Official Reports of the Campaign in North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, November 14, 1864-January 23, 1865: No. 8. — Report of Surg. George E. Cooper, U. S. Army, Medical Director, Department of the Cumberland.

No. 8.

Report of Surg. George E. Cooper, U. S. Army, Medical Director, Department of the Cumberland.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,                

MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE,        

Nashville, Tenn., April 7, 1865.

SIR: My report of the medical department of the Army of the Cumberland from the time of the invasion of Northern Alabama and Tennessee by the rebel army under General Hood till the defeat of the same by the Government forces in front of Nashville, and the pursuit thereof to beyond the Tennessee River, must be a meager and unsatisfactory one in consequence of my having been separated from the army, and not having myself been in active campaign with it until after the battle of Franklin, Tenn., when it presented itself in the defenses of Nashville. The proceedings of the medical corps are, however, exceedingly well pointed out in the accompanying report of Surg. J. Theo. Heard, medical director Fourth Army Corps, who in person accompanied that corps—all that was left as an organized force of the old Army of the Cumberland, the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps having been taken by Major-General Sherman to form a portion of the army with which he made the great raid through Georgia.

At the time of evacuating Atlanta the corps hospitals of the Army of the Cumberland were, as they had been in the summer campaign, fully organized and equipped, and were ready to move at a moment's notice. The general field hospital, under the charge of Surg. M. C. Woodworth, was in fine condition and of sufficient capacity to receive all the sick and wounded of the army, who, on the breaking up of the division hospitals, might require medical treatment. Supplies of all kinds had been called for and procured by the field medical purveyor, and the army corps were amply and liberally supplied. The ambulances, which had been greatly used during the summer campaign, were repaired and put in as serviceable condition as the time and material on hand would admit of. When the rebel army fell upon the line of railroad at our rear the inconvenience suffered therefrom was, as far as the medical department was concerned, in reality nothing. The only article which ran short was whisky, and this was procured in ample quantities from the subsistence department. The quality, though not equal to that furnished by the medical department, was good enough for all practicable purposes.

The Fourth and Fourteenth Army Corps, having been detailed to follow Hood's army to the rear, the sick from their division hospitals were transferred to the general field hospital, where they were cared for as well as could be wished for, and the troops left Atlanta entirely disencumbered with sick or wounded men. What occurred from that time till the last days of November, 1864, is known to me by hearsay only and from reading the reports furnished these headquarters. For this information I refer to the excellent report of Surgeon Heard, medical director, Fourth Army Corps, who, having been one of that little band who held the whole rebel army in check from Decatur, Ala., to Nashville, Tenn., is far more competent to make the report than I. Synchronous with my arrival at Nashville from Atlanta and Chattanooga came reports of the falling back of our army from Pulaski, Tenn., and of heavy and continuous skirmishing with Hood's advance. On the 30th of November came the news that a severe action had taken place near Franklin, Tenn., and that our losses in both killed and wounded had been heavy. The medical director of the Fourth Army Corps was immediately telegraphed to and asked if he required a hospital train, and early next morning hospital train No. 2 was sent to Brentwood, between Nashville and Franklin. On the night of November 30 two freight trains loaded with wounded from skirmishes beyond Franklin, and which had been brought to that place in ambulances, arrived here. The wounded were transferred to the general hospitals here, and were promptly and skillfully cared for by the medical officers there on duty.

On the following day the troops arrived from Franklin, bringing with them quite a number of wounded, but having, unfortunately, been compelled to leave by far the greater portion in the hands of the enemy. Almost at the same time came the troops commanded by Maj. Gen. A. J. Smith. These troops were deficient in almost everything belonging to the hospital department; they had no organized ambulance corps or trains; there was no division or brigade organization of hospitals, but were as they had been from the beginning of the war, and seemed to have learned nothing from experience or the example of others, and opposed every improvement as an innovation. They had but few medical supplies, and were wanting in almost everything which would aid them in alleviating the sufferings of the sick and wounded of their commands. It became necessary to fit them out with all possible dispatch, which was done; and thanks are due to Surg. Robert Fletcher, U.S. Volunteers, medical purveyor, for his energy, efficiency, and promptness in this emergency. No one could have performed the duties of purveyor in a manner more creditable to himself or with greater benefit to the Government.

As soon as the troops arrived in front of Nashville they were placed in the lines and were compelled to throw up intrenchments. They were much prostrated by their constant harassing night and day marches from the Tennessee River to Nashville; but, notwithstanding this, in a short time, by constant and severe labor, works were thrown up which rendered Nashville impregnable. As the army was short of men, it became necessary to call to the aid of the beleaguered city all the troops within call. Consequently, the different detachments of the army which left Atlanta with General Sherman, and had remained behind, in hospitals and otherwise, were organized into a temporary corps under the command of Major-General Steedman. This extemporized corps was without any organization whatever, and to it was attached the regiments of colored troops. It is impossible for me to learn if these troops consider themselves a part and parcel of the Army of the Cumberland, or a separate command made for Colonel Mussey. I should judge them to be out of the department did I take the attention they pay to the existence of this office as a criterion. They are more irregular in forwarding their reports than any regiments in the Army of the Cumberland.

The weather, which, previous to the arrival of the troops, had been moderate, became, shortly after their arrival at Nashville, excessively cold for this latitude. The result of this was much suffering on the part of the troops and the comparative cessation of all offensive measures on the part of either army. At this time the results of the fatigue undergone by the troops in the retreat from Decatur and the subsequent labor in the trenches began to show themselves in the greatly increased number of men who presented themselves for medical treatment. Many, too, who had without detriment to their health undergone all the hardships of the summer and fall campaign, now yielded to the effects of the bitter cold, and diseases of the pulmonary viscera became numerous. Rheumatic affections, too, became quite prevalent. The advent of the rebel army in front of Nashville, and the fact of intrenching itself, rendered the necessity of a general action a moral certainty. To prepare for the sick and wounded of the Government forces demanded a much larger amount of hospital accommodation than was at that time at the disposal of the hospital department. Anticipating a large influx of wounded, the efficient superintendent and director of U.S. general hospitals at Nashville took possession of every building that could be made use of for hospital purposes and had them fitted up with all possible dispatch. Consequently, some 4,000 vacant beds were at the disposal of the medical department. The Assistant Surgeon-General, too, anticipating the necessity, ordered to Nashville a large number of medical officers, of whom many arrived prior to the actions and all in sufficient time to be of the greatest service to the wounded in the battles in front of Nashville. The medical officers of the Fourth Army Corps, being emphatically experts in the care of the wounded after battle, had everything prepared for prompt and efficient action. They had supplied themselves with all the necessaries, and, in addition, had procured all the delicacies within their reach. The result was that after the actions of 15th and 16th of December the men belonging to the Fourth Army Corps, and all who were brought to the field hospitals of that corps, were promptly and skillfully treated and most carefully provided for. Too much praise cannot be awarded to the medical staff of the Fourth Army Corps for their untiring attention and skillful manner of treating the wounded in their division hospitals. Were it not invidious to designate and particularize by name certain officers when all are worthy, I would give a list of the medical officers who so faithfully performed their duty. This I will not do, but justice to themselves demands that I should mention and particularize Surgs. M. G. Sherman, Ninth Indiana Volunteers; Stephen J. Young, Seventy-ninth Illinois Volunteers; E.B. Glick, Fortieth Indiana Volunteers, and C. N. Ellinwood, Seventy-fourth Illinois Volunteers, as men deserving of more than ordinary notice. Previous to the battles instructions had been given to the surgeons in charge to establish division field hospitals as near to the field as practicable, and strict orders were issued directing the surgeons to operate on the field upon all requiring it, previous to transferring the men to the general hospitals in the city.

The weather, which had entirely stopped all offensive military operations, having moderated considerably, the army on the morning of December 15 marched out beyond the fortifications for the purpose of assaulting the enemy's lines. The medical department of the Army of the Cumberland proper were prepared to attend to any number of wounded brought in to them from the field, and established their hospitals as near the front as the safety of the wounded and the configuration of the country would admit of. Water being quite plenty, position only had to be sought for. The extemporized corps, commanded by Major-General Steedman, had no organized medical staff. This was composed of all the surgeons who could be found unattached, in consequence of being on leave of absence or having been separated from their regiments which had marched from Atlanta with Major-General Sherman. To these were added the medical officers of the U.S. Colored Troops. This portion of the medical staff was under the charge of Surg. Josiah D. Cotton, Ninety-second Ohio Volunteers, who acted as medical director. Though hastily brought together and lacking in all the appurtenances for field hospitals, the medical officers of this command did all in their power to assist and relieve the wounded under their charge. The only great drawback to prompt action in this portion of the army was the entire absence of an ambulance corps. The blockade of the Cumberland River by the rebel batteries had prevented the quartermaster's department from bringing a sufficient number to Nashville. To avoid the want of ambulances as much as possible, every one that could be found in Nashville, no matter in what capacity used, was taken possession of and sent into the field, to be used as circumstances might demand. This, in a manner, served in the place of an ambulance corps, but the want of system and organization was most apparent. The soldiery wounded in the action of the 15th of December were, on the same night, brought into the city and placed in the U.S. general hospitals, where every necessary attention was paid them. Such as had not been operated upon were then examined, and such measures were taken as their cases demanded. The wounded in the action of the 16th of December, 1864, were also brought in and placed in the general hospitals. Some were brought in by ambulances of the corps and some by vehicles, which had been impressed for that purpose. Surg. O. Q. Herrick, Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, superintendent of transportation of sick and wounded, made use of all available means to remove from the field each and every wounded man found there. This was a matter of no little labor, for the scene covered several miles, and wounded men were in every portion of it, and the cavalry wounded even farther distant; yet, by midday of the 17th of December all our wounded were in comfortable hospitals, the recipients of every attention that skill and science could furnish. The pursuit of the enemy entailed, as a necessary consequence, much more labor in the care of the wounded. The railroads were destroyed, and all the wounded had to be transferred by means of ambulances to the hospitals at Franklin, Columbia, and Pulaski. This was done under the supervision of Surg. O. Q. Herrick; and too much praise cannot be given him for his untiring energy and labor in collecting and bringing in from the houses in the vicinity of the line of march the wounded of our own and the rebel army. The cavalry in advance paid but little attention to their wounded, but left them in houses by the roadside, to be cared for by the surgeons of the infantry troops who were following. The Fourth Army Corps carried with them the sick and wounded in ambulances until they arrived where proper hospital accommodations could be furnished. The Sixteenth and Twenty-third Army Corps, not being-in the advance, had no wounded to care for.

In Franklin, Columbia, and Pulaski a large number of rebel wounded were found who had been left by their army. A sufficient number of medical officers had been left with them to give them proper attention. These wounded were, as soon as practicable, transferred in hospital cars to Nashville, where they were placed in one large hospital. The medical officer in charge was directed to furnish them all necessaries and such luxuries as the condition of their wounds required. This was done until the arrival of the Commissary-General of Prisoners, who directed that the wounded rebels should be confined to prison hospital rations. I do not think that it is the intention of the Government to deprive wounded men, rebels though they be, of everything needful for their treatment. Prison hospitals being at a distance from the front, it was not expected that wounded men would be brought there till sufficiently well to travel, when diet would be but a matter of minor import. No surgeon can give good results if he be not allowed to use every article called for by sinking nature and to treat disease untrammeled by orders from non-professional men.

The wounded of our armies who were left at Franklin, Columbia, and Pulaski had medical officers detailed to remain with them until the railroad should have been repaired, when those who could bear transportation were to be removed to Nashville. The necessary supplies were left with the sick and wounded as far as was practicable, but not in such abundance as would have been furnished had the railroad been intact.

The weather during the pursuit was of the most disagreeable character. Rain fell for four successive days, and when this ceased the weather grew severely cold. This was followed by rain, rain, rain, and as a sequence mud. Probably in no part of the war have the men suffered more from inclement weather than in the month of December, 1864, when following Hood's retreating army from Nashville to the Tennessee River. The result of this weather and the hard marching was, as might have been looked for, severe affections of the pulmonary viscera, fevers, rheumatism, and diarrheas, which served to fill the hospitals in this vicinity to their utmost capacity.

The number of men wounded in the actions in front of Nashville will never be correctly furnished, in consequence of the character of some of the troops engaged and their having no organized medical department. The records of this office, as far as furnished, show for the actions from Decatur to Nashville, 402 wounded; in front of Nashville and during the pursuit of the rebels, 1,717 wounded. The wounds were caused by musketry, throwing conoidal projectiles, and by artillery of the latest and most approved character. The wounds were received at all distances, from contact with the muzzle of the piece to the extreme range of artillery and musketry. The character of many of the wounds were of the most severe kind, having been received at short range, consequent upon the peculiarity of the battle, which was a series of charges upon heavily fortified lines held by strong forces of the enemy.

The medical officers of the Army of the Cumberland did in this campaign all that men could do to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded soldiery, and have only added to the envious reputation gained by them on many a former battle-field. They are skillful, zealous, untiring, and faithful, knowing their whole duty and doing it most conscientiously. The medical officers of Sixteenth Corps did their duty well and faithfully, but want of systematic organization crippled their movements most perceptibly.

I will transmit the nominal list of wounded as soon as it can be made out; it will be defective in the Cavalry Corps and in those troops commanded by Major-General Steedman.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. E. COOPER,        

Surg., U.S. Army, Medical Director, Dept. of the Cumberland.

ASST. ADJT. GEN., DEPT. OF THE CUMBERLAND,
        Nashville, Tenn.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 45, Part 1 (Serial No. 93), p. 107-11

Diary of Dr. Alfred L. Castleman, August 9, 1861

What a wonderful effect the hardships of camp life, with the troubles and cares which they entail on a surgeon, have had on my health. For many years I have been dyspeptic. Now I can eat what I please, and go without sleep almost entirely, and suffer no inconvenience. Last night, at 11 o'clock, after having ate a piece of hard salt beef for my supper, I "cared for" a pint of rich ice cream, and feel no inconvenience from it to-day. This would kill an ordinary civil man. I have to work very hard, but feel it a great comfort to work amongst the sick without suffering from fatigue, as I have been accustomed to.

Having received an order this morning from Gen. Dix to put all my sick into general hospital, and finding them bitterly opposed, I visited Fort McHenry, saw Gen. D., and prevailed on him to rescind the order.

I was highly gratified with what I saw at Fort McHenry. It, being the first equipped fort I ever saw, was an object of much interest; its numerous cannon, large enough for a small soldier to sleep in, pointing in all directions overlooking Baltimore and guarding all the approaches to it. No matter from what direction you come, you find these monster guns looking right in your face. Low down behind the walls lie almost innumerable ugly bull-dog-looking mortars, not over two and a half feet long, loaded with a 20 to 40-pound shells filling them to the very muzzle, and ready to be vomited forth at the first approach of trouble. There, too, is the great Dahlgren, stretching its long black neck away beyond the embrasures, as if looking for an object into which to pour its monster shot and shell, or its shower of grape and cannister. Its howitzers are there, and its great Columbiads, into some of which I was strongly tempted to crawl and take a nap, but a sudden recollection of the history of Jonah reminded me that its stomach, too, might sicken, and that I might awake in a trip across the mighty deep on the wings of the wind. I didn't go in. The bright little brass 6, 8, and 10pounders, on the greater number of which Napoleon said God always smiled in battles, were conspicuous amongst these great leviathans, and above all, the newly invented rifle cannon, ready to demolish ships or houses at two to five miles distance.

Have lost no man yet from sickness, but I have one who, I fear, will not recover. He is supposed to be poisoned by a glass of lemonade, bought of a man suspected of being a rebel.

I have succeeded, by selling a half barrel of flour, and by the approval of a small requisition made on the commissary, in getting provisions of all kinds to make my little detachment comfortable.

SOURCE: Alfred L. Castleman, The Army of the Potomac. Behind the Scenes. A Diary of Unwritten History; From the Organization of the Army, by General George B. McClellan, to the close of the Campaign in Virginia about the First Day January, 1863, p. 10-12

Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, April 4, 1863

April 4.

Tomorrow I hear we are to pull up stakes and go on picket duty. This is not easy work, but work of any kind is preferable to inactivity. Dr. Minor is down with intermittent fever. I scarcely know how to spare him. I was obliged to send John Quincy to the Beaufort Hospital.

. . . Mrs. General Lander¹ drew up her splendid steed before my tent door this afternoon and assured me she would do all in her power for our General Hospital for colored soldiers, now being established in Beaufort.

It is yet undecided who the surgeon will be and I am somewhat solicitous about it. Very few surgeons will do precisely the same for blacks as they would for whites, and I know of no people more susceptible to the benign influence of kind words than these long-suffering blacks.

Mrs. Lander told me that the sixth Connecticut boys were full of praises of the bravery of our regiment.

_______________

¹ Jean Margaret Davenport, widow of Major-Gen. Frederick William Lander.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 385-6

Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, April 7, 1863

April 7.

Some of you can imagine how heartily I enjoyed the morning gallop from station to station, to look after our soldiers. They endured the march well, but are not equal to whites. I believe the Colonel is more easily reconciled to this disparity of endurance, from the fact that it corroborates his theory that physical endurance and longevity are enhanced by civilization. Yesterday morning as we came through Beaufort I visited Gen'l Saxton and asked him to detail Dr. Hawks to take charge of the new General Hospital for colored soldiers instead of carrying out his plan to appoint Dr. whose treatment is open to criticism. Tonight I am glad to hear that all is going as I could wish, and that our men will not be neglected. Dr. Minor is here with me again.

At Seabrook, this morning, I saw the rebel pickets on the opposite shore. They often hail our men, but are never answered. The men chafe under this a little, but obey the Colonel's order. Charles Follen has charge of that plantation. I like him. There is a prospect of his joining our regiment. I heartily wish we might have all earnest, antislavery men for officers. Military training without moral help is not very valuable.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 387

Dr. Seth Rogers to his daughter Dolly, April 13, 1863

April 13.

Today I have visited our soldiers in Gen. Hospital No. 10, in Beaufort. I am happy to say that at last we have a hospital with a look of permanence, and about as good as the others. Dr. and Mrs. Hawks and one hospital steward have worked hard to get it in order. The supply of stores and medicines has been furnished by the Medical Department. Tonight the precious wandering box of capsicum and all the good things found its way to me. The iron band had kept it secure. Not a particle of the candy nor the capsicum had been eaten, not a postage stamp lost.

SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 388

Chaplain James C. Wyatt to Elizabeth Adams Lusk, September 15, 1862

MIDDLETOWN, MD.

Sept. 15th, 1862.

Mrs. Lusk:

Capt. Lusk desired me to pen you a line, as he did not have the time or opportunity, informing you that he has passed through another bloody and fearful carnage and is spared and in good health. I met him this morning as I was returning to the General Hospital at this place. The enemy has been badly beaten. Our Regt. has not suffered much comparatively. You have reason to be proud of your son. May God bless him and protect him.

Yours truly,

JAs. C. Wyatt,

Chaplain 79th N. Y. V.

SOURCE: William Chittenden Lusk, Editor, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, p. 197

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Tuesday, February 2, 1864

A cloudy morning. The sick have gone to the general hospital to-day which indicates a general move; started for picket at 9 a. m.; fine marching; arrived on the line about 12 noon; heavy wind all afternoon; am in command of Company G on picket; have had a thunderstorm this evening. All's quiet on the picket line to-night.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 14-5

A Woman's Diary Of The Siege Of Vicksburg: May 9, 1863

This morning the door-bell rang a startling peal. Martha being busy, I answered it. An orderly in gray stood with an official envelope in his hand.

“Who lives here?”

“Mr. L––.”

Very imperiously — “Which Mr. L––?”

“Mr. H–– L––."

“Is he here?”  “No.”

“Where can he be found?”

“At the office of Deputy ––.”

“I'm not going there. This is an order from General Pemberton for you to move out of this house in two hours. He has selected it for headquarters. He will furnish you with wagons.”

“Will he furnish another house also?”

“Of course not.”

“Has the owner been consulted?”

“He has not; that is of no consequence; it has been taken. Take this order.”

“I shall not take it, and I shall not move, as there is no place to move to but the street.”

“Then I'll take it to Mr. L––.”

“Very well, do so.”

As soon as Mr Impertine walked off I locked, bolted, and barred every door and window. In ten minutes H–– came home.

“Hold the fort till I've seen the owner and the general,” he said, as I locked him out.

Then Dr. B–– 's remark in New Orleans about the effect of Dr. C––'s fine presence on the Confederate officials there came to mind. They are just the people to be influenced in that way, I thought. I look rather shabby now; I will dress I made an elaborate toilet, put on the best and most becoming dress I had, the richest lace, the handsomest ornaments, taking care that all should be appropriate to a morning visit; dressed my hair in the stateliest braids, and took a seat in the parlor ready for the fray. H–– came to the window and said:

“Landlord says, ‘Keep them out. Wouldn't let them have his house at any price.’ He is just riding off to the country and can't help us now. Now I'm going to see Major C––, who sent the order.”

Next came an officer, banged at the door till tired, and walked away. Then the orderly came again and beat the door — same result. Next, four officers with bundles and lunch-baskets, followed by a wagon-load of furniture. They went round the house, tried every door, peeped in the windows, pounded and rapped, while I watched them through the blind-slats. Presently the fattest one, a real Falstaffian man, came back to the front door and rung a thundering peal. I saw the chance for fun and for putting on their own grandiloquent style. Stealing on tiptoe to the door, I turned the key and bolt noiselessly, and suddenly threw wide back the door and appeared behind it. He had been leaning on it, and nearly pitched forward with an “Oh ! what's this!” Then seeing me as he straightened up, “Ah, madam!” almost stuttering from surprise and anger, “are you aware I had the right to break down this door if you hadn't opened it?”

“That would make no difference to me. I'm not the owner. You or the landlord would pay the bill for the repairs.”

“Why didn't you open the door?”

“Have I not done so as soon as you rung? A lady does not open the door to men who beat on it. Gentlemen usually ring; I thought it might be stragglers pounding.”

“Well,” growing much blander, “we are going to send you some wagons to move; yon must get ready.”

“With pleasure, if you have selected a house for me. This is too large; it does not suit me.”

“No, I didn't find a house for you.”

“You surely don't expect me to run about in the dust and shelling to look for it, and Mr. L–– is too busy.”

“Well, madam, then we must share the house. We will take the lower floor.”

“I prefer to keep the lower floor myself; you surely don't expect me to go up and down stairs when you are so light and more able to do it.”

He walked through the hall, trying the doors. “What room is that?” — “The parlor.” “And this?” — “Mv bedroom.” “And this?” — “The dining-room.”

“Well, madam, we'll find you a house and then come and take this.”

“Thank you, colonel; I shall be ready when you find the house Good-moming, sir.”

I heard him say as he ran down the steps. “We must go back, captain ; you see I didn't know they were this kind of people.”

Of course the orderly had lied in the beginning to scare me, for General P–– is too far away from Vicksburg to send an order. He is looking about for General Grant. We are told he has gone out to meet Johnston: and together they expect to annihilate Grant's army and free Vicksburg forever. There is now a general hospital opposite this house and a small-pox hospital next door. War. famine, pestilence, and fire surround us. Every day the band plays in front of the small-pox hospital. I wonder if it is to keep up their spirits? One would suppose quiet would be more cheering.

SOURCE: George W. Cable, “A Woman's Diary Of The Siege Of Vicksburg”, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXX, No. 5, September 1885, p. 770

Major Wilder Dwight: November 30, 1861

camp Near Seneca, November 30, 1861.

If anything were needed to assure my decision regarding a visit home, it could be found in the experience of the past two days. Yesterday — a rainy day, by the way — I was fully occupied with questions relating to the sick, and, in the afternoon, by a session of the Board of Claims. To-day, field-officer of the day. It has been a bright, windy, drying day, for which we are thankful. A tardy wisdom has at length decided to remove the division of General Banks from its present grotesque position to the neighborhood of Frederick City. Within easy distance, by rail, of Harper's Ferry, of Baltimore, and Washington, the division will there be promptly available for any purpose. It will be placed in a more healthy position. It will be within reach of supplies. It will be so far permanent that it can make itself comfortable for a season. How it will get there is quite another question. The rains of the past week have made the roads almost impassable; and to move a whole division, with its immense trains, a distance of thirty miles, over swollen watercourses and worn-out roads, seems a hopeless undertaking. We probably commence the attempt Tuesday morning. It is certainly a move in the right direction, and seems, to my narrow horizon, made a month too late.

To-day a part of our sick have been sent off to the General Hospital at Baltimore. Preparations were made yesterday by the Medical Director to send the worst cases from the whole division.

The order to move the sick down to the canal to take the boat came early this morning. At ten o'clock they were moving; and at five o'clock this afternoon the boat was ready for them. The whole day they waited — two hundred sick men, in wagons and in discomfort — on the banks of the canal. The sight was most irritating this afternoon when I rode down there.

Just at nightfall they were huddled in, one hundred and fifty men to one canal-boat, the rest sent back for want of room, and the boat moved off. Wretched mismanagement, and I fear great suffering as its fruit.

In fact, the whole hospital system is a blunder, if not a crime. It wants entire reorganization. There should be no regimental hospitals. What can a regiment do, dragging sick men after it? How can a regiment, with its hospital tent, take proper care of them?

The proper system would be to have hospitals attached to divisions, all the sick, except trivial cases, sent there, and treated by surgeons who have only that to do. Then the regiment would be free from its greatest embarrassment in the field. Then the sick would not die, as I have seen them do, for mere want of warmth, rest, and nursing. As a matter of organization and unity, as an administrative question, it seems as clear as sunlight; but we work along in a system that did well enough for an army of fifteen thousand men scattered in barracks and garrisons in time of peace, but is utterly inapplicable to a vast army in the field. To-day's blundering movement was, however, bad management, even according to this false system. It stirs one up to see it. But I won't preach on this text any more.

I hope the war will last long enough to give us an army organized according to all the wisdom and experience of other nations, and carefully adapted to our own wants. What a splendid creation such an army would be! In fact, how plain it is, to any one who watches the progress of things out here, that a soldier is an artificial mechanism, that an army is still more so, that for a nation to neglect the art which produces its army is the same thing as for a man to reject the exercises and discipline which promote his vigor. Well, perhaps we shall grow wiser as we grow older; perhaps we shall blunder in some other direction.

I am in hopes to get Colonel Andrews off to-day or tomorrow, in canal-boat, to Washington. This last sentence is written Sunday morning, the rest being Saturday-night reflections. The day is a dark and threatening one. We shall have a fine march to Frederick!

I am very well indeed, and there is no news with us. Love to all.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 161-3

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, July 11, 1864

A train load of the sick and wounded left today over the railroad for Rome, Georgia, where they are to go into the hospital. I stayed here at Marietta all day.² The general quartermaster has his headquarters here now since the railroad is in running order to this point. The supplies for the army are being taken from here by wagon trains and distributed along the lines as needed. A great many citizens are coming into Marietta for the purpose of going North to get away from the war region.

_______________

² Mr. Downing thought that his fever was broken and that he might soon rejoin his company, yet he feared that he would have to go to Rome. There was some danger in going to Rome, because of a possible attack, and then he dreaded the thought of being confined in the general hospital. — Ed.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 204