I have just received
a letter from a lady friend of mine aye, and of the soldiers, too, in which she
says she "cannot but think of the suffering patriot-soldier, with nothing
but a tent above his head, with no covering but a single blanket, and but so
little care when sick." This induces me to put on record here, the
following description for reference, a long time hence, when, if this war
continues, I may wish to read it and compare it with the hospitals then existing,
with the improvements which experience shall have causes to be adopted:
My hospital at
present consists of five large tents, fourteen feet long by fifteen feet wide.
They open into each other at the ends, so as to make of the whole one
continuous tent, seventy feet long. This will accommodate forty patients
comfortably. On an emergency, I can crowd in fifty-five. In the center of the
first tent is dug a hole about three feet in circumference and two and a half
deep. From this hole there passes through the middle of the tents a trench or
ditch two feet wide and of the same depth, which terminates in a large chimney
just outside of the fifth tent. It is covered for about ten feet of its length,
at the beginning with broad stones, the next fifteen feet with sheet iron,
thence to the chimney with stones and earth. A fire is made in the hole at the
beginning of this ditch, which, through its large chimneys, has a great
draught. The blaze sweeps through its whole length, and by means of this fire,
no matter what the weather, or how changeable, the temperature in the hospitals
need not vary three degrees in a month, and at all times, night and day, have
full ventilation without varying the temperature. Since the adjustment of the
difficulties, I have my full quota (10) of nurses, and these are never, night
or day, less than two on watch. The cots for the sick are ranged side by side,
with their heads to the wall and feet to the center of the tent, leaving just
room between their sides for the nurses to move freely, and for the patients to
get up and down, and between their ends for the ditch, on which, over the
covering already described, is a ladder or rack, with slats so close as not to
admit the feet between them when the nurses and patients are walking on them.
So long as there is
room in the hospital, no patient of my regiment is permitted to be confined to
his tent by sickness. The moment he is sick enough to be confined to bed, he is
brought to hospital, where he remains constantly under the eye of the Surgeon
and nurses till he recovers. There are, to-day, thirty-six in hospital, each,
instead of lying with "nothing but a tent above his head, and with no
covering but a single blanket," is on a comfortable bed of straw, the tick
emptied and refilled once in four weeks, with all the covering they want. I
have plenty of good sheets, and not less than two blankets for each, besides
what they bring with them. They are never without fresh meat, rarely without
rice, potatoes, jellies in abundance, tea, coffee, sugar, milk, and I am now
purchasing for them two dozen chickens a week; and I have this day a hospital
fund of not less than one hundred and seventy-five dollars, which is increasing
every day, from which I can replenish or add to the comforts now allowed.* This
is a description of my own hospital. I regret to learn from the U. S. Medical
Inspector who has visited me to-day, that other hospitals are not so well
provided or so comfortable. I regret it, because there is no reason why all may
not be provided just as well, so long as we remain near a good market; and if
they are not, there is blame either in medical or military departments, which
ought to be corrected.
From ninth of
November to this date, the time I was shut out from the medical supervision of
the camp, there have been more deaths in the regiment than during the whole
five months before, including the sickly season of August, September and
October. The health of the regiment now, however, is good, and I hope it will
remain so during the winter.
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*It may be a matter
of some interest to the reader to know how this hospital fund is realized. It
is thus: The soldier is entitled to certain rations every day, and these
continue, whether he is sick or well. When well, they are drawn by the captains
of companies and distributed to the men. When sick and in hospital, the Surgeon
notifies the Commissary of the fact, and they are not issued to the Captain,
but credited to the hospital. The Surgeon draws them in whole, in part, or not
at all. The days' rations are worth from 17 to 20 cents per man. Now, any
economical and honest Surgeon can feed his sick men well when near a market,
and save to the hospital fund at least one third of this amount, for the
purchase of delicacies. Give him thirty in hospital, he can realize two dollars
per month on each man, ($60 per month.) In a neighborhood where markets are
very high, this will be proportionally reduced. Where he cannot buy at all, it
will be increased.
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, pp. 62-5
