The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-04-12
JUNE. 1889.
Me11cal Abuses in the DOnelsOn Army..
and WOunded.
respondence Of the Cinclnnati Gazette. I

and Wounded, =. 'Ao o.
Especial Correspondence Of the Cinclnnan Gazette
SAVANNAH, Tenn, March 81. !.
There has been some public complaint of Il
medical management in this District, and en-
sequent Congressional inquiry, finally abando
ed "for want of facts
Let me furnish few facts Ipropose to sta
nothing except what am prepared to prov
4 oy abundant testimony, before any committt
OF Investigation, Congressional or otherwise.
Surgeon II. q. Hewitt, Of New York city,
person who has at some time, believe. In
some sort OF connection with the regular army
has been, by virtue of the date of his commj
| SION, the Medical Director of Gen Grants arm,
AZ fort Henry, Fort D0neisou, and up TO thi
point, IN the Southern campaign. To the mi,
cradle incompetency and inciiiciency Of thi
man are traceable nearly all the abuse
and neglects in the medical departments her
that have been such fruitful sources of lust CON
plaint
Take this as Surgeon Hewtts opening Der
formance. II occurred at Paducsb, before tn
advance up the Cumberland.
private Of the. Ninth Illinois, who had bee,
shot through the shoulder on one of the recon
noitering expeditions from Paducah, was bro
into the hospital, four days after the wound ha,
Deen received. Examination showed that tn,
ball had passed through the pecioral muscle
shattered the bone, and injured the main arter,
OF She arm. The parts were very much swollei
and infamed. DR.. Hewitt began by passin,
his fingers, unoilcd, entirely through the wouu.
thus causing the most exquisite pain. and nj
most throwing the unfortunate soldier iutc
spasms Subsequently the artery commenced
bleeding very copiously. Dr. Hewitt under
look 70 tie 1t up, and instead of the artery sue
ceeded IN tying ~, Tie nerve. Fifteen minute.
aiterward the soldier was dead. The Docto,
tneh got drunk, went reeling through the
streets OF Paducah in state of beastlv iptoxi
cation, fualy fell into mud-hole in the main
thoroughiare OF the city, lost his spectacles
covered himself with 9Th, and wound up by
oeing placed under arrest by Gen. Smith.
AZ Fort Henry, his courtesy to the captured
rebel surgeons was 10 such marked contrast with
nis rudeness to those in our own army. "a 10
provoke some comment. Offended at this. he
denounced everybody that objected to his course
as ID mobbite and no gentleman. and de.
ciarea with hemphasis-directipg his remarks to
Division Surgeon Fry, brother of the gallant
Col. Fry OF Kentucky, who distinguished him.
sell IN Lollicoffer's defeat at Cliff Creek-that
y any man there dared TO doubt Me hoso, and
chtoat,y ot 1aghman and his companions, he
would Challenge him to fight duel" Alterca.
t,on followed, which ended in his calling DR..
Fry liar. and in DR.. Fry's promptly knocking
him down.
No official notice was taken of the affair. ex-
cepI mat Dr. Hewitt, without giving DR.. Fry
any notice, selected a military Commission, com.
posed OF one Missouri and two Illinois Colone,s
10 investigate it, He had the witnesses sum-
moned himself and of course made the hest
showing he could. The Missouri member of this
self-seected jury of his at once gave verdict
that the Medical Director should be stripped
and required to endure thirty blows from DR..
fry's cane! The Others agreed that DR.. Fry had
llniy erred in waiting too long before resen.ing
should dn,tts nttsS but finally decided that Dr. Hewitt
insulting him, and drIitten Its apology 10 Dr. Fry for
him written apolory for ffSn Rr. Fry should give
officer DR.. Fry refused to do anyt6lnssu nsupsror pc s
kind, and there the matter rested, "e
may as well add the fact-of little impor.
lance in itself, but showing the nature of the
man-that some weeks sfterward the Medical
director OF our grand army" was again knock
"a down, this time by Second Lieutenant for
claiming some forage that he had no manner of
siain 70, and trying to interfere with the right
,ul owner III taking it way. As before, nothing
further was heard of it.
Al Fort Donelson, the Medical Director Or
Tered surgeons to accompany their regiments
Ito ~ the midst of the battle, and yet forbade
SN fe'Jo'ni any operations on The field. Some
;. su'seous has:ac violated his orders, and bv
LILY ."iI:! opes auous SEED the lives of wounded
soid,ers, ne reouked them eitterly for their dis
obedience, telling them it was tns:- dutv +, send
back their wounded to him. What 0tn; oh;s"t
he had in breaking the custom by sending ~.
surgeons into the fight, is not apparent
Out of the numerous just causes for complaint,
after the hattie nr tun h.,
The day of the surrender, when his services
were more urgently needed than at any other
time, he again got drunk-so drunk as to be un.
able to walk without staggering, much less to
perform surgical operations. He was seen in
this condition by hundreds of soldiers and Off
GERS, including at least one Major General
A large number of the wounded, together with
many who had become sick from the effects of
the terrible exposure and excitement, were put
aboard the steamer Thomas F. Tutt, This
steamer the Medical Director sent down to
Mound City, oitaout a Surgeon OF, assistant on
board, and with the sick and wounded absolute
ly dependent on the charity of accidental pas.
sengers for nursing and medical attendance
Much needless suffering grew out of the Med-
cal Directors unwilingness to give any iufor-
nation to Brigade and Regimental Surgeons, in
curing after their wounded and seeking to wait
upon them On this point happen to give this
extract from the report of one of the three Di.
vision Surgeons
"The Surgeons of this Division generally CON-
plain OF discourteous treatment on the part of
the medical Director, Il. @. Hewitt, when mani.
testing an earnest solctude for the wounded,
and making inquiries as to the time and manner
Dt their removal and their ultimate destination.
the Surgeons were rudely and Extensively repuls-
ed, without the desired information. They also
complain that in the exercise of arbitrary power.
they were deprived of the privilege of attending
their own men, or dressing their wounds, when
taken to the boats. The report of such conduct
IS to me matter of deep regret, and against it
beg leave to protest."
A subsequent portion of the same report ex.
presses the fear that the mortality would be
greatly aud needlessly increased, 1--WE all know
how sadly the fear became reality, by sending
Oh, on crowded steamboats,, patiente on whom
amputations or other severe operations had been
performed, where the hurry of moving, the dis
placement OF dressings, and the pain Of the in.
cessant Earring, must add fearfuly to their dan.
gerous condition. There were plenty of good
houses that might have been taken for hospitals
lor these men; there was abundance of surgical
aid, volunteer as well as from the officers; nurses
could have been detailed to any extent required;
s'.S'S WIS ho ouhSCi ItOLl tue eUStDy and. In
short, there was no excuse for the virtual mur-
der OF these wounded heroes, save that the Med
lcal Director SO commanded.
There were other garing cases, in which Sur
geons who had little or no sickness in their regi
mcnts, asked permission to wait on their own
wounded, so long as they were kept at Doneson,
and were surlily refused and ordered back 70
their regiments; but enough has been given to
illustrate the character of the medical manage
ment after our great victory.
After the present expedition up the Tennessee
had begun, there was great deal of sickness
among the men, caused by their privations, lack
OF air, exercise, opportunities for bathing, cook
ing and the like on board the transports. The
arrangements for some of the sick were misera
BILE. Appeals to the Medical Director, and de.
scriptions of the suffering Of their sick by the
surgeons ELECTED only the response, which give
word for word as he repeated the expression ID
different parties: "What of it? What's the
use of complainings What did soldiers e,lis
for 6e to sieken and die and be Killed T' And that
as an answer to just complaints of neglect to our
sick soldiers, from the Medical Director of one
OF the largest armies we have in the field
At this time, when the sickness incident to q
change Of climate ia at it's hight, there are d
visions in our army almost absolutely destitute
of the commonest medicines for the prevailing
diseases. The depots at the headquarters of tht
Danartment in ST Iou;e an Jn,h,t.,. -