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Hospital Network and Medical Care During the Crimean War in Kherson Region

The hospital network and medical care in the Kherson region during the Crimean War of 1853–1856 became a key system for saving thousands of wounded and sick defenders of Sevastopol. It encompassed a network of military hospitals, the Kherson State Pharmacy, private infirmaries of local residents, and the first nursing sisterhoods.

Overview

With the outbreak of hostilities in Crimea, thousands of wounded soldiers passed through the Kherson region. In the cities and towns of the region—Beryslav, Henichesk, Liubymivka, Oleshky, Kherson, as well as settlements in the Oleksandriia district—temporary military hospitals and semi-hospitals were urgently deployed. Medicine supply was managed by the Kherson State Pharmacy, which supplied the medical units of the Southern Army. Due to a shortage of space in state facilities, residents of the Kherson region opened private multi-bed infirmaries in their own homes. It was in the Kherson region and Crimea that female nurses (notably Dasha of Sevastopol and the Gozadinov sisters) joined in caring for the wounded en masse for the first time in military history.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Deployment and hospital network: For the Southern Army, 26 military hospitals of classes 1–4 were formed (including in Bucharest, Focșani, Kherson, and the Oleksandriia district), and the Beryslav military semi-hospital and regimental infirmaries (for example, in Zburivka) operated.
  • Supply of medicines and pharmaceutical service: The Kherson State Pharmacy, under the management of the Inspection of the Pharmaceutical Branch, supplied medicines to dozens of hospitals. For self-sacrificing work during the war, pharmacy manager pharmacist F. Milhof and pharmacist E. Margaritov were awarded bronze medals on the St. Andrew ribbon.
  • Private infirmaries and the women's charity movement: The population of Kherson arranged small infirmaries in their homes. Among those evacuated from Crimea to Kherson were the schoolteachers Gozadinov sisters, who cared for the wounded, while Dasha of Sevastopol became the personification of female courage.
  • Record of casualties and mass burials: Mortality among the wounded remained high due to cholera and infections. Deceased soldiers were buried in local cemeteries (for example, the Beryslav cemetery), and data about them was recorded in the parish registers of local churches (notably the Dormition Church in Beryslav).