“W” is for Wayside Hospitals. Wayside hospitals were formed across South Carolina during the Civil War as means to care for sick and wounded Confederate soldiers travelling throughout the state. Usually situated at depots or other railroad stopping points, wayside facilities provided a range of services to soldiers in transit. Most offered meals and basic nursing, while larger wayside hospitals contained overnight accommodations and were staffed with physicians or surgeons. All wayside hospitals in the state originated through private means, usually the efforts of local women and relief organizations. Although a few larger facilities were eventually placed under the supervision of Confederate medical authorities, all wayside hospitals depended in large measure on private donations of food, clothing, bandages, medicine, and labor. By 1865 there were wayside hospitals in Charleston, Columbia, Florence, Greenville, Orangeburg, and Sumter.
“W” is for Wayside Hospitals.
