Civil War Hospital Flags by Todd Martin

 

 

Flag Description

The yellow flag with the green H was adopted as a hospital flag by the US Army under a General Order issued on 4 January 1864. Prior to that, as far as I can determine, the only flag used was a plain yellow flag. I don't believe that the CS Army ever used anything other than the unmarked yellow flag as a hospital flag.
Randy Young and Devereaux Cannon, 10 October 1998
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Regulations for Union and Confederate Armies

The Ambulance Department and Hospital Department were separate departments in the U.S. Army until 1864. (General Orders No. 9 Adjutant General's Office, War Department and Public 22-Act of Congress and General Orders No. 106 War Department, Adjutant General's Office). The Ambulance under the Quartermaster General and Hospital under the Surgeon General, U.S. Medical Service, War Department. It is not clear but it is probable the same system was used in the Confederate Army, except the Confederate had a Chief Surgeon over the Medical Service not a Surgeon General. (The Army Medical Department 1818-1865 CMH Pub 30-8, GPO S/N 008-029-00152-7)

U.S. Ambulance Department:
U.S. Army Revised Regulations 1861 (P 736) " The ambulance depot, to which the wounded are carried or directed for immediate treatment, is generally established at the most convenient building nearest the field of battle. A red flag marks its place, or the way to it, and the conductors of the ambulance and to the wounded who can walk"

U.S. Hospital Department / Medical Service:
Army of the Potomac March 24, 1862 General Orders No. 102 " The Hospitals will be distinguished by a yellow flag" Department of the Rappahannock June 19, 1863 General Orders No. 53 repeated General Orders No. 102 Army of the Potomac. Army of the Cumberland/Department of the Cumberland December 19, 1862 General Orders No. 91 "Hospital and Ambulance depots will be distinguished by a yellow flag, 3 feet square for the hospitals and for the principle ambulance depot on the field of battle; 2 feet square for the lesser ones" The same order was repeated on April 25, 1863 Department of the Cumberland. Adjutant General's Office, War Department January 4, 1864 General Orders No. 9 "Hospitals will be distinguished by yellow flags with a green "H" in their centers, larger for General Hospitals, smaller for Field Hospitals, a smaller yellow flag bordered with green for ambulances". Army of the Cumberland/ Department of the Gulf April 26, 1864 "Field and General Hospitals flags will conform to the General Orders No. 62 announced by the War Department.

C.S. Ambulance Department:
Although most of the Hospital Department and Ambulance Department records were destroyed by fire in Richmond Virginia in 1865, I have found that the same U.S. Army regulations of 1861 were adopted by the Confederate Armies: Army of the Potomac/Army of Northern Virginia, Army of the Mississippi, Department of South Carolina, Georgia & Florida. Army of the Mississippi March 14, 1862 General Orders No. 3 copied nearly verbatim the Revised Regulations of the U.S. Army of 1861 for ambulance flags. Department of South Carolina, Georgia & Florida April 5 1863 General Orders No. 53 same as General Orders No. 3 Since General Beauregard issued both General Orders above, he was probably also responsible for starting the same system of flags in the Confederate Army of the Potomac/Northern Virginia in 1861 (War Department Register of Captured Flags No. 253,258,250,257,312 and 328)

C.S. Medical Department/Medical Service:
The organization of the Confederate Medical Department/Medical Service was identical to that of the United States Medical Department in 1861. It is probable that the same system, use of yellow flags to mark the location of hospitals. (The Army Medical Department 1818-1865). Confederate Veteran XIX, reunion announcement "Medical Officers Army and Navy, C.S.A. - Our place of meeting will be the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church, centrally located and easily accessible by the display from the front of a yellow flag, the hospital insignia of the Confederate Army". Confederate Veteran XXII " Dr. Simon Baruch, remembers the day of His capture at the Black Horse Tavern Field Hospital on the Hagerstown Road, I directed the Union Adjutant General's attention to the yellow rag on the lightning rod and said; you fired five shells after that hospital flag was hoisted"

The use of the yellow flag in the U.S. dates back to 1700's. The flag was used as a quarantine flag for ships suspected of carrying contagious disease. "An act to prevent Sickly Vessels from Coming into this Government" City of Philadelphia 1699. A yellow flag was also used to mark the location of hospitals in the "Marine Hospital Service" July 16, 1798 Federal Public Health Law "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen" signed by President John Adams. The hospitals of the "Marine Hospital Service" was under the Department of the Treasury at that time. At the start of the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) as a Federal enterprise, "Marine Hospital Service" operated 27 hospitals. By comparison, the U.S. Army had 98 medical officers, 20 thermometers, 6 stethoscopes and a few medical text books. The Confederate Medical Department had 24 medical officers. In 1864 the "United States Marine Hospital Service" only had 8 hospitals in service, the others had been transferred to the U.S. Army Medical Service and the southern hospitals were taken over for military use by the Confederate Medical Service.

Except for the Federal Armies listed it is probable that the other Armies (Army of Ohio, Army of the West, etc.....) used the system of red flags to mark ambulance depots and yellow for hospitals until 1864 ( General Orders No. 106)

The Act of Congress of 1778 "Establishment of the American Army" and the Act of Congress 1778 & 1780 'Regulating the Hospitals of the United States of America" establish that each battalion of infantry (infantry regiment) of the Army have a Surgeon and a Surgeons Mate. It is probable that from 1818 to 1860 or 61, the regimental surgeon and/or brigade surgeons had a flag with a green or yellow device ( Corps Badge etc...) to mark his position in the field. ( U.S. Army Medical Department Museum has a pre or early Civil War Medical Flag - white field with a green shamrock in the center and a green border similar to 2nd U.S. Army Corps Division Headquarters Flags)

(Note: the National Archives has artwork of a yellow flag with a green "H" in the center on the hoist upper and lower corners a small red cross, Petersburg, Virginia Field Hospital 1864)

I hope you find this of interest, any additions or corrections will be appreciated, Again, Thanks.

Tom Martin, 17 December 1998

The Red vs Yellow Flag Controversy

from the

American Civil War Medical Association, Inc.
Dyer-Toney
Field Hospital
A reenacting organization dedicated to portraying the medical aspects of the Civil War.

Recently there has been a controversy about whether a yellow flag or a red flag was flown at Confederate hospitals. The information I have found says that the yellow flag was flown over the hospitals and the red flag was flown at the battlefield aid stations, which were actually located on the battlefield. My colleagues and I have debated this very matter, and I have heard that only the Federals did this or that the Confederates used the yellow flag only at the end of the war. An excerpt from Kate Cummings diary (Kate: The Journal of a Confederate Nurse; Kate Cumming; Richard Barksdale Harwell, ed.; Louisiana State University Press, 1959; pp13-14.) seems to indicate that the yellow flag was flown in the Confederacy very early in the war. The following was written shortly after the battle of Shiloh from the city of Corinth before it fell into enemy hands. Read on and form your own opinion...
April 11, [1862] - Miss Booth and myself arrived at Corinth today...We are at the Tishomingo Hotel, which, like every other large building, has been taken for a hospital. The yellow flag is flying from the top of each...