St. Elizabeths Asylum: Civil War Care at the Government Hospital for the Insane
Wed, Nov 12
|DC Preservation League
Join the DC Preservation League for a lecture with Madeline Feierstein as she shares her research on the operations of St. Elizabeths Asylum during the Civil War.
Time & Location
Nov 12, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
DC Preservation League
About the event
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Founded in 1852, St. Elizabeths was the nation’s first federally-funded psychiatric facility. The “Government Hospital for the Insane” in Washington, D.C. quickly transformed into a trauma center for wounded and convalescing soldiers when the Civil War broke-out a decade later. This lecture will analyze the reception of Union, Confederate, and African American troops, as well as their conditions upon admission. As the only federal mental health complex in the country during the Civil War, St. Elizabeths helped define treatment options for those afflicted with the modern diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Attendees will glimpse into the medical treatments of wartime Washington, connecting symptoms to battlefield experiences. Through an inclusion of primary sources and personal narratives, this lecture will explore the impact on psychiatric care in the postbellum years and reflect on the wave of mentally-ill veterans once the war concluded.
Madeline Feierstein…