Photograph by Shannon Ruff, Canon EOS Mark II D digital slr-2007.

Images(2)

Armory Square Hospital, Interior Ward K, Washington, D.C.

AttributionStudio of Alexander Gardner (American (born Scotland), 1821 - 1882)

Dateca. 1865

MediumAlbumen print

DimensionsOverall: 6 5/8 x 9 in. (16.8 x 22.9 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Robert Opet, M.D. and Museum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Photography Fund

Object number2006.4.5

Terms

U.S. Civil War
Men
Interior
Hospital
Black
Brown
White

On View

Not on view

DescriptionAlbumen print from wet collodion negative on original lithographed and titled mount. This photograph is of the interior of a hospital. Men are seated or laying in bed, all are looking towards the camera.

Label TextUnknown American Armory Square Hospital, Interior Ward K, Washington, D.C., ca. 1865 Albumen print Gift of Robert Opet, M.D. and Museum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Photography Fund 2006.4.5 Walt Whitman's 1865 book Drum Taps was inspired by his visits to the Armory Square Hospital and others. After spending many hours at soldiers' bedsides, he wrote of Ward K, "I am very familiar with this hospital… have spent many days & nights in it-have slept in it often-have seen many die here, have seen the wounded brought here after battles…" Although Whitman visited nearly all of the Washington hospitals, much of his time was spent at Armory Square. It was a pavilion hospital constructed in the summer of 1862 and was located on Seventh Street across from the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, just beyond the canal. Today this is on the Washington Mall, where the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is located. At this time, the canal was basically an open sewer, which rendered this location rather undesirable. The old City Canal was a garbage dump for all manner of waste. However, the site was close to the major thoroughfares and was easily accessible to the wharves and the railroad depot. Edited By: CW Edited Date: 2007 Approved By: ERL Approval Date: 2007