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"Captain Sally Louisa Tompkins was a Confederate nurse, the only woman assigned to the Confederate army." Sally Louisa Tompkins lived in Richmond at the beginning of the Civil War. From a wealthy family, Tompkins opened Robertson Hospital, a private hospital, to care for the confederate wounded. The hospital was named after Judge John Robertson, who donated the house. Tompkins operated the hospital at her own expense, and closed the doors only after the last two patients were discharged in June 1865. Robertson Hospital treated more than 1,300 patients, of whom only 73 died. No other hospital saved more of its patients, and officers tried to put their most seriously injured soldiers with Tompkins. It was Tompkins' success rate that allowed her private facility to remain open after September 1861, when President Jefferson Davis ordered the closure of all private hospitals. To allow Robertson Hospital to remain open, Davis assigned Tompkins a non-designated captain in the Confederate Cavalry. She was the only woman to have a commission on the Confederate army. Tompkins then managed her hospital in collaboration with the army, which helped to bear the costs. After the war, she continued her charity work until she exhausted her wealth. A resident of the Confederate Women's Home in Richmond died and was buried with military honors.