Attended service in
dining hall. Chaplain S. officiated, and spoke very well. At the close I gave
him the message sent by two sick men in my division to visit them. He promised
to do so, but though he had to pass the tents where the men were, in going to
his room, he did not do so. Am sorry, as the men may not live. He may have
forgotten it, and if the men are living tomorrow, will remind him of the same.
But I think it strange that he has not visited any one in my two divisions,
when so many have died.
Three more have died
since yesterday forenoon. Geo. W. Boughton, — Co., 2nd Batt. Vet. Res., Nelson
Correll, of Co. B. 13 Tenn. Cav. and young Ashman mentioned in previous date.
One man, who is
nearly given up by physicians, says he has been through the Mexican war. He is
sergeant and will swear one minute and pray the next. He declares he
always has had his own way, and will have it
here. He is delirious part of the time, but like some others of that class
thinks everybody crazy but himself. If it is his sovereign will and pleasure to
get out of bed and walk about en dishabille, or take a trip over
the mountains on some secret service, for which he fancies there is a war steed
just outside,
"All saddled, all bridled all fit for a
fight,"
he thinks the nurse
is slightly out of his head to show so little respect to a superior officer as
to threaten to tie him down to his bed. It has been necessary with him and
others. He, and another man who lay at a little distance, were both
delirious last night, and had an argument with each other—or what they supposed
was one, though it seemed difficult for the nurses to vouch for its
connectedness. But it is certain that a considerable number of oaths were used,
and each assured the other, in plain terms, that he didn't keep truth on his
side. The sergeant, after much gesticulation and violent language, threatened
the other with a personal chastisement if he wasn't more reasonable in
his statements. He was about stepping out of bed to put the threat
into practice, when the nurse produced a rope to tie him with, if he wasn't
quiet; upon which he concluded to defer the matter. When he wishes water, he
will sing out in a stentorian voice, for the
"Corporal of the Third Relief!"
SOURCE: Elvira J.
Powers, Hospital Pencillings: Being a Diary While in Jefferson General
Hospital, Jeffersonville, Ind., and Others at Nashville, Tennessee, as Matron
and Visitor, pp. 47-8
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