Gordonsville Receiving Hospital

Gordonsville, Virginia 

The Exchange Hotel, built in 1860 alongside the tracks of the Virginia Central Railroad, served travelers stopping in Gordonsville. The railroads would play an important role in the upcoming Civil War, and Gordonsville was a key rail center where the Orange and Alexandria and the Virginia Central railroads intersected.

In 1862 the Exchange Hotel was taken over by the military to use as a hospital. Wounded soldiers arrived by train and were treated in what became known as the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital. During the course of the war, over 70,000 soldiers, mostly Confederate but some Union as well, were treated at the hospital. Over 700 died and were buried on the grounds. After the war, the remains of the Confederate dead were moved to the nearby Maplewood Cemetery and re interred in unmarked graves. Twenty-six Union soldiers who died in Gordonsville were moved the the Culpeper National Cemetery in Culpeper, Virginia.

Today the Exchange Hotel is a museum, with an extensive collection of artifacts which tell the story of the Exchange Hotel, the railroad town of Gordonsville and the difficult years of the Civil War.