Tag: DeCamp General Hospital (Davids Island NY)

Wikipedia says: …Military use of the island dates from 1861, when the 3rd Regiment (63rd New York Infantry) of the Irish Brigade established Camp Carrigan. The next year, 1862, Davids Island was leased by the U.S. Government. This marked the first use of Davids Island by the Regular Army. At that time, De Camp General Hospital (named for Dr. Samuel G. I. de Camp) was established to serve thousands of wounded individuals from the battlefields of the American Civil War. By late 1862, De Camp was the Army’s largest general hospital, housing more than 2,100 patients. Originally, De Camp General Hospital treated only Union soldiers, but following the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, the War Department opened it to care for hundreds of wounded Confederate soldiers. Even though a prison camp had been established on Hart Island in 1865 Davids Island soon held more than 2,500 Confederate prisoners of war. Most had recovered by October, and they were moved to prisoner-of-war camps elsewhere. A ferry connection was established during the war from Neptune Island, under the control of Simeon Leland.