CAMP SHAW, BEAUFORT, S. C., October 29, 1863.
It is a pretty severe official joke that General [Quincy A.] Gilmore is just now playing off on those who have obtained surgeon's certificates stating that change of climate is necessary "to prevent permanent disability" or to "save life." Since the 19th ins't all such have been sent to Convalescent Camp at Augustine, Fla. instead of North. The almost impossibility of getting out of the Department in any other way than on a surgeon's certificate has led to abuses that are best remedied by this change of programme. It seems hard that those who really need to go North should have to suffer for the exaggerated complaints of the unworthy. Capt. Rogers has been sick in hospital nearly a month and Surgeon Hayden has sent a certificate to Headquarters before my return. Yesterday I saw him off to St. Augustine. Fortunately he is convalescent and can meet the disappointment better than he could two weeks ago. I have now in our regimental hospital an old man who had been more than a year in the regiment and who has never asked for leave of absence and who has never before been away from his company. His name is Thursday Young, gray headed and fighting like a tiger.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 395
