Roper Hospital

Charleston’s first community hospital came about through a $30,000 gift from the son of Col. Thomas Roper. The central section housed physicians’ apartments, a library and auditorium. To each side were patient rooms; the open front assured salubrious ventilation. During the war, ailing Confederate soldiers were treated at Roper. After the bombardment of the city began in August 1863, this area, at Queen and Mazyck Streets (now the north end of Logan), was within the Federal Morris Island artillery’s effective range of 8,140 yards, so patients were moved farther away. Taking their place were Union prisoners, who were also confined at Charleston’s Jail Yard, the Work House and later the Race Course.

This is the caption as printed in 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War. It has not yet been through this site’s research and fact-checking pass.