In 1861, he was commissioned, by Governor Olden as surgeon of the First Division Brigade and served with the 4th NJ Militia. After his initial three month enlistment, it appears that he took the examination to become part of the US Volunteer Medical Corps but was not active until the government established a military hospital in Beverly NJ. This convalescent hospital eventually had 2,500 beds. Patients were brought from Philadelphia on an old river steamer, the “John A. Warner”. The captain always sounded several blasts of the horn as he approached the docks. Citizens of Beverly assembled at the wharf with any kind of conveyance to transport the wounded soldiers to the hospital. As the journey began, some patients walking, some on stretchers, the church bells of the town tolled in welcome. Women lined the streets dispensing coffee and food. The community was very involved in supplementing the work of the hospital staff . Amputations and other operations were performed there, and the limbs where given proper burials on land that eventually became the Beverly National Cemetery. Dr. Woolston was promoted to post-surgeon. The hospital closed down in August 1865. 

After the war, he married Rachel Inskeep Haines and had three children. In 1870 he moved to the family home in Evesham. His daughters married prominent businessmen and a family member occupied this house until 1936. Dr. Woolston had a great interest in fostering the public schools in Marlton and was a co-founder of the Philadelphia, Marlton and Medford Railroad company. He died in 1910 at the age of 77.

Submitted by: V. Josephson 08/31/2008