Litchfield enquirer., 1862-11-20
The Hospital DeI.t of the, l9thC V

ceFneu, Dut to aiiay any anAiety 'hat ihay hs'So been felt hy the friends Of the soldiers, as te the care taken of them in camp. We are very hap py to correct any false impression with regrad to this matter we may have given in our issue of the 9th inst, which impression we received from those who had recently visited the Regi- ment, and whom we presumed were rightly in- formed with regard to the matter, and certainly we had no other intentions than good ones, an to correct any abuse toward our sick soIdiers in camp, and are exceedingly glad now to be thus able authoritatively to contradict the many re- ports that have prevailed throughout the coun- | ty for some weeks back.
 18th REGIMENT c. V.
 CAMP NEAR ALEXANDRIA, VA. Nov. Ilth, 1862.
 NE. EDITOR :.--Beleving that you, as an Ed itor, are desirous of publishing nothing but the truth, and as your paper dated Nov. 9th contains 1 that which i. calculated to make false impress sion; write this, partly to correct you in your editorial relative to affaira connected with this Regiment, aud partly to notice the death of Corporal Webster who lately died here in camp. To those who knew Corporal Webster in private life it is sufficient to say, that the same prin- ciples governed him as soldier that characterize ed him as a citizen. He was good man. We all (of Co. D. respected him; and mourn as for departed friend His family has our warm | est sympathies.
 In regard to the care of the sick here, your informant labored under 2 very serious error. It is true that they are in a tent. and side by side :; but instead of ly ing on hard boards, they have ticks filled with straw and blankets enough l to keep them warm, in any weather, with the assistance of the stove which has been ln it since the weather has been cool enough so as to need it. The greatest objection which can see to the hospital tent is that Gin my opinion) it is not properly ventilated. As to the atten- dance of the surgeons l will say that vis- it the hospital frequently and can certify that the efforts of Doct. PLUME (who more partcu larly has charge of the sick) are indefa'gable , working night and day visiting those who are sick ill the hospital in their tents and in the city have known Doct. Plumb only since became a member of this regiment ; yet his conduct and learning as a man and physic- ian has convinced me that his appointment to his present responsible position was iudicious Our hospita has been somewhat crowded, on account of many falling sick suddenly, but they have in the mean time been gtting up building where they can accomodate more and care for them better (although the hospital inspector that has been here and has visited thousands of army hospitals-said that ours was the most comforts able one he had seen) than hcret ofore. Our principal nurse (James A Beach) who has the oversg ght of the hospital; has believe the confidence of the whole regi ment. Our commanding officers Co.'s. Vessels and Kellogg need no prompting to take care of 1 this regiment. And do not believe that there | is regiment in the service that has fared bet | ter. Fully believing that as regiment, We | have left as comfortable homes as any now in the service, and so far my observation goes | have the best arranged and best managed camp, l 1 write this hoping you will give ta place in 1 your columns to correct the false impression | that as regiment we feel abused; or are miss used Yours, Respectfully, D. B. w. Co. D. | Since the above was in type we have re ceved several communications from the Reg iment fully corroborating the statements made above. From private letter trom the ADJUrANT of the Regiment, We make the following ex- tract :-
 .There is no better Hospital department than ours in the whole army, and we have the best man at the head of it. Dr. Plumb) that can be found. He cannot be excelicd. Col. kel- | ogg speaking of him last night, said with tears 1 in his eyes, that " he had visited the llospita early in the morning and seen Dr. r. on his knees attending man rotten with fever ard he had been there at evening of the same day | dHu SeeN HUI tueit Stlll anu again "t lHluHl and he still faithfully attending hiHl' - This he had seen. and Col. Kellogg would say nothing of it if it had not been He says you 1 cannot find man in the whole army who is as faithful as our Surgeon, and it is fact.
 "Now about our Hospital: Instead of having a single tent, we have two large oncs-capable of accommodating fly- sig men, in all, while there is a third one not in use, As to 'unoccupied houses within less than half mile from camp ,re have never seen them. There is, however, an old church few rods away, which has re- gently been cleaned out, and into which, after undergoing thorough cleaning and repairs, our sick will be moved. Instead of the men ' be- ing exposed to the dampness and cold'' where they have been, the hospital is warmed by two stores, and the inspector of camps, who gives his particular attention to the hospitals says | that ours is the only one he had seen with any stove in it, In addition to this, we have fifty extra blankets, which are not allowed, but which our quartermaster procured in Washington a special requisition, which would net be honored at the depot in Alexandria.
 I admit that the men lie on trough boards' but between tAem and the men are ticks filled with straw and a blanket on top of the tick Perhaps your citizen inspectors did not look under the sick: or did he look too farunder ?- or his eyes might have been dimm ed with tears at the neglect of our sick boys!
 Now of the attendance and attendants " c nave ln me l1OSplLal l SleWafQ, nurses and walters, beside the cook, laundress Sc am nepcr in there but see one of the Sur geons present, and am there quite often: and the nurses are all faithful one, BEACH, partic- ularly 20, and he is actually killing himself for them.
 Perhaps some people have never before seen a regimental hospital, now have, and sincere ly have never seen one that comes anywhere near ours. Even our old 1st Conn. Hospital had no rough boards to lie on, but simply their rubber blankets spread upon the ground, and | the Surgeon never went near the men. I have heard no complaints of Dr. Lawion and know the boy think everything of Dr. Plumb. Yes tcrday we formed hollow square, and Col Kel- logg asked the Regiment if they had anything to say against any department of the Regiment and if SO, to speak out. No one spoke a word- l went to see the men at the Hospital this af ternoon, but they all have been removed to the church. They could not have been removed one minute sooner, as the building had to be cleaned and it was the dirtiest place you ever saw. l | hope you will give publicity to these state- ments of facts-fot t 5 due Col. VESSELS and all their officers of the Regiment, particularly Dr. Plumb, who IS the finest alive. To compare our sick with the 18th c. V, They have 245 sick men, while we have total of l6O, less then half of whom are rearly sick. We have in tion, in fair way of recovery, The 18th have lost either or 10 men since they have been out. We have lost only 4. Now, how many out of the 900 men would have died during the past eleven weeks if they had remained at home? think we are very fortunate in not losing more, and if our Hospital Department was not in the pery " hav hat mon . ho