A hospital and the creation of a national cemetery

I always think of May as the start of summer and a time for remembering our veterans and their sacrifice on Memorial Day. Mound City, Illinois, had a hospital during the Civil War that led to the creation of a National Cemetery. In 1860, the town had a population of 898, peaking in 1910 at 2,837. The population has declined to its current number of 502. Yet, this small town has so much Civil War history, I continue to find something new. I owe a huge debt to Richard Kuenneke, member of Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission, who continues to supply me with Civil War information about Mound City and its contribution to the Union effort.

In 1974, an attempt was made to create a historic district in Mound City, but failed. In 1976, the state planned to buy the old hospital building for $30,000, when an arsonist burned the abandoned building. If the National Register nomination had gone through or the purchase by the state had been made, the town would probably look much different today. The persistence of the preservation commission has helped preserve this important history.

The Union hospital complex was created in 1861 by combining a foundry and hotel to handle 1,500 wounded soldiers. The hospital complex was a three-story brick building built in an L-shape. In April 1862, the USS Mound City captured the Confederate steamer Red Rover and converted it to a floating hospital to serve the naval hospital. As many as 2,000 soldiers were brought there after the battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Sisters, not nuns, from the Holy Cross Congregation, not Order, came to the hospital to assist and train nurses. The previous statement is a correction of misused terms I used in an earlier article, when I referred to the women as nuns.

The rising number of deaths at the hospital made it necessary to find a place to bury the dead. The first burials took place in 1862, and in 1864 a plot of land consisting of 10.5 acres near the hospital was designated by the federal government as a national cemetery, making Mound City National Cemetery one of the oldest national cemeteries in the country. Of the approximate 4,808 Union and Confederate soldiers interred in the cemetery, most died from their wounds at the hospital.

At the end of the Civil War, the hospital building reverted back to the Emporium Real Estate and Manufacturing Co. After the war, the building was used as a hotel, warehouse, furniture factory and finally the Ladogo Canning Factory. At the time of the historic district application, the building was abandoned.

Every town has a story, but Mound City appears to have several, especially when it comes to the Civil War. From hospital, national cemetery, naval yards and Eads ironclads, the historical significance of this small town continues. To find out more about the history continuing to be uncovered in Mound City, check out its Face Book page for updates at facebook.com/MoundCityNationalCemetery.