Gen. Joseph Hooker was admitted for treatment of gunshot wounds he received at the Battle of Antietam in the fall of 1862, and Dr. Nichols and his wife personally cared for him in their quarters.
GHI was the first federal mental health facility in the United States. During the Civil War, soldiers were referred to the hospital for treatment after they were evaluated for malingering and deception. The Adjutant General’s Office controlled and authorized admissions and discharges. Dr. Nichols observed that the majority of patients admitted to SEH had both mental and bodily diseases.
After the war, the Army and Navy general hospitals were closed, and the artificial limb manufacturing shop was dismantled. GHI continued to care for mentally ill Civil War veterans. In 1866, Congress passed an act permitting GHI to admit all men who had served as Union soldiers and were found insane within three years of discharge by reasons of continuation of mental illness, relapses after recovery, or mental illness relating to military service. Many of these veterans were chronically ill and required custodial care. In 1882, Congress passed legislation directing transfer of insane persons from the National Home of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers to GHI. To relieve overcrowding at the hospital, Atkins Hall (1878), Relief Building (1879) and Home Building (1883) were constructed.
SEH maintained high standards in caring for Civil War soldiers. As stated by Dr. Nichols, “the patriotic sacrifices of the military patients will always entitle them to our best endeavors to promote their comfort and their restoration to health.”
There are two 19th century cemeteries on St. Elizabeths’ grounds. These cemeteries contain the burials of Civil War soldiers, Union and Confederate, White and African American.
In 2005, during St. Elizabeths’ 150th Anniversary Celebration, the hospital paid tribute to its history and the sacrifices of members of the Armed Forces who became mentally ill while serving their country.
Reference: S. Kanhouwa, MD and Jogues Prandoni, Ph.D, The Civil War and St. Elizabeths Hospital: An Untold Story from the First Federal Mental Institution in the United States, The Journal of Civil War Medicine, Vol. 9, No.1, January/February/March 2005.
