From the Richmond Dispatch, 5/31/1862, p. 3, c. 1

New Hospitals.

By order of the Surgeon-General, the buildings of Keen, Baldwin & Williams, and Ginter, Alvey & Arents, and Kent's, on Main street, have been taken for hospitals. They will be immediately fitted up and prepared for the reception of our wounded soldiers, and will make, probably, the most comfortable and convenient hospitals in the city. By this set the Surgeon-General has taken a step in the right direction; for, instead of seeking old and worn-out buildings, useless for other purposes, it should be his aim to select the very best – the best ventilated, best lighted, and the capacious to be found. The expense of such houses should not be thought of for one moment; for what is money when put in the balance against the comfort of a wounded man, or of a single soldier now doing duty in the Confederate army? The building lately occupied by Keen, Baldwin& Williams is especially adapted for a hospital. Its ground floor is large, and has wide doors and windows, through which the air can have free circulation. Above this are two tiers of galleries, having several windows on either floor, the whole well lighted and ventilated from the top. Soldiers generally have a great dislike to the public hospitals, and go to them with extreme reluctance; but, with the aid of the patriotic ladies of Richmond, who have ever been found to do all in their power for the sick and wounded, these hospitals can by made as comfortable as any private house. And, with proper regulations, and a little care on the part of the surgeons, they may also be kept as neat.

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