Editing Orange County, Virginia (section)

===The Exchange Hotel===
[[File:Exchange Hotel.JPG|thumb|200x200px|The Exchange Hotel]]
A well-preserved example of 19th century [[Georgian architecture]], the [[Exchange Hotel (Gordonsville, Virginia)|Exchange Hotel]] stands in the Town of Gordonsville as a living piece of Civil War history. Built in 1860 as a hotel on the [[Virginia Central Railroad]], the building was soon transformed into the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital following the onset of the American Civil War. Because of its strategic location along a major railroad and proximity to nearby battlefields, the hospital treated over 70,000 wounded men by the end of the war. During [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]], the hotel was known as the Freedman's Bureau Hospital which served newly freed slaves. The building eventually returned to its former use as a hotel, before being restored in 1971 and transformed into a museum. It is the only remaining Civil War era receiving hospital in Virginia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hgiexchange.org/index.htm |title=HGI Exchange Hotel |access-date=August 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915211236/http://www.hgiexchange.org/index.htm |archive-date=September 15, 2013 }}</ref>

Receiving hospitals during the Civil War functioned as [[triage]] centers, providing short-term medical care until doctors forwarded patients to other towns or medical facilities. These hospitals were normally located in large cities or on routes where patients were to change their mode of transportation and continue on to other destinations. Receiving hospitals, otherwise known as depot hospitals or clearing hospitals, were marked by short patient stays and a high turnover rate.<ref>Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R. ''The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine'', M E Sharpe, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0765621306}}</ref>