The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1862-01-20
ARMY CORRESPONDENCE
D1vIsrox HosrIrAL, nelson's Dlvision), !
On Louisville and Nashville Turnpike,
Camp Wiekliffe, KY, Jan. IL, 80.

Camp WIekhne, NY, JAM lis %.
ED. JOURNAL II have sent you no COM
munication since we arrived in Kentucky,
because nothing of special interest has hap
pened. The 18th is now attached to the
Fourth Division, Army Of the Ohio, under
Gen. Nelson. This command is now at
Camp Wielkliffs in Larue county, sixty
miles from Louisville. The Division Hos
pital is established here, at present under
the charge Of DR.. Hall of 36th Indiana, and
DR.. s. E. Munford of the 18th, a resident of
Princeton. | have been detailed from my
company to assist in running the concern.
We have sick from ten Regiments. Each
Regiment has Hospital tent, so they keep
all at the Regiments but the most severe
cases, which are sent here. Within The last
twenty days one hundred patients have
been admitted. Of these thirty-two had
measles; sixteen mumps; ten pneumonia
six typhoid pneumonia; five broncho pneu-
n1oniai seventeen typhoid fever; one
chronic rheumatism; two acute rheum.;
one erysipelas three dysentery ); three
bronchitis; one tonsilitis; two abdominal
dropsy and one epilepsy. In the twenty
days two havedi and forty-fve have been
discharged and returned to their regiments,
leaving in hospital fifty-three. Drs. Hall
| and Munford are both skillful physicians,
give their whole attention to the men and
are almost sure TO cure those under their
care, tato cito ct juc:HEsde. The light dis
eases of which there are from fifty to one
hundred and Fifty in each Regiment, are
various species of catarrh and diarrh9a.-
| Gold, wet, and exposure that the men have
TO endure, induce especially, affections OF
the substance of the lungs, nervous mem
branes, lining of the air passages, and the
stomach and intestines generally. Diarrh9a
has always been the curse of armies and we
/ have suffered more from it than all other
diseases combined.
| 1t is said that in the Peninsular army
there were $4,000 cases of diarrhoea and
| 5000 deaths, and in the Mexican and Flor
ida wars it was fearfully prevalent and
fatal. 1t is not so fatal here as in more
Southern ATTITUDES, but still it is the chief
| annoyance. When We shall have marched
into the extreme South, and the hot season
comes on, we may look for diarrhoea and
| dysentary TO destroy our more Of our men
than the sword and bullet of The enemy.
About two weeks ego an order was is
sued to have the regiments vaccinated. 1t
was a wholesale job, but at this writing
nearly every man-oficer and private
| has been yaccinated. A wag told the
| Colonel of one of the regiments in our
army not long ago, that an order had been
issued to have the regiments baptised. The
| Colonel directed the Adiutant to have the
| 2arppa n T. i oawr yYaOrpiunr GofofI &
teen men -, each company for baptism,
as he did not wish TO be- behind the rest in
| carrying out the orders. Should such an
order be issued every month, and each sol
der be dipped, plunged, and have it poured
on, it would be blessing TO the service
Very little has been written in this coun-
| try on Army Surgery, and in fact We have
had little chance for our physicians gaining
| any experience in this department of medi-
able surgeons accompanied our army to
Mexico, but they returned without furnish
| ing any valuable work 10 the catalogue of
Medicine or Surgery. The surgeons in our
army have now to rely upon European au-
thors aud their own experience. We have
no such men of experience now with our
army as Ambrose Pare, the French surgeon,
who spent thirty-three years in the French
| army, and was an eyewitness of the numer-
Gus campaigns 10 that period Being sur
| Reon to four successive kings, and being so
long in his country's service, he became a
great favorite with the soldiers; and the
result of more than one battle was due to
his presence. When Charles the V, with
| 100000 men, besieged the garrison at Mentz,
Pare was sent for and introduced at night.
The next morning when he showed himself
| the soldiers received him with shouts. We
shall not die, said they, even if wounded,
| Pare ia among us. The defense was now
continued with renewed vigor, and the
French completely triumphed. So much
for the influence of skillful and expert
enced physician in the army.
| The war in the Crimea; the mutiny in
India, and the recent Commissions in
| Italy, have furnished wide field for OBJ
tanning experience in military medicine
and surgery, ana the surgeons upon the
continent have profted by it, and have con-
tributed much that is valuable to the pro-
| fession. like opportunity, which has
never been. and perhaps never will be
equaled in our history, is now presented to
The surgeons in our army, and it is hoped
they will go through the campaign with
| their eyes open, and collect and trea-
sure up every item that may be OF advan-
tage to either medicine or surgery.
| have never studied medicine with
design of practising, but only to obtain that
general knowledge of it that every literally
educated man should have, hence cannot
do much myself But | hope every ply
stefan in the army will keep alive in his
profession, and when be makes any valuable
discovery at once give il to the public
sneets IN the State of Indiana that coyertlv
give all the "aid and comfort" in their /
power to tie enemy. One of the handles
used ey these papers, is the enormous taxes
to which the war ,,ilt :, -