24 x 29.75 inches
Handwritten in pencil below the image and above the title: "As it appeared in 1862 & and a part of the year 1863."
Handwritten in ink on a piece of paper attached to bottom center of image: "Co the/ AdhA Co/With Compliments of/ Walter H. French."
Printed in the bottom left corner below the image: "J. Queen, Del. & Lith."
Printed in the bottom right corner below the image: "T. Sinclair's Lith. 311 Chestnut St. Phila."
Description: A hand-colored chromolithograph depicting a lively scene containing a view of the two hospitals, refreshment stand, and other buildings of the Refreshment Saloon located near the Navy Yard at Swanson and Washington Avenues. Depicts a large crowd gathered to watch the arrival and departure of Union troops in November of 1863. Arriving soldiers march past the cannon, known as "Fort Brown," fired to forewarn saloon volunteers of the forthcoming arrival of troops. Departing soldiers board a Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore railroad car for the South. American flags dot the landscape. Crowd includes a band and an African American man. Contains the names of committee members and volunteers below the image. Situated at the transportation hub between the North and the South on land leased en gratis from the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, the Saloon was a volunteer relief agency providing meals, hospital care, washing, sleeping, and writing facilities to military personnel, refugees, and freedmen. It served over 800,000 men, 1,025,000 meals before closing on December 1, 1865.
![[Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, of Philadelphia: Being the first institution of the kind in the United States. Organized, May 27th. 1861] (1863) Eli P. Zebooker Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: 237-PR-036](/pab-images/medium-display/pat-zebooker/237-PR-036.jpg)