Caring for the Troops

As troops moved through the city to the front lines, patriotic civic groups organized to provide food, drink, washing facilities, letter-writing supplies, and later medical care to the soldiers. The Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, organized in 1861, followed by the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, established hospitals to care for sick and wounded soldiers. Government-funded medical facilities, including Satterlee (in West Philadelphia) and Mower (in Chestnut Hill) hospitals, supplemented these modest facilities. In addition, the city’s Pennsylvania and St. Joseph’s hospitals cared for Union soldiers. An 1866 report by the U.S. Sanitary Commission estimated that Philadelphia hospitals treated more than 157,000 soldiers and sailors during the Civil War. --National Park Service Image shown: Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon of Philadelphia / J. Queen, del. & lith. ; T. Sinclair\u27s Lith., 311 Chestnut St. Phila.https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/philadelphia_civil_war_1/1000/thumbnail.jp