Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-12-04

A bullet passed through a mans skull
and into the brain cavity; for days he
lived, walked about and waited largely
upon himself. He seemed dazed however
from the first, and after awhile became
stupid, helpless and died. Some that were
brought in were SO severely injured that
there was no hope Of doing any thing for
their recovery; such cases if there seemed
to be much suffering were made as com.
Portable as possible and laid upon the
ground and the attention Of the surgeons
given to those whose injuries were likely
to receive benefit. One poor fellow was
shot somewhere in the base Of the brain
and when taken out of the ambulance one
side of his face was in commissions.
His case was deemed hopeless, and he
was placed upon the ground. All night
and till noon next day the commissions con.
tinued; one eye was in constant motion
and the muscles of the same side Of the
face jerlxed and twitched in horrible con.
tortions. But at last death came to his re-
lief.
All were kept busy till away in the night
caring for the wounded. Blankets were
spread upon the ground under the trees
and upon these, side by side, the injured
ones were laid. Towards morning others
of the wounded were brought in that could
not be reached till nightfall protected the
rescuing parties from the bullets Of the
enemy.
The next day, May 90, was occupied in
perfecting the care of the injured. Many
operations were of % delicate q character
to be performed after night; these were
made the morning following. Sometimes
in the army, however, very delicate opera
tions were from necessity performed aftel
night. In the medical supplies were little
wax candles that gave pretty light, free
from smoke and without much dripping, as
from tallow candles. When working after
night number of these were lighted and
held for the convenience of the operator.
The night after the battle of Champion
Hill the writer remembers coming upon
some surgeons who were amputating at the
shoulder-joint the arm of poor fellow
who had been wounded near the shoulder,
Just as he came up the surgeons were
turning the bone out Of its socket and ad-
justing the flaps. This operation in the
army was considered a very critical one
and was n 1t often performed, when other
means wou avail.
At the front the lines We're advanced as
near as possible to the cnemy's works, and
at night the spade was used freely,
thus making rific.pit to secure protection
from the encmy's bullets. The casualties
were comparatively few the Goth and 21st
of May, yet throughout both these days
wounded men were from time to time
brought i'll from the front.
Meantime preparations Tor the care OF
the wounded were made on a much more
extended scale. When the trees in the
yard failed to give shelter from sunshine
by day and dew at night, limbs heavily
| laden with leaves, cut from the timber
near by were laid upon poles that rested
upon others set in the ground. While en-
gagged in this work a cannon ball came
whizzng through the air and buried itself
in the ground IN the center of the yard.
One of the men, curious to see what
character of missile it was, got a shovel and
excavated the ball. 1t proved to be con-
ical steel ball about two and one-haf inch
es through and seven or eight inches long.
| Meanwhile full rations We're now re-
ceived for all, from base Of supplies es-
tablished on the Yazoo river, upon Sher-
mans right; from this point wagon road
in the rear of the army was made, and
over this were conveyed supplies Of all