The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-19
Two War Pictures.

from a Narrative OF his Services in the
Medical STAFF. by Assistant Surgeon ].
S. Billings. L. S. A, (now Librarian of
the New York Public Library, Medi-
cal and Surgical History of the REBEL
ion. Part First, Appendix. p. 49,
In about two hours we were informed
that our troops (at Chancellorsville) were
falling back, and were ordered TO remove
the wounded TO the brick house of DR..
Chancellor, then occupied as headquarters
by Gen. Hooker. We succeeded in remov-
ing all OF the wounded, and within ten
minutes after we left the house the rebel
lines came up TO it. On reaching the
brick house everything was found in con-
fusion. All the large rooms ii the house
were locked and filed with furniture; the
wounded were lying about on the yeranda,
in the halls, and wherever space could be
found, while crowd OF teamsters, order
lies, contrabands. and stragglers filed the
kitchen and out-buiidings. AT
this place the most extensive shell wounds
that / have ever seen came under my no
tice. In two instances the abdominal
walls were entirely carried away and from
third patient l removed the entire head
of a three-inch shell. which had passed
into the abdominal cavity. and was slight
~ impacted in the bodies of the lumbar
vertebrae. In a fourth case, a
large fragment of a three-inch shell had
passed through the pelvis from one tro-
chanter to the other. In another. the arm
had been torn entirely off, and three inch
es of the bronchial artery was hanging out
of the wound, and pulsating to within an
inch of its extremity. l also observed
four cases of wounds of the abdominal
walls, with protrusion of unwounded in
testines and omentum. In two of them it
was very difficult to return the protruded
rr-pf -lr lar hn E-f ha
muscles of the abdominal walls being
strongly and spasmodically contracted.
|" Our labors continued all night,
as fresh cases were constantly coming in.
I performed eXsections of the
shoulder and elbow joints, and three or
four amputations here"
[F'rom a report on the Operations of the
Medical Department during the Battle
Of Pea Ridge, by Surgeon D. S. McGu-
gin. Cd Iowa Cavalry. Ibid, PIP. $40,
34Ll
AT Leetown, I was soon engaged with
Surgeon d. w. Young, Thirty-sixth Hi
nois. and several other medical officers in
attending the wounded. in a building for
merIy occupied as a small store. 1t was
one story and a half high, about thirty
feet long, and twenty feet wide. Hospi
tai tents were erected upon the grounds
around, and the wounded were brought
in more rapidly than there was room for
their reception. This build
ing would accommodate only about thirty
five patients, yet it had greater capacity
than any other building in the village.
. In all, the windows were few
and very small. admitting little light and
an insufficiency of air, even when the
sash-frames were entirely removed.
The wounded lay upon their
blankets or upon the naked floors. Water
was scarce, and those who had lost largely
Of blood suffered for want of it. The
wounds were mainly produced by rifle
balls and by the sabre already described.
A number were killed by one stroke of
this weapon. and 1 saw several who had
been severely wounded by it.
The corps of surgeons was not sufficient
for the number of the wounded.
The afternoon of Friday, the
It'll, (February, 1922 was spent by me
at the hospitals near the main road, which
consisted of two one-story log houses, one
of which had two apartments and the
other but one. There was neither kitchen
not clubhouse to either of them.
These houses accommodated but few, and
were Objectionable on account of INSULT
cient light and ventilat ton. Hospital tents
were erected upon the grounds around.
The wounds in large. major
ity of cases were of a serious character.
They were produced by cannon-ball,
grape, and the conoidal ball. Several reg
iments of the enemy were armed with a
heavy rife known as the Mississippi ri
fle. This was formidable weapon, and
at short range would produce severe and
unsightly wounds. They were mainly up
on the lower eXtremities. Sew
eral amputations at the lower third were
necessitated by the mangled condition of
bones and soft parts below the knee.
There was a deficiency of
pure water at these hospitals also. and
we were forced to bring 1t in casks from
the creek. half mile distant.
The deficiency Of medical and hospital
supplies caused great embarrassment to
the medical corps. Friday night
the two armies lay upon their arms; but
the surgeons where they were fortunate
enough to procure light proceeded with
their work, and few, If any, of them
slept