Wolfe Street General Hospital

Wolfe Street General Hospital was first used as a residence or office by Gen. John Slough, Alexandria’s military governor, and then as a hospital with 100 beds.
Page updated on January 10, 2022 at 2:39 PM

History of the Wolfe Street General Hospital

510 Wolfe Street

The Wolfe Street General Hospital occupied the large private residence of Francis L. Smith. Smith is known for acting as Robert E. Lee’s attorney in 1870, in his unsuccessful attempt to regain possession of Arlington House. 

Smith’s house was first used as a residence or office by Gen. John Slough, Alexandria’s military governor, and then as a hospital with 100 beds. 

The house is once again a private residence.  

Tuscan Villa, by Matthew Brady. National Archives and Records Administration.
Tuscan Villa, with Wolfe Street General Hospital to the right. Photograph by Matthew Brady (cropped). (National Archives and Records Administration). 
Wolfe Street General Hospital
The Wolfe Street General Hospital is on the left.

First Person Account

From a letter by aid worker Julia Wilbur, Nov. 12, 1862. Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society Papers, 1851-1868, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. 

I can’t look up without looking into it [Wolfe Street Hospital]. The two large confiscated houses --- on another corner of a large 2 story old brick house which they call the Quaker Church, this is full too, & these 3 buildings constitute one hospital. Suffering & misery meet me at any time.  

Historic Images

Image 1:

  • Title: Tuscan Villa 
  • Image Source: U.S. National Archives 
  • Photographer: Matthew Brady 
  • Image Date: ca. 1860-1865
  • Medium: photograph 
  • U.S. National Archives Identifier: 529326 
  • Local Identifier: 111-B-5222. Series: Mathew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, (Record Group 111) 
  • National Archives Rights Advisory: Unrestricted.

Image 2:  

  • Title: Wolfe Street General Hospital, Capacity 100.
  • Image Source: The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes. Francis Trevelyan Miller, Editor in Chief, Volume Seven, Prisons and Hospitals. New York, The Review of Reviews Co., 1911, p. 235.
  • Image Date: 1861-1865.
  • Medium: Photograph
  • Rights Advisory: Out of Copyright.

Quartermaster Map

No quartermaster map available.

Location and the Site Today

Wolfe Street Hospital today
The former hospital is once again a private residence.

510 Wolfe Street is once again a private residence.