Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon

From May 1861, soldiers passing through Philadelphia to and from the South would be welcomed at the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, which stood in a donated factory at Washington Avenue and Swanson Street. There they would receive a full meal, and, if needed, medical attention at the hospital next door.


On short notice the Saloon could seat 1,200 to 1,500, an entire full-strength regiment or multiple depleted ones, and it served over a million meals during the war, while receiving no funding from city, state or federal authorities. It was entirely an effort of the citizens of Philadelphia.

Soon after, later in May, a second such establishment opened nearby on Otsego Street (Water Street) called the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon.

The image above is from a page that has an entry of the Freeman Colby Diary at Live Free and Draw, done comic-style. The Refreshment Saloon makes an appearance on that page. If you want to start the delightful journal from the beginning go here.

Troops from New York and north rode the Camden and Amboy Railway, crossed the Delaware on the Kaign Avenue Ferry to its station at Washington Ave, then marched the short distance to the saloons for their refreshment. The Colby Diary mentions that this was the first food provided since starting out.

Then they rode the horsecar lines (the tracks are visible in the photo  above) or marched west on Washington to Broad Street and the huge station for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Then onto trains south.

 

And it wasn't only Union troops who benefited from the Refreshment Saloons. Confederate prisoners of war also came through on the way to their "lodgings" at Fort Mifflin.