In 1778, Congress authorized the creation of a Hospital Service Act, to care for disabled and sick Marines. In 1779, they extended the care to include the Navy.
By the end of the Civil War, the Navy operated eight hospitals, including this one in Tennessee, constructed in the 1930's. The patients received excellent health care here and by contrast, weren't nearly as crowded as the Navy facilities.
In 1778, Congress authorized the creation of a U.S. Marine Hospital fund, known as the Hospital Service Act, to care for disabled and sick Marines. In 1779, they extended the care to include the Navy. At the time, each enlisted man had 20 cents deducted from their paycheck each month to pay for this program.
In 1887, a marine hospital was constructed on Indian land near the Mississippi River in Tennessee. The hospital operated for almost fifty years, and played a role in the study of yellow fever, before being torn down and replaced with a new building in 1937.
Light play inside a first floor room at a former 1930's U.S. Marine Hospital on the Mississippi River in Tennessee.
Morning light inside the first floor hallway of an early 1900's era U.S. Marine Hospital in Tennessee.
This hallway consists of mostly patient rooms, but a few storage closets are also scattered about. The large room at the end of the hallway appears to have been a dayroom or common space.
View of nurses quarters from a patient room inside a former U.S. Marine Hospital in Tennessee.
Medical supply cabinet inside a former U.S. Marine Hospital in Tennessee.
First floor room in the main building of a U.S. Marine Hospital in Tennessee, constructed in 1937, after the original hospital was demolished to make way for a new updated one.
