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Page 37
As I had, while at school in New York, frequented the hospitals, and
also attended two courses of medical lectures, I had gained a little
knowledge of wounds and their treatment. This fact, and a special
fondness if not aptitude for that study, decided my future course.
My first care was for the members of the company I had commanded
during the long retreat from Nashville; hence I went out to seek
them. Meeting them a short distance from Corinth, I had them taken
to a hospital established in an unfinished brick church in the north
end of the town, and here I remained, giving them all possible care
and attention.
Next morning, Dr. J.C. Nott, Surgeon-general of the Western division
of the Confederate service, appointed me as assistant-surgeon on his
staff. The scarcity of surgeons to meet the immense demand, and,
perhaps, a little skill shown in dressing wounds, secured me this
appointment. On the following Saturday, April 12, 1862, I obtained
an honorable discharge from the army, on account of my wounds,
but retained my position of assistant-surgeon, as a civilian
appointment.
During the ten days I remained at Corinth the town was a perfect
_aceldama_, though all was done that could be to save life and
alleviate suffering. Many of the best surgeons in the South arrived
in time to render valuable assistance to the army surgeons in their
laborious duties. Among these may be named Surrell of Virginia,
Hargis and Baldwin of Mississippi, Richardson of New Orleans, La
Fressne of Alabama, with many others of high reputation. During the
week following the battle the wounded were brought in by hundreds,
and the surgeons were overtasked. Above 5000 wounded men, demanding
instant and constant attendance, made a call too great to be met
successfully. A much larger proportion of amputations was performed
than would have been necessary if the wounds could have received
earlier attention. On account of exposures, many wounds were
gangrenous when the patients reached the hospital. In these cases
delay was fatal, and an operation almost equally so, as tetanus
often followed speedily. Where amputation was performed, eight out
of ten died. The deaths in Corinth averaged fifty per day for a week
after the battle. While the surgeons, as a body, did their duty
nobly, there were some young men, apparently just out of college,
who performed difficult operations with the assurance and assumed
skill of practiced surgeons, and with little regard for human life
or limb. In a few days erysipelas broke out, and numbers died of it.
Pneumonia, typhoid fever, and measles followed, and Corinth was one
entire hospital. As soon as possible, the wounded who could be moved
were sent off to Columbus, Okalona, Lauderdale Springs, and
elsewhere, and some relief was thus obtained. We were also comforted
by the arrival of a corps of nurses. Their presence acted like a
charm. Order emerged from chaos, and in a few hours all looked
cleaner and really felt better, from the skill and industry of a few
devoted women. A pleasant instance of the restraint of woman's
presence upon the roughest natures occurred in the hospital I was
attending. A stalwart backwoodsman was suffering from a broken arm,
and had been venting his spleen upon the doctors and male nurses by
continued profanity; but when one of his fellow-sufferers uttered an
oath, while the "Sisters" were near ministering to the comfort of
the wounded, he sharply reproved him, demanding--"Have you no more
manners than to swear in the presence of ladies?" All honor to
these devoted Sisters, who, fearless of danger and disease,
sacrificed every personal comfort to alleviate the sufferings of the
sick and wounded after this terrible battle.
An instance of most heroic endurance, if not of fool-hardy stoicism,
such as has few parallels in history, occurred during the contest,
which deserves mention. Brigadier-general Gladden, of South
Carolina, who was in General Bragg's command, had his left arm
shattered by a ball, on the first day of the fight. Amputation was
performed hastily by his staff-surgeon on the field; and then,
instead of being taken to the rear for quiet and nursing, he mounted
his horse, against the most earnest remonstrances of all his staff,
and continued to command. On Monday, he was again in the saddle, and
kept it during the day; on Tuesday, he rode on horseback to Corinth,
twenty miles from the scene of action, and continued to discharge
the duties of an officer. On Wednesday, a second amputation, near
the shoulder, was necessary, when General Bragg sent an aid to ask
if he would not be relieved of his command. To which he replied,
"Give General Bragg my compliments, and say that General Gladden
will only give up his command to go into his coffin." Against the
remonstrances of personal friends, and the positive injunctions of
the surgeons, he persisted in sitting up in his chair, receiving
dispatches and giving directions, till Wednesday afternoon, when
lockjaw seized him, and he died in a few moments. A sad end was
this, for a man possessing many of the noblest and most exalted
characteristics.
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