Sally Louisa Tompkins

Born:  November 9, 1833, Poplar Grove, Virginia

Died:  July 25, 1916, Richmond, Virginia

Resting Place:  Christ Episcopal Church, Mathews, Virginia

Brief History:  Sally Tompkins was born on November 9, 1833, at Poplar Grove in the Tidewater Region of Virginia's Middle Peninsula. She was the youngest of Colonel Christopher Tompkins' eight children. Tompkins was among the civilians who responded by opening the home of Judge John Robertson as a hospital. Judge Robertson had taken his family to the countryside for safety and left his home to Sally to use as a hospital for as long as she needed. When Confederate Surgeon General Samuel P. Moore issued an order to close all private hospitals in favor of military hospitals operated by officers, Sally Tompkins fought back. After refusing to close her hospital, President Jefferson Davis had her commissioned as an officer in the Confederate Army so that she could keep the hospital open.

On September 9, 1861, the Secretary of War signed a letter appointing Tompkins a captain in the Confederate army in a possible ploy to enable Tompkins and the Robertson Hospital to receive supplies from the CSA Quartermaster Office. Tompkins accepted the appointment but refused to accept pay for her work. Robertson Hospital, under Tompkins's superintendence, is reputed to have achieved the highest survival rate of any military hospital during the war. After the war ended in 1865, Tompkins continued helping others through her work with veterans' organizations, the Episcopal Church, and various charities. The people of Richmond considered her a hero and affectionately called her "Captain Sally."