Women played a important role on both sides, Union and Confederate, during the War Between the States. April is Confederate History Month in the South!<br />
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Please share this history month story with your family. Sally Tomkins was born in "Poplar Grove" Mathews City Virginia on November 9, 1833. After her husbands death, Tomkins' mother moved the family to Richmond, Virginia, where Sally lived at the outbreak of the War Between the States.<br />
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When the Confederate Government asked the public to help care for the wounded from the First Battle of Manassas (called Bull Run in the north) Tomkins responded by operating a private hospital, which was funded by Judge John Robertson.<br />
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Robertson Hospital, subsidized by Tomkins' substantial inheritance, treated 1,333 soldiers from opening until the last patients were discharged on June 13, 1865.<br />
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Confederate officers tried to place their more seriously wounded in Sally Tomkins' care, because the hospital returned more patients to the ranks than any other medical facility.<br />
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Tomkins used her high rate of success to convince Confederate President Jefferson Davis to keep her hospital open while other private hospitals were closed in the city.<br />
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To circumvent the regulation that all hospitals are run by military personnel, on the 9th day of September 1863,<br />
President Jefferson Davis appointed Tomkins Captain of the Cavalry. Captain Sally Tomkins was the only woman<br />
honored by a commission on either side, north or south. Her commission as an officer entitled her to receive items from the military.<br />
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Sally Tomkins was always welcome among the ranks of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and upon her death on July 25, 1916, was given a funeral with full military honors.<br />
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Check out http://confederateheritagemonth.com for what is going on during the April month of remembrance.
