DEATH CLAIMS WOMAN OFFICER OF CONFEDERACY
Captain Sally Louisa Tompkins Dies at Confederate Home, Aged Eighty-Three
HAD REMARKABLE WAR RECORD
Was Commissioned by President Jefferson Davis as Captain of Cavalry, and
Operated Hospital in Richmond During Great War.
Captain Sally Louisa Tompkins, eighty-three years old, the only woman who
received a commission in the Army of the Confederacy, died yesterday morning
at 3:45 o'clock in the Home for Confederate Woman, 3 East Grace Street.
Commissioned as a soldier, she labored as a nurse, and many a veteran owes
his recovery from wounds and sickness to her tender care.
Captain Tompkins was born at Poplar Grove, Mathews County, November 9, 1833,
the daughter of Christopher and Mrs. Maria Patterson Tompkins. Among her
nearest surviving relatives are Dr. Christopher Tompkins, a nephew; Mrs.
Ellen Tompkins Wise, of this city, and Miss Clementine Tompkins of New York,
nieces. Her sisters, Misses Elizabeth and Marie Tompkins, died many years
ago.
When, during the course of the War Between the States, an order was issued
closing private hospitals, Miss Tompkins was commissioned a captain of cavalry
at the request of President Jefferson Davis, and she opened a hospital at
the northwest corner of third and Main Streets in the home of John Robertson.
She took her mother's old cook and opened the hospital ten days after the
first battle of Manassas, closing it on June 13, 1865.
After the war Miss Tompkins spent much time as the guest of the Lightfoots
at Port Royal and in visiting the home of Colonel Walter Taylor's father
in Norfolk. She was for many years a devout member of St. James Episcopal
Church, of this city.
Since 1906, Captain Tompkins has been a guest at the Confederate Women's
Home, living there at the special request of the management.
The funeral services will be conducted in the Home for Confederate Women
this afternoon at 5 o'clock, Rev. C. G. Chamberlayne officiating in the
absence of Rev. G. Freeland Peter, rector of St. James Church. The internment
will take place in Mathews County, in the graveyard of the church which
Miss Elizabeth Tompkins helped to establish.
R. E. Lee Camp, United Confederate Veterans, of which Captain Tompkins was
an honorary member, has detailed Captain John Lamb, Colonel Joseph V. Bidgood
and Sergeant-Major W. B. Lightfoot to attend the funeral and accompany the
body to its last resting place in Mathews County. There will be a detail
of veterans, also, from the Lee Camp Soldiers Home.
Details from the Richmond Howitzers and the Blues will attend the funeral
as a mark of respect to the only woman commissioned officer of the Confederate
Army. There will be a committee from Richmond Chapter, United Daughters
of the Confederacy. The coffin will be draped with the Confederate colors
in accordance with the custom observed at all funerals of Confederate officers.
The pall-bearers will be Frank Brooke, W. Crump Tucker, James Tabb, Dr.
McCaw Tompkins, H. Watkins Ellerson, Thomas Pinckney Bryan, Bernard Robb
and Charles Cocke.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 July 1916.
Inscription on Captain Sally Tompkin's Monument
Captain Sally L. Tompkins
C.S.A.
Born at Poplar Grove, Mathews Co., VA
November 9, 1833
Died at Richmond, VA., July 25, 1916
In grateful appreciation of her
services in maintaining the Roberston
Hospital at Richmond, VA, from 1861
to 1865, where 1,300 soldiers were
tenderly cared for, this memorial
is erected by the Confederate
Veterans, and United Daughters of
the Confederacy. President Jefferson
Davis gave her a commission as Captain
of Cavalry unassigned in order that
because of its valuable work in
restoring so many men to the army,
this hospital should be under
Government supervision.
________________________
"I was hungered and ye gave me meat.
I was thirsty and ye gave me drink.
I was sick and ye ministered unto me."
St. Matthew 25 Chapter
