Sally L. Tompkins

Born November 9, 1833
Matthews County, Virginia
Died July 25, 1916
Richmond, Virginia

Confederate nurse and hospital administrator
Only woman to hold a position as a commissioned officer in the
Confederate Army

Sally Tompkins overcame traditional attitudes about women and provided much-needed care to Confederate troops.

Over three thousand American women acted as paid nurses during the Civil War, and thousands more performed nursing duties as volunteers. Sally Tompkins was one of the most successful nurses on either side of the conflict. The private hospital she established for wounded Confederate soldiers in Richmond, Virginia, had the highest survival rate of any Civil War medical facility. Between the time she opened it in July 1861 and the end of the war in 1865, she lost only 73 out of 1,333 patients.

Resident of Richmond at the beginning of the Civil War

Sally Louisa Tompkins was born into a wealthy family on November 9, 1833, at Poplar Grove in Matthews County, Virginia. Her father died when she was five years old, and then her mother moved the family to Richmond, Virginia. She lived there comfortably on her large inheritance until the beginning of the Civil War.

The war resulted from many years of political tension between the Northern and Southern sections of the United States. The two halves of the country mainly disagreed about slavery and the power of the national government to regulate it. Many Northerners believed that slavery was wrong. Some people wanted to outlaw it, while others wanted to prevent it from spreading beyond the Southern states where it was already allowed. But slavery played a big role in the Southern economy and culture. As a result, many Southerners felt threatened by Northern efforts to contain slavery. They believed that each state should decide for itself whether to allow slavery. They did not want the national government to pass laws that would interfere with their traditional way of life.

By 1861, this ongoing dispute had convinced several Southern states to secede from (leave) the United States and form a new country that allowed slavery, called the Confederate States of America. But Northern political leaders were determined to fight to keep the Southern states in the Union. Tompkins's home state of Virginia was one of those that left the Union. Before long, Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy.

First major battle overwhelms Richmond's medical facilities

The first major battle of the Civil War took place in July 1861 near Manassas Junction, Virginia, along the banks of Bull Run Creek. At that time, people on both sides expected the war to end quickly. In fact, Northerners were so confident of victory that thousands of civilians (people who are not part of the army, including women and children) traveled from Washington, D.C., to watch the battle. They brought picnic baskets and champagne, as if they were going to watch a sporting event. But the terrible reality of war soon became clear to both sides. The bloody battle ended in a Union defeat, and the Northern Army and spectators were forced to make a hasty retreat back to Washington.

Even though the South won the First Battle of Manassas (also known as the First Battle of Bull Run), the high number of casualties (killed and wounded soldiers) took the Confederacy by surprise. Injured men soon filled Richmond's hospitals, and hundreds of others still needed medical attention. In desperation, Confederate president Jefferson Davis (1808–1889; see entry) asked the people of Richmond to care for wounded soldiers in their homes. Tompkins was one of many people who responded to this call for volunteer nurses. She convinced a local judge, John Robertson, to let her turn his home in downtown Richmond into a hospital. After collecting supplies and recruiting six staff members, she opened the Robertson Hospital on July 31, 1861.

In the early days of the war, both the Union and Confederate armies actively discouraged women from serving as nurses. Many men of that time felt that nursing was not an appropriate activity for women. They did not want "refined ladies" to be subjected to the horrors of war by treating sick, wounded, and dying soldiers in army hospitals. Confederate nurses faced special problems. Since most of the fighting took place in the South, they were often forced to move patients and entire hospitals in order to remain behind the battle lines. In addition, the South suffered from shortages of food, clothing, and medical supplies throughout the war. But Tompkins and other courageous women overcame traditional attitudes and provided much-needed care to Confederate troops.

Made a captain in the Confederate Army

Within a few weeks of asking Richmond residents to care for wounded soldiers in their homes, Confederate officials became concerned that many soldiers were remaining in private hospitals in Richmond rather than returning to active duty with the army. As a result, Davis issued an order that placed private hospitals under the control of military officers. Tompkins met with the Confederate president and requested that he return control of Robertson Hospital to her. On September 9, 1861, Davis made Tompkins a captain in the Confederate Army so that she could run her hospital without violating his earlier order. Tompkins thus became the only female officer in the Confederate Army.

For the next four years, Tompkins and her staff ran the most successful hospital on either side of the Civil War. Even though Robertson Hospital usually treated the most seriously injured men, it had the highest survival rate of any hospital. Out of 1,333 patients who stayed there between the time it opened and the end of the war in 1865, only 73 died. In addition, a higher percentage of the soldiers treated there returned to action than in any other Confederate medical facility. Despite her success, Tompkins refused to accept any salary for her work. Instead, she used her family's money and government rations to supply the hospital.

Continues working for others after the war

After the war ended in 1865, Tompkins continued helping others through her work with veterans' organizations, the Episcopal Church, and various charities. The people of Richmond considered her a hero and affectionately called her "Captain Sally." In 1905, Tompkins retired to the Confederate Women's Home in Richmond. Since she had spent all of her own money caring for soldiers, veterans, and others who needed help, the management allowed her to live there for free for many years. She died on July 25, 1916, and was buried with full military honors in Matthews County, Virginia. Since that time, four chapters of Daughters of the Confederacy have been named in her honor.

Where to Learn More

Chang, I. A Separate Battle: Women and the Civil War. New York: Scholastic, 1994.

Hagerman, Keppel. Dearest of Captains: A Biography of Sally Louisa Tompkins. White Stone, VA: Brandyland Publishers, 1996.

Massey, Mary Elizabeth. Women in the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966.

Ella King Newsom, the "Florence Nightingale of the Southern Army"

Ella King Newsom was another wealthy Southern woman who refused to remain on the sidelines during the Civil War. Instead, she established field hospitals, organized the shipment of medical supplies, and trained nurses to help wounded Confederate soldiers. She earned the nickname "Florence Nightingale of the Southern Army" for her efforts.

Newsom was born in June 1838 in Brandon, Mississippi. She married William Frank Newsom, a wealthy doctor and landowner, in 1854. He died a short time later, leaving her a great deal of money. When the Civil War began in 1861, Newsom decided to use the money to provide medical care for wounded Confederate soldiers. She felt that this would be an ideal tribute to her late husband.

After training as a nurse in Memphis, Tennessee, Newsom took over the administration of a hospital in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The South had a shortage of medical facilities and supplies at this time, and Confederate efforts to care for wounded soldiers were not well organized. Newsom directed the movement of hospitalized troops, recruited and trained new nurses, and sent supplies where they were needed. Her organizational skills earned the respect of patients, doctors, and Confederate officials. In the later war years, she took charge of hospitals in Nashville and Chattanooga in Tennessee, as well as in Atlanta, Georgia, and Corinth, Mississippi.

After the war ended in 1865, Newsom wrote a book about her experiences called Reminiscences of War Time. She also married a former Confederate officer, William H. Trader. Unfortunately, he managed their finances poorly and left her almost broke when he died in 1885. But Newsom managed to rebuild her life with the help of Southerners in the U.S. government. She moved to Washington, D.C., and worked in the Patent Office, Pension Office, and General Land Office until her retirement in 1916. She died on January 20, 1919.