Baptist Church Hospital (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact location where the hospital once stood. Today, the church building still remains as an active house of worship.


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Here follows an excerpt from the City of Alexandria website:

History of the Baptist Church Hospital
212 S. Washington Street

A hospital opened in the Baptist Church on July 5, 1862, becoming one of the hospitals in the 2nd Division of Alexandria hospitals on Sept. 20, 1862. The Quartermaster map shows stables and a sink (privy) behind the church. The hospital closed on Dec. 8, 1864. A December 17, 1864 census listed the hospital as supporting 150 beds of the 993 beds in the Alexandria General Hospital Division, which included most of the church hospitals.

The church’s brick façade was built in 1805, rebuilt in 1830 after a fire, and enlarged in 1858.

When the church was taken for use as a hospital, The Philadelphia Press reported that Reverend Bitting, pastor of the church, was in trouble with the provost marshall:

A PHILADELPHIA MINISTER IN TROUBLE.--We learn that Rev. Mr. Bitting, formerly of this city, who is now pastor of the Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, was lately informed by Colonel Gregory, the provost marshal of that place, that if he could not pray for the President of the United States and the success of the Federal arms, he would be compelled to close his church.

The reverend gentleman asked until the next morning to consider the subject, which was granted by Colonel Gregory. Mr. Bitting, in company with the mayor of Alexandria, called upon Colonel Gregory, and informed him that he could not comply with his request. Colonel Gregory replied that he (Mr. Bitting) being a Philadelphian and a minister of the Gospel of Christ, and an instructor of the people in righteousness, it was certainly incumbent upon him to lead them in the way which would produce peace and good order, and that the only object of the Government was to restore order, and bring back peace to our distracted country. Mr. Bitting replied that he had made it a rule not to interfere with politics, and had endeavored to preach the Gospel. Colonel Gregory informed him that politics had nothing to do with the matter; that the subject had resolved itself into the question of a Government or no Government, and that he who was not for the Government must be against it.

Occupying the position which he did, and being from the loyal State of Pennsylvania, he was extremely sorry that he had placed himself in a position which forbid him to pray for the President and thank God for the success of the Federal arms. This being the case, he must take military possession of the church, which was immediately done by the adjutant.

Source: The Philadelphia Press (Monday 21 July 1862, page 3), transcribed in First 91st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, A Day in Alexandria, RootsWeb.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Out of the Attic" column in the Alexandria Times newspaper:

How a church became a Civil War hospital
Alexandria Times, March 9, 2017

One of the most iconic church buildings in Alexandria is the Baptist Church at 212 S. Washington St., whose tall steeple has towered over the city since the 1800s. In 1803, 12 members of the Back Lick Baptist Church petitioned to start a Baptist church closer to the town of Alexandria to further expand the evangelistic ministry as preached by George Whitefield, a British itinerant pastor who came to America in 1738, performing outdoor religious revivals up and down the eastern seaboard.

By 1740, his fiery brand of religious fervor, as preached to thousands, earned the moniker the “Great Awakening.” Using his loud voice, theatrical skills and religious rhetoric, he engaged with huge crowds up and down the East Coast. The crowds were composed largely of people who did not attend church and African American slaves, many of whom were exposed to Christianity for the first time.

In 1740, there were only two Baptist churches in Virginia, but within a half century, there would be more than 200, and downtown Alexandria’s growth as an urban center made it a logical choice for a new location.

After a serious fire in 1830, the church was rebuilt, and in 1858 it was enlarged again to serve a growing ministry. But with Alexandria’s occupation by the Union Army just three years later, the building’s use as a religious institution was suddenly cut short as military authorities seized it for use as a hospital.

Problems between the Union Army and area churches first began on February 9, 1862, when Rev. Kensey J. Stewart of the nearby St. Paul’s Episcopal Church ignored an order by a Union officer to include a prayer for President Abraham Lincoln in his weekly sermon.

Stewart was immediately arrested by a Union officer for not reciting the requested prayer. He was literally pulled from the pulpit and jailed overnight, but quietly released the next day.

Several months later, the Rev. Mr. Bitting, pastor of the First Baptist Church, was threatened with an even worse fate if he did not recite a similar prayer. On July 21, 1862, a Philadelphia newspaper belatedly included the following story reflecting the growing tensions in occupied Alexandria: “A Philadelphia minister in trouble.”

In the article, we learn that Bitting, who is from Philadelphia but is now pastor of the Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, was lately informed by Col. Gregory, the provost marshal, that if he could not pray for the Lincoln and the success of the Union Army, he would be compelled to close his church.

Several weeks before the article was published, Bitting had informed Gregory that he had made it his policy not to include political references in his sermons, and that he could not comply with such a request.

He was quickly informed that the question had become one of “government or no government, and that if he was not for the government, then must be against it.”

The church was immediately closed and confiscated by the Union Army, and on July 5, 1862, it reopened as the Baptist Church General Hospital. Just over two months later, it was included within the full list of Second Division of Alexandria hospitals.

Of the 993 beds counted in the Alexandria General Hospital Division, Baptist Church Hospital included 150, with an additional 80 beds in its ward at The Lyceum, directly across Washington Street. The Baptist Church Hospital closed on December 8, 1864.

“Out of the Attic” is published each week in the Alexandria Times newspaper. The column began in September 2007 as “Marking Time” and explored Alexandria’s history through collection items, historical images and architectural representations. Within the first year, it evolved into “Out of the Attic” and featured historical photographs of Alexandria.

These articles appear with the permission of the Alexandria Times and were authored by Amy Bertsch, former Public Information Officer, and Lance Mallamo, Director, on behalf of the Office of Historic Alexandria.


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Here follows an excerpt from the City of Alexandria website:

Baptist Church Hospital
Clarissa Jones, Nurse

Clarissa Jones was the head nurse at the Baptist Church hospital in Alexandria. The following excerpt is from a letter from Nurse Jones, dated September 12, 1862, courtesy The National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Frederick, Maryland. The letter was displayed at the Lyceum, in the 2014 exhibition Occupied City: Life in Civil War Alexandria. Nurse Clarissa Jones, writes of turning away Southern sympathizing women who try to bring things to the Confederate POW patients at the Baptist Church hospital.

We have 9 Sesesh prisoners in the Church opposite to which we belong, being under the same officers, etc. Certain females come daily with grapes, peaches & the like to give to them [Confederate POW patients] alone --- that is not allowable, for all the good things sent to the institution are equally divided, and this we explain, but not to their satisfaction. They become terribly worked up and in a majority of cases go off with their contributions. They do not understand what it is to be lady-like in their conversation or behavior. We have a flag over the door now to keep them out; they have a holy horror of the article and even to attend to their own sick will hardly subject themselves to the degradation of coming under it

September 12, 1862