Freedmen's Hospital and Asylum was first established in 1862 on the grounds of the Camp Barker, 13th and R Streets, NW, and cared for freed, disabled and aged blacks. In 1863, it was placed under the charge of Dr. Alexander Augusta, the first African American to head a hospital in the United States. After the Civil War, it became the teaching hospital of Howard University Medical School, established in 1868, while remaining under federal control. Prior to 1874 it was run by the Freedmen's Bureau in the U.S. Department of War, and in 1874 it was transferred to the Department of the Interior.