Lieut. Benton, of Co. B., 8th regiment, arrived in town
yesterday morning on the Jennie Whipple.
Lieut. B. had been sick two weeks before the battle of Shiloh, and at
that time was unable to leave his bed.
During the first day’s fight, the enemy got so near to where he was
confined, that some of his men insisted on removing him, notwithstanding his
earnest remonstrance. They took him to
the landing, but were not permitted to take him on a steamboat, as he was not
wounded, and was left on the landing, where he lay from Sunday till Tuesday
morning, without anything to eat, and exposed to the storms at night during the
battle. He was wet through and in that
condition was taken back to the hospital, suffering from typhoid fever. He was subsequently brought to St. Louis and
taken to a hospital whence Mrs. Doughterty, a benevolent lady of that city, had
him removed to a private house, where he was kindly cared for. – Lieut. Benton’s
sister went to St. Louis and brought him to this city, whence he started for
his home, in Blue Grass, yesterday. We
hope for his early restoration to health under the genial skies of Iowa.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette,
Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 2, 1862, p. 1
