The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1894-07-06
THE DOCTORS WATCH.
BY ALFRED r. CALHOUN,

g
y Immediately after Doctor Roland
Rockwell graduated from the Jeffer.
son Medical College, Philadelphia, in
the fall of 1861, he received a COM
mission on the staff of General Holmes
as brigade surgeon. At Harvard and
at the medical school young Rockwell
stood well in his classes. He was not
only student, but also an athlete,
and, unlike most handsome men, he
was remarkably strong and graceful.
Doctor Rockwell came out of the
war with the rank of colonel, which
he much preferred to his medical
title; indeed, it was said by his COM
rades, who had great respect for his
surgical skill, that Colonel Rockwell,
when battle was on, preferred the
front where the dead lay in heaps, to
the rear where the wounded swarmed.
After the war the doctor settled
down in Pittsburg, the place of his
birth, to build up a practice, and he
succeeded in way that delighted his
many friends, and astonished his older
professional brethren, who regarded
such sudden elevation as unfortunate
for the man himself, if not unsafe for
the increasing army of patients who
focked to the young physicians office.
But my real purpose is to tell you
about the doctors watch. This watch
had come to be quite as well known
as the owner himself. 1t was a large
hunting gold chronometer, which
must have cost originally nearer a
thousand dollars than it did five hun
dred On the inside Of the back COW
er there was pasted the picture of a
young and remarkably beautiful wo-
man. While the doctor frequently
exhibited the watch and told the story
of how it came into his possession, but
seldom opened that back case but the
few who had seen the beautiful face,
whispered that there was q romance
connected with it, which accounted
for the handsome doctors reaching the
age of five and thirty without getting
married. Briefly this is how Doctor
Rockwell got the watch.
At the battle of Spotsylvania, the
staff surgeon was, as usual, close up to
the front. He was along with Han
cocks corps when it made the desperate
charge that came SO near to the ruin
of Lees army, and which would have
anticipated Apomattox by year, i
Grant had known his great advantage
and availed himself of it.
Among the dead and wounded Con
federates of General Johnson's divis
ion, DR.. Rockwell saw young mai
with the stars of Confederate colone
of infantry on his collar, and the pal
Tor of death on his handsome face. Il
an instant Rockwell had dismounteC
and was administering stimulant t.
the wounded man. The whiske.
famed the Pickering life flame for a,
instant, and the young colonel, who's
limbs we're paralyzed, whispered hi
thanks, then gasped:
"Take my watch, doctor, and sen
it" he stopped, overcome by tn
effort, and the doctor again held tn
canteen to his lips, and then, prepal
ing to write, said, as he bent nearer
"Yes, hear you, colonel. Wh'
is your name? To whom shall sen
the watch? "
The gallant Confederate made
desperate attempt to give his oW
name, and that of the person to who
the watch sent, but the effort was tc
much for him, and he fell back dea'
At that instant the bugles soundC
ssretreat," and in its turn Hancock
corps was swept back by gray wav
and the doctor, who was about to al
= wounded Confederate for the nan
Of the dead colonel, was forced
mount his horse and fly.