Chester County’s many ties to the Revolutionary War continue with the historic Yellow Springs Army hospital, writes Peter Crimmins for WHYY.
The structure at the Historic Yellow Springs campus, originally dubbed Washington Hall, served as the nation’s first ever Army hospital. Commissioned by George Washington in 1777, the hospital developed innovative new precautions to prevent the spread of disease during the war.
At the time, disease killed more soldiers than wartime combat. Over 17,000 soldiers died from infectious diseases, including smallpox, typhoid, and dysentery.
The Yellow Springs Army hospital led the charge to treat and prevent illness with then-revolutionary methods during its ten years in operation. Hospital staff served hot food to prevent bacterial growth, incinerated old clothing, separated recovering patients from the newly sick, and consistently washed hands, bedding, and clothes.
Such rigorous precautions would set the precedent for medical care throughout the country. Washington wrote to Congress that same year, calling for a national military medical program, which would later be approved.
The local hospital also helped establish a standardized hierarchy in medical workers for the first time.
While women were barred from professional medical work, many women still worked at the Yellow Springs hospital informally. One local nurse, German-American Abigail Hartman Rice, volunteered at the hospital to serve many patients before her passing in 1789.
Rice’s gravestone sits at Saint Peter’s Pikeland United Church of Christ in Chester Springs, not far from where the stone remains of Washington Hall still stand.
Read more about the Yellow Springs Army hospital and the Chester Springs monument’s long history in WHYY.
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