page_title: York General Hospital (Pennsylvania)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: York General Hospital (Pennsylvania) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: US Civil War monument, cemetery, York PA, USA
context_page_description: The York U.S. Army Hospital was one of Pennsylvania's largest military hospitals during the American Civil War. It was established in York, Pennsylvania, to treat wounded and sick soldiers of the Union army.
context_section_description: The hospital was established in July 1862 on Penn Common, a large level, grassy area just south of downtown York. The sprawling facility consisted of numerous barracks, infirmaries, offices, and support facilities such as laundries, stables, and a mortuary. Among the early patients were hundreds of wounded men transported to York following the September 17, 1862, Battle of Antietam. Dr. Henry Palmer of the 7th Wisconsin Infantry served as the chief surgeon throughout most of the war. 
  In response to the establishment of hospital facilities at York, soldier support groups were created in communities across Pennsylvania. Among those was the Soldiers' Aid Society in Columbia, Pennsylvania which worked with members of church congregations in their community to raise funds to support the care of patients at York General Hospital.
  On April 2, 1863, roughly 600 soldiers from 20 states loyal to the Union, including members of Maryland's Patapsco Guards, participated in a rally in the hospital's mess room, during which the majority of those presented expressed their support for, and formally adopted, a resolution from hospital patients which stated:
  "WHEREAS, Our Government is engaged in a terrible conflict against armed rebellion and treason, and for the maintenance of national union and life; and whereas, it is becoming and proper that we, the inmates of the U.S. General Hospital at York, Pennsylvania, representing as we do twenty of the loyal States of the Union, and two hundred and fifty-nine different regiments and commands, should express our sentiments; therefore
  Resolved, That in the language of our lamented countryman, Stephen A. Douglas, "there can be no neutrals in this war; there can be none but patriots and traitors," and every man in the army or out of it who is not with the government and does not assist it by his influence and exertion, to put down the rebellion; is in effect an enemy to his country, a traitor to the old flag; and opposed to the Constitution and the union of our fathers.
  Resolved, That as soldiers of the Union, having voluntarily tendered our service for its defence, we are not only ready to assist the Government in its efforts to supres [sic] the rebellion, but if necessary, to lay down our lives as a sacrifice for its safety; preferring to sleep in honored graves, rather than that the present and future generations should be deprived of the blessings of civil and religious liberty which we have so longenjoyed [sic].
  Resolved, That we regard the opposition to the government now inaugurated under the cover of hostility to the suspension of the writ of habeus corpus, the Emancipation Proclamation of the President, and the conscription law of the late Congress, as a mere pretext of certain unprincipled politicians who are endeavoring to divert the popular mind in their favor, that they may hereafter reap an advantage in the occupancy of the high offices of the government, for which they never have been, nor never will be qualified by personal competency, patriotism, or loyalty to the free institutions of the country.
  Resolved, That we will continue this struggle for our nationality and the rich blessings bequeathed to us by our fathers, "though nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish and only one of a thousand were to survive," believing that one such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves.
  Resolved, That we look with indignation on all party prejudice, tending to make the loyal states a divided people, and will use our utmost exertions to put down all attempts to create a disloyal sentiment at the North; having left our homes to fight treason and traitors in our front, we do not wish to be compelled to crush any in our rear; we are, as were the patriots of former times, for the "Union now and forever, one and inseparable."
  Resolved, That as loyal men and Union soldiers, we hold ourselves in readiness to oppose by all lawful means, those whose feelings are hostile to the government, who have arrayed themselves against its constituted authorities, and fu
caption: Civil War Soldiers' Monument (front) memorializing York General Hospital, Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pennsylvania.
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