Named after Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803), the slave leader of the Haitian Revolt, the hospital was completed in 1864. On land formerly owned by slave dealers in Alexandria prior to the Union Army taking control of the area in 1861, the hospital served U.S. Colored Troops. It also treated former enslaved African Americans.
The hospital treated more than 1,400 soldiers from 1864 to 1865. The complex consisted of a cook house, mess hall, dispensary, tents, housing and jail.
A successful protest in 1864 resulted in African American soldiers being interred in Alexandria National Cemetery as opposed to the Contrabands or Freedmen Cemetery.
Historical Marker Inscription
Named for Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian revolutionary, L’Ouverture Hospital opened early in 1864 near the Freedmen’s barracks in Alexandria to serve sick and injured United States Colored Troops (USCT). Designed by the U.S. Army, the hospital complex could accommodate about 700 patients and occupied the city block just south of here. The hospital also served African American civilians, many of whom had escaped from slavery and sought refuge in Alexandria. In Dec. 1864, more than 400 patients led a successful protest demanding that USCTs be buried in Alexandria National Cemetery, with full honors, rather than at the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery.
Location
1302 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
38° 48.284′ N, 77° 3.245′ W
Historical Markers of the World 