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Discover the incredible story of those who worked to save lives at Contraband Hospital in Washington DC during the Civil War
School at a contraband camp near Washington. Courtesy of the National Archives
On April 11 at 6:00 PM at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum, join exhibition specialist and curator Jill Newmark as she discusses her research on Contraband Hospital.
The story of African American medical personnel who served during the Civil War is an often overlooked and neglected part of Civil War history. This presentation will explore one hospital in Washington, D.C. that treated black soldiers and civilians and reveal the stories of the African American nurses and surgeons who served there.
The presentation begins at 6 PM on April 11 at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum. The presentation will be pay-what-you-please.
Jill L. Newmark is an exhibition specialist and curator at the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health. She has worked in the History of Medicine Division of NLM for the past 15 years where she is conducting research on African American medical personnel that served during the American Civil War. She has curated several exhibitions including Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine and has authored several articles that have appeared in Prologue magazine, the quarterly publication of the National Archives, Traces, a publication of the Indiana Historical Society, and several online publications and blogs. She is currently working on a book on African American Civil War Surgeons.
HOURS:
*Missing Soldiers Office appointments will begin on February 15, 2021*
Wednesday – Friday: By Appointment
Opens at 11:00 AM
Last Admission at 4:30 PM
The Museum will be open for reserved tours by appointment only at this time. Click here to reserve a time, or click here for more information on our policies.
PHONE:
(202) 824-0613
LOCATION:
437 7th Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
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The preserved rooms are accessible by both stairs and elevator.
Admission rates apply.
The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.
Though it is little that one woman can do, still I crave the privilege of doing it.
I don’t know how long it has been since my ear has been free from the roll of a drum. It is the music I sleep by and I love it.
I only wish I could work to some purpose. I have no right to these easy comfortable days and our poor men suffering and dying thirsting … My lot is too easy and I am sorry for it.
When I reached [home], and looked in the mirror, my face was still the color of gunpowder, a deep blue. Oh yes, I went to the front!
[She] toiled as few men could have done, stanching wounds which might otherwise have proved fatal, administering cordials to the fainting soldier, cheering those destined to undergo amputation, moistening lips parched with thirst [and closing the eyes of the dead].
It was a miserable night. There was a sense of impending doom. We knew, everyone knew, that two great armies of 80,000 men were lying there face to face, only waiting for dawn to begin the battle.
I ask neither pay or praise, simply a soldier’s fare and the sanction of your Excellency to go and do with my might, whatever my hands can find to do.
I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay.