The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-05-16
Hospital Experiences.
THE WOUNDED AT PADUCAH-GREAT
.aJ VARIETY OF WOUNDB-HORRORs
OF TIE BATTLE FIELD. ~

From the Detroit Free Press,
The following extract is from private
letter from an army surgeon at Paducah,
KY, dated April II. 49, % w
Do not upbraid me for the
very hard work have done, for how is it
possible for man of my temperament to do
other than work, when you enter room
where hundred or two of our brave boys
lie in pain, in agony, and in mutilation, and
hear them cry out, in the most piteous and
beseeching tones, Dear Doctor, do for
heavens sake help me next" Others will
say, ," know you do all you can, but if I
die, Oh, my poor wife and my little children
what will become of them? Do, for
Gods sake fix me next" Then again to
look into the anxious, beseeching eye-put
your hand upon the feeble pulse, or on the
tevered cheek, or on the cold and already
| cammy brow, l ask you, where is the man
who has single particle of love for bis
race or his country, or his countrymen, who
will not be nerved up to work, tired and
weary as he may be?
The variety of wounds we have are al
most as numerous as the wounded them
selves. First look at the head. A cannon
ball or portion of shell has carried away all
the skin and scalp from whole side of the
head and face Mimic ball has entered
the back part of the head, coming out
through the nose or the cheek bone, carry
ing away all the boDy and feshy substance
of the face, and leaving the most horrid mu-
tilation you can imagine. Another is shot
through the temples, one or both eyes torn
out and lying on the cheek another with
the lower jaw all shot away, and the poor,
dry and tevered tongue swelled as large as a
mans arm. Again, turn down the coarse
but bloody wooden blanket from the poor
man breast /; bullet has gone through
the chest the bloody serum and the bub-
bles of cir press or oCze out of each wound
at every labored breath F; his lips are blue,
his ekin is cold, sweat oozes out of
every pore he, too, with the utmost
difficulty, breathes out, "Do help me-" But
all we can say or do is to assure
the poor sufferer that his only re-
lief is in a dose of morphine, and
his only rest the grave. Another has
shoulder or an arm pierced or carried away.
If the shoulder is carried away, wash and
dress, cover up, assuage the pain and wait
the fatal moment; if the arm be only badly
shattered, the knife and the saw soon do
their work the poor fellow is manned for
life, whether it be short or long. He is laid
away as best he can be to run bis chance.
| Another is shot through the back, and an
entire paralysis of the whole lower part of
the body has ensued. He breathes a few
hours Or days at most. Another is shot
through the hips, leaving the bones perfect
y bare. He, too, soon goes to his long
home, his final and last resting place. Then
again the variety Of wound and mutilation
are met with in the legs, and number and
variety of operations which are needed and
performed, would take volumes, and not
letters to describe. 1t is cut of my power
to give graphic view of what has come
under my notice and care. ........
I The estimate gave you the other day, of
the number of our killed and wounded, 5000
killed and $4,000 wounded, is really below
the fact. l have yet been in no battle, but
| have seen a great deal of its horrors. Pa
| ducah is at the junction of the Tennessee
with the Ohio Rivers. 1t is the first point
of any kind of size that is reached from the
field of battle, and is the first point where a
general hospital is located. All the boats
first stop here and all the worst cases are
taken off, hence the great number and vari-
ETY. of our operations.
l cut off forty>one limbs in one night
At first l felt really nervous; at last l really
liked it. So the feelings of poor human
nature can become blunted.