, 1862-05-31

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WISCONSIN SANITARY COmmEs-
SlDNs
Report Of their Visit to Shiloh.
Hon. n. E. Wording Of Racine, President Of
theWiscous nsanitary Commission, which Weut
to the battlefield Of Shiloh, has made very
full and interesting report Of the 1abors of
that Commission We should like to print
the document In full, but our room will only
admit the following extracts;
DEAR sR: Entrusted with large amount
Of Rseine through the instrnmentality of your
organization, under the late call Of the Gov
ernof Of the State Of Wisconsin, for the relief
Of sick and wounded Of the Wisconsin
Troops to- at Pittsburg Landing, Nth Nj.
place On The Sd inst, and after spending the
Sabbath in Chicago, joined the corps Of SUR
geonB and assistants, headed by Commfss2ry
General --HadsWerth-s.snd Surgeon General
Wolcott, and the=Nhole, numbering thirty.
1aaa @adsen oessa e G& g. aseHss IoS ~ aan a
day evening. the 5th inst, - r. f. -:
In pnIsuance Of the object of this mission,
ne left st. Louis On Wednesday; the 7th inat.,:
about moon, and s7iyeda at Cairo st 10 O'Clock
in The forenoon on Thursday. At St. Louis
we tookon 3; few more, efficient nurses, SO l.
that our number On board the steamerWas fu-
creased to fQrky-tWo, We also added qudtea |
supply to o1r stores: p the Eay Eay II might
tary Commission, whose office Is on5th street,
st. Louis, for many necessary ARTICLES: But
especially was o1f party under great obltgar
tions to The. Chicago Sanitary t0mnIssi0n,
without whose asaistance Cen: " ellsworth
6r16 ff1t $$7.7d st31h- Rat
could:bY no meane hare earned out tie fmten- !
tons Of the Gtata IN regard to the SICK: and /
wounded This Commission furnished large |
number, Of cheap, soldier cots, absolutely es- |
sential to their care and comfort zan artiele !
which could not be easily improyiaed The
euppliea Of every description obtained for |
them must hare and ugnntc:E to Rear: five: thon-
sand dollars. Al1honor, to the Chicago Sanitary
Commission, aud: Judge Skinner ita worthy
1hst hssiaenh / hnd &6flzsy afEsl Tss,a ss 81
for IhsIalIef Of the airk5 ndFWu1nded s6idiefs;
in towns and cities Dino greater size Than
this, to send thir contrihutl onk TO: this: Com
slnas aslwaSs' as freely foF Wisconsin, IS fF Illinois
LeAVing Cairo at twe1ya m: we arrived at
Padqcah, KJ:. at about i've P. m, {fortg-eight
mtles) same day; leaving II afew minutes we
proceeded on our way up the Tennessee River
TO Pittsburg, where We arrived about sir p.
H., and here feas 62s1faess some thirty or forty
steamboats,, some Of them of Immense sfze,
unloading pro4isione and taking on aick men,
msGna s S q s Saap % sS asd aad ia
| loaded down to their Utmost capacity with
| bread, pork, bacon. and other. necessa1ies Of
life. and steamers passing continually up and
| down the river loaded with troops and Stores.
Dr.. Wolcot and two or three Others left
early on the next day for the camps Of the
10th, 18th and 18th Wisconsin reg iments, to
make arrangements for bringing in, by means
| Of ambulaaces, the sick. Dr. McDo1gal, the
medical director, desired them to be removed
to more congenial climate at once, saying
that If there Bhou1d be battle the wounded
conld not be moved distance Of twenty-five
| miles from Corinth to Pittsburg, over rough
! road for part Of the way, and be should send
them to Memphis. Thus you see how conf,
dent CUR officers and soldiers are Of defeating
Besuregard, and passing at1once by railroad
! to- Memphis. No one thinks for moment Of
anything else, unless Beaurega11 evacuates, :
| which IN three days from that time they con-
fidered impossible, so efectua1dy would he be
nhsd aRs sont on the rss & and south he was then
On Saturday afternoon the sick began to ar
| rive, and were placed on board the boat. I
should say here, that the distance to the near
est regiments vas eight miles, and to the
| most distant full seventeen miles. It Waa d.
Fad sight to see them taken from the an1hu.
1ancea, weak and enaciated, some staggering
along supported by two men, one On each
side, and some carried On the backs Of men,
and some on cots OF stretchers !; their dis.
eases we're mostly typhoid fever and chronic
diar1hea and dysentery.
The bringing Of the sick from the camps
continued from Saturday afternoon till Mon
day noon, when no more could be taken for
want Of room. It was hard to reconcile those
left behind to their lot, but when they saw
the necessity they acquiesced.
Discrimination OF course was made in favor
Of those who in the opinion Of the surgeons,
needed removal most, not on any other
ground. Some were discharged and Others
released on fur1ough- One died in two hours
alter being taken On board, and six more on
the passage, including one who was supposed
to have been drowned at night; two more
died on the night Of their arrival at St. Louis.
One threw himself into the river in his deli
rum, but WIS recovered many were deliri-
ous Surely it vas fearful scene: one hun
6red and eighty-one men burning with fever,
and many In the last stages of disease. Such
is var. was informed by Dr.. Wolcott that
betWetecn five and six hundred men in all
were left sick in the CAMPS connected with
Pittsburg Landing, and between three and
four thousand in the hospitals connected
with Hamburg Landing; besides number in
hospitals at Savannah
The Wisconsin troops near Corinth are the
8th, 10th, 14th, lGIb, 18th and 18th regiments,
| and the Sd, 5th and 10th batteries Of artil-
lery. The causes Of this Unusual
| amount of sickness are, that the 14th, 18th
and 18th regiments were without their tents
battle, and there was drenching rain on both
| nights; and though worn ont With long CON
tibued fighting, and In many instances with
out food, they we're obliged to liz On the bare
ground. The 18th Was at Savannah on Sun
day, and, without being ordered, came up on
Sunday afternoon, voluntarily, without tents
or ratlon8, and bore signa1ly honorable part
in the conflict Of Monday The days, 500,
were excessively hot, and the nights cold, and
there was no water scarcely, but the water Of
the Tennessee, which is considered extremely
unhealthy. I am told that the water is better
,, towards torinth. X 4 + 4
Ii some parts there were single graves, and
. some having. log fences around them, but in
common grave. noticed pine board nailed
= to a tree with an inscription, certifying that
one hundred and forty two rebels were buried
there; and alongside Of this grave, another
certifying that thirty. seven Union soldiers
and arms on the field had been picked up by
soldiers and visitors, still there were evidences
Of vast destruction Of property as we'll as o1
.. life; corn, bacon, hard bread and clothes lay
about in every direction, and the stencil
arising from dead horses unburied, or par
| tally buried, was sickening in the extreme
might relate many incidents Of the battle
which have not found their way iuto print,
but will content myself with but one Il
: walking around, Mrs. ". found i soldier II
: whose possession was ! daguerrean picture O
l l beautiful little boy dressed in Zouaye uni
; form, and on questioning him about it, he
!. said he found it In the hand Of q Union soldie,
lying dead on the field OF battle, aftsr the con
: flict, and in the other hand bible, the arms
2 being stretched out at full length be had evi
b IDENTIFY been moFta1ly wounded, and had de
:, rived consolation, in his Last moments, from
: reading the Sacred Word, and contemplating
+ this picture Of his little aon,. whom be un
| 1fa11v I,I ~ FoI 0Ho