U.S. General Hospital at Camp Meigs - Boston, MA
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member NorStar
N 42° 14.090 W 071° 07.940
19T E 324052 N 4678051
After Camp Meigs served as a training camp for the Union Army, the grounds became a large field hospital from 1864 to 1866.
Waymark Code: WMW2FM
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/01/2017
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Outspoken1
Views: 2

In Boston's Readville neighborhood is Camp Meigs Park, which has a series of signs about Camp Meigs, including this one.

Camp Meigs Park, owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), is located in the center of a residential neighborhood off the Neponset River Parkway. From the parkway, turn southwest - away from the railroad bridge - onto Hyde Park Avenue, then drive southwest along this road to the park on the left.

The park is a rectangular section of land approximately 3 acres in size, within a residential neighborhood. Facilities in the park include a baseball field and basketball courts. In the center is a woodsy green with a rectangular path and several historical signs situated around it, and a flagpole and memorial at the northwest end.

One of the signs, at the north corner, mentions that after Camp Meigs was a training camp during the U.S. Civil War - including training the soldiers in the 54th and 55th Infantries (featured in the movie, "Glory,"), that the training camp was converted to an Army field hospital. A web page from the Milton Historical Society web site explains more about it.

"By June 1864, the increase in wounded soldiers prompted the Union Army to open it first major hospital in Massachusetts,1 commandeering the main easterly section of Camp Meigs for a United States Army General Hospital at Readville. This facility grew into an impressive 71-building compound of wards, quarters, kitchens, support buildings, storehouses, etc., whose staff treated more than 4,000 troops for campaign-related wounds or disease. Here, the wounds were treated close to family and friends, with many a Readville graduate ironically hospitalized where they once barracked. The hospital, with its chapel, gymnasium, and library was phased out at war's end, last wards being auctioned off in January 1866.

Following the war, the northern half of the hospital area east of the railroad slowly developed into a residential neighborhood, while its southern half was used first as a racecourse and later for warehousing. In 1899 the Metropolitan Park Commission (MPC) purchased the Neponset River's Fowl Meadow as part of the Metropolitan Park System. West of the tracks, the area evolved into a mixture of residences and light industry."

Another source from the Massachusetts State Library provides more detail about Camp Meigs, including maps that show locations of camp features relative to modern features.

Source:

Milton Historical Society (U.S. General Hospital at Camp Meigs):
(visit link)

Massachusetts State Library Archives (Camp Meigs):
(visit link)
Address:
Hyde Park Avenue Readville (Boston) MA


Name of War: U.S. Civil War

Type of Documentation: Web Page/Historical Documentation

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