Sally Tompkins

Sally Louisa Tompkins (November 9, 1833 – July 25, 1916) was a humanitarian, nurse, philanthropist and the first woman to have been formally inducted into an army in American history. Many believe that she was also the only woman officially commissioned in the Confederate Army. She is best-remembered for privately sponsoring a hospital in Richmond, Virginia to treat soldiers wounded in the American Civil War. Under her supervision she had the lowest death rate of any hospital Union or Confederate, during the Civil War. She has been remembered as the "Angel of the Confederacy".

Sally Tompkins was born at Poplar Grove in the Tidewater Region of Virginia's Middle Peninsula. She was the youngest of Colonel Christopher Tompkins' eight children. Colonel Tompkins eventually became a very wealthy merchant, doing business in Mathews County, Norfolk, and Richmond, Virginia. In August 16, 1838, Colonel Tompkins died, leaving behind his second wife Maria Patterson Tompkins and their surviving children. Sally was almost five years old at the time.

Sally’s older sister, Elizabeth, had been active in restoring the local Christ Church, an Episcopal church that had fallen into disrepair. Elizabeth and Sally were very close to each other. Sally was devastated when three of her sisters (Martha, Harriet, and Elizabeth) died only a few weeks apart due to a local epidemic in 1842. Despite a difficult childhood, Sally found a means of helping others through nursing the sick in the local community free or slave.

Sally’s early years are difficult to piece together since many records have not survived. What is known is that Sally, her mother, and her surviving sister, Maria, left Poplar Grove and lived in Norfolk from 1849-1852. While in Norfolk, Sally and her sister studied at the Norfolk Female Institute.Then in January 1854, Sally, her mother, and Maria moved to Richmond, Virginia. Sally’s mother died a few months later. Since the Tompkins family had done business in Richmond for many years, Sally and her sister were welcomed with open arms. They rented rooms in the city not knowing that Richmond would soon become the epicenter of the Civil War.

Richmond became the capital city of the Confederacy after Virginia became one of the last of the Confederate states to secede from the Union in April, 1861. It was generally thought by both North and South alike that the armed conflict would end quickly. After the first battle, the nation realized that the war would be much longer than they imagined.

The First Battle of Bull Run—also known as the First Battle of Manassas—on July 21, 1861, was a southern tactical victory which opened the Civil War in the first major hand-to-hand combat. Despite the word of victory, the Confederate capital city was ill-prepared for the hundreds of wounded soldiers who subsequently poured in, many arriving via the Virginia Central Railroad. The shock brought the reality of the horrors of warfare directly home, as officials and citizens scrambled to take care of the overflow of injured and sick patients. Official hospitals were filled to capacity. Factories, churches, and even homes became temporary hospitals to accommodate the wounded.

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