Tag: Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon (Philadelphia PA)

Library of Congress says: …two hospitals, refreshment stand, and other buildings of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon located near the Navy Yard at Swanson and Washington Avenues in Philadelphia during the American Civil War. Situated at the transportation hub between the North and the South on land leased for free from the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, the saloon was a volunteer relief agency that provided meals, hospital care, washing, sleeping, and writing facilities to military personnel, refugees, and freedmen. It assisted more than 800,000 men and served 1,025,000 meals before closing on December 1, 1865