A Great Battle at Hand

It is evident that the great battle which will decide the fate of rebellion in the lower Mississippi Valley, is about coming off in the vicinity of Corinth, Mississippi.  There will be more troops engaged than were in the battle of Waterloo.  Every Soldiers’ Aid Society in the Northwest, should be preparing to take care of the wounded.  There may be tens of thousands to care for.  Surgical attendance and hospital stores will be utterly inadequate to the emergency, if extraordinary measures are not at once taken.  We must not wait until we hear of the battle to make preparations.  Let the work be done now.  The Tennessee river affords an excellent channel of communication to points within a short distance of the expected battle ground.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 4