of the 11th Missouri Cavalry, 13th Kentucky Cavalry, and the 12th Ohio Cavalry were treated for their wounds at local field hospitals and at the Emory & Henry College Hospital. Soldiers of the 5th USCC, and Lieutenant Elza C. Smith were murdered in the hospital by Confederate sympathizers and were subsequently buried in what is now the Holston Cemetery on the Emory & Henry College Campus.