The National tribune., 1893-02-02
BATTLE OE7PERRYVILLE
How it Looked to i surgeon at the Rear of
the Army.

HOW IL LOoheu 10 u surgeon at the rear u
the Army.
As have seen nothing in your columns Of
the battle OF PerryvilIe, KY, Oct. 8. 1852.
am moved to send you few "reminiscences from
the rear of the line con that memorable day.
The rear of an army differs materially from its
front and as all your letters and items come
| from the front, but my item is from the rear,
for rs Regmental Surgeon that was my place,
and hence from there all my "reminiscences
were gathered My regiment the 5Oth Ohio,
was in McCook's Division ut the battle of Per
ryville. and as Gen. McCook got the credit, at
least, of making the attack, my command be-
came holly engaged early, in the day. The
Medical Department of the Army thus early in
the conflict was but poorly organized. and at
Perryvilie Regimental Surgeons were forced to
act largely OIL their individual accounts, and
made their own selections of depots to which
their wounded might be Immediately removed.
and as the lines were shifting. places of safety
for such depots were selected with difficulty.
Surgeon McMeans Sd Ohio was our Acting
Brigade Surgeon at the time. and assisted by
him several ether Surgeons and myself selected
Il small farmhouse, with its barn ana other
outbuildings, as the best we could do III the
way of hospital. The improvements stood In
beautiful little valley. between two high hills,
and Immediately surrounding the dwelling was
a beautiful greensward. In less time than 1t
takes to pen these lines, after the first arrival
of wounded, all the space in and out of doors
on the premises was occupied. This location
was. when selected, considered safe one, aud
thither straggers were wont to gather. The
sward made nice place where we could spread
blankets for temporary resting place Tor
wounded upon their arrival, and 1t was soon
thickly covered with them. Between this
sward and the road was a small lot occupicd-by
an abandoned cabin and rank growth of wild
hemp. About o'clock p. m. this old cabin
was full OF colored servants in search OF safety:
in fact, the lot was filled with them, save the
space occupied by one or two horses belonging
to field or staff officers. and at about this hour
it was discovered that our hospital was between
the opposing lines. First there was battery
on the hill to our left, and its firing was vigor-
Gus, and then in a very short time another
battery, belonging to our own forces, opened
upon the bill to our right, and the firing be-
came brisk on both sides of us. the shot and
shell screaming over our heads with to US an
almost defeanng effect
Just before sunset the rebel artillerymen on
the hill to our left felt moved to plant three or
four solid shots i'll rapid succession into the
primitive roof of our cabin, dou bit as much
to develop its contents as anything else; and
II for this it was great success for the servants
decamped in the widest disorder, and in very
few seconds the cabin and hemp patch alone
were left to tell the tale. 1t is at any time
amusing to see a black face trying to turn pale
under the stimulus of fright, but the scattering
of these frightened black boys was the most
comical thing ever saw, and their faces were
uniformly several shades lighter when they
left the cabin than when they entered it but a
short time previously. Not one of them was
injured in the least. but when the clapboards
and decaying weight-poles began flying in
every direction. They did some wonderful
leaping, and their agility was something that
the coored population of Kentucky should be
proud of to this day The hemp was nowhere,
and the fence, although an eight-rail one, was
cleared at bound by each as he came to il.
Wounded men whose lives were ebbing had to
smile at the scene this denoument presented,
and it was one to appreciate which must have
been seen, and to have been seen could never
have been forgotten. / remained on this bat
tlefeld until the 20thof October.-S X. CRAw-
FORD, NJ. d., Geo. III. Thomas Post, .. Chicago,
III.