The exigencies of war with the inevitable toll of wounded and sick necessitated the establishment of many military hospitals. The city of Memphis, once it had come under control of Union forces, furnished a convenient location for military hospitals to care for a portion of the wounded and sick from the Mississippi River area of combat. General hospitals capable of caring for 5,000 men were set up in and about the city. The more serious cases were sent to these hospitals in three river steamers assigned to the Medical Department as hospital transports. These hospitals, though better staffed and organized that some of the Civil War facilities, nonetheless had a high death rate among the wounded and ill committed to their care. The dead from these hospitals, initially interred in hospital and private cemeteries in the Memphis area, were subsequently reinterred in the Memphis National Cemetery after its establishment in 1867. After the war, several battlefield cemeteries were transferred to Memphis National Cemetery.