Civil War Confederate Nurse, Army Officer. Born in Poplar Grove, Mathews County, Virginia, she was a member of a wealthy family. Following the first Battle of Manassas in July, 1861, there was an outcry for help in caring for Confederate wounded. Sally Tompkins responded by opening the Robertson Hospital in a home donated by Judge John Robertson. Using her own money to staff and equip the hospital, her hospital treated 1,333 Confederate soldiers until their doors closed on June 13, 1865, losing only 73 of those men, an astounding accomplishment in those days of primitive medicine. There was an order to close Confederate hospitals towards the end of the war because of lack of funds, but President Jefferson Davis commissioned her a Captain of Cavalry to circumvent this rule. She became the only female Confederate-commissioned officer during the war, accepting the commission, but refusing the pay. The war, her charity work and generosity, exhausted her fortune. In 1905, she moved into the Confederate Women's Home in Richmond, Virginia, as a lifetime guest. Before her death, she was an honorary member of the R.E. Lee Camp of the Confederate Veterans. She passed away in 1916 with the honor of having 4 chapters of the United Daughters of Confederacy named in her honor. When she was laid to rest at Christ Church in Mathews, Virginia, she was buried with full military honors.
Civil War Confederate Nurse, Army Officer. Born in Poplar Grove, Mathews County, Virginia, she was a member of a wealthy family. Following the first Battle of Manassas in July, 1861, there was an outcry for help in caring for Confederate wounded. Sally Tompkins responded by opening the Robertson Hospital in a home donated by Judge John Robertson. Using her own money to staff and equip the hospital, her hospital treated 1,333 Confederate soldiers until their doors closed on June 13, 1865, losing only 73 of those men, an astounding accomplishment in those days of primitive medicine. There was an order to close Confederate hospitals towards the end of the war because of lack of funds, but President Jefferson Davis commissioned her a Captain of Cavalry to circumvent this rule. She became the only female Confederate-commissioned officer during the war, accepting the commission, but refusing the pay. The war, her charity work and generosity, exhausted her fortune. In 1905, she moved into the Confederate Women's Home in Richmond, Virginia, as a lifetime guest. Before her death, she was an honorary member of the R.E. Lee Camp of the Confederate Veterans. She passed away in 1916 with the honor of having 4 chapters of the United Daughters of Confederacy named in her honor. When she was laid to rest at Christ Church in Mathews, Virginia, she was buried with full military honors.
Bio by: Kelley G
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Tompkins memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
