Sally Louisa Tompkins
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The only woman to hold a commission in the Confederate States Army.
1833-1916
Born in "PoplarGrove,"Mathews City., Va., 9 Nov. 1833, after her
husband's death, Sally's mother moved the family to Richmond, where
Sally lived at the outbreak of civil war.
When the government asked the public to help care for the wounded of
First Bull Run, Sally responded by opening a private hospital in a
house donated for that purpose by judge John Robertson. Robertson
Hospital, subsidized by Tompkins' substantial inheritance, treated
1,333 Confederate soldiers from its opening until the last patients
were discharged 13 June 1865.
Because the hospital returned more of its patients to the ranks than
any other medical-care facility, officers tried to place their most
seriously wounded men in Tompkins' care. She used her high rate of
success to convince President Jefferson Davis to allow her hospital
to stay open even as his orders shut down other private hospitals in
the city. To circumvent the regulation calling for all hospitals to
be run by military personnel, on 9 Sept. 1861 Davis appointed
Tompkins captain of cavalry, unassigned, making her the only woman to
hold a commission in the Confederate States Army. Her military rank
allowed her to draw government rations and a salary to help defray
some of her operating costs. Only 73 deaths were recorded at
Robertson Hospital during its 45-month existence.
Tompkins remained a beloved celebrity in postwar Richmond, active in
the Episcopal church and a popular guest at veterans' reunions and
Daughters of the Confederacy meetings. The war, her continued charity
work, and her generous hospitality to veterans eventually exhausted
her fortune. In 1905 "Captain Sally" moved into the Confederate
Women's Home in Richmond as a lifetime guest, dying there 26 July
1916, in her 83d year. An honorary member of the R. E. Lee Camp of
the Confederate Veterans, she was honored with a full military
funeral. 4 chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy are
named in Tompkins' honor.
