The Washington herald., 1915-01-03
SICK OF ARMY OF POTOMAC
NUMBER $4,000.
December 80.

Petersburg, Va, numbered S,2n men
The total sick for 1854 had reached the
tremendous total of nearly a quarter Of a
million men, or 2s.076
The report of the surgeon general OF
the army showed that 81 per cent of the
cases then In hospital were feyers and
ailments due TO camp life and the cli-
matte conditions along the James River
Northern men were much more suscep-
tible to fevers in that section than ma
tives.
While the sickness in the army was
heavy, the percentage Of recoveries was
high. The records show that Of the
sick for the year, 1885 men had re-
turned to duty, while OF those still in
hospital a proportion fully as large
would be sent back to the ranks.
The hospital service Of the army was
OF the best. Since the siege OF Peters
burg had begun in June the field hos
pitfalls steadily improved, owing to
their relative permanency.
The greater part OF the sick, however,
were sent North. The cases being treat
ed at Washington, Philadelphia. Balti-
more, New York, and other cities. num-
bered l7,Sl6 while 54l5 were In the hos
pitals at the front.
Noble men and women who had given
aheir strength for the cause ministered
daily to the wants Of the poor sufferers
in these field hospitals. These volun-
teer comforters saw the seamy side of
army life, the naked ugliness of human
itys wretchedness in war. The dregs
of the army, physically and morally, as
well as the best-but more of the former
than the latter-came under their obser-
walton.
No more vital human record OF this
side of war has been preserved than a
little book written in 1866 by William
Howell Reed, called Hospital Life in
the Army of the Potomac"
Mr.. Reed was a volunteer worker
among the army's sick, and he noted
with a sympathetic touch and keen in
sight, what he saw and felt among them.
Death of a Drafted Man.
The hospital notes Of this writer take
the reader directly to the bedside of the
dying soldier and make him feel what
war means. Here is an example of
them:
The last hours of the old year were
consecrsted, as so many preceding days
had been. by death. One man, also pre-
maturely old. who had been drafted and
accepted as a good recruit but four
months ago, leaving his little family
of three children and theif mother, was
now TO fill a soldiers grave.
Disease had made fearful inroads
upon his system. and his face, so thin
and pinched and careworn, always bore
q concentrated expression Of pain.
Ill
his home and about the three smart lit
tie boys as you'd ever wish to put your
eyes on He asked me to write to
Mary that she must not let his sickness,
or even his death, II he were to die,
trouble too much.
Although II is very hard to be so far
away from her, yet try to be happy.
and ! keep saying over to myself all
the hymns I ever knew he said. And
as he fell back upon this exquisite re-
source Of his memory, drawing upon the
only comfort and peace which could
come to him in his last hours.
Toward evening the nurse called
me and said Hartman was dying. 1 took
my flask of brandy, little bay rum and
a clean linen handkerchief, and went
into his tent. His hands were clasped,
his eyes were set and his face bore such
an expression of suffering as made it
the most piteous sight that one could
look upon.
Finding him conscious. but unable
although trying, TO speak. by stimulantE
and chatting he was so much restored as
to speak feebly what he wished to say.
He preferred to talk in German, so,
through a nurse who was in the ward,
he gave me his last message to those
at home, and then sank rapidly, the
heart having entirely ceased within a
few moments, although II was impos-
sibIe to tell the instant when he died.
"As the sun went down in a flood of
splendOr on New Years Eve. We laid
him away
Sunshine from Home.
In contrast to this shadow is presented
the sunshine of a scene when presents
from home were distributed among the
sick
The account runs thus.
There was a distribution Of comfort
bags containing all the little con-
veniences which a soldier on the march
or in the hospital is always glad to re-
ceive-needles, thread, pins. buttons
tape, and yarn, together with little pa
pers of pepper. ginger, cloves, even tea,
sugar, and tobacco; and in all my hos
pital experiences have never seen any
thing which has given such real pleas
ure to the men.
Those who were able to move gath
cred round the stoves in their wards,
the cripples of all kinds crept up and
sat upon the adjoining beds. each wait
ing his gift AS II was handed to him,
he went to the bottom Of II with the
pleased curiosity of little child search
he ~ for the r-fffa Of QantE
Claus on Christmas morning.
- Look at that needle-book!'
See my towel-just what / want
edr"
fJolIyI here's a comb: haven't had
one since the Weldon Railroadr
"And one man, who had a felon on his
finger. found a little roll Of soft linen
with a box of salve-the very thing he
needed most. He retired to his bed IN
the corner with as much quiet satisfac-
ton as ever saw pictured on any face.
"one little fiaxen-haired lad. not yet six
teen, the skin of whose forehead was as
white and transparent as an infants, yet
very sick with typhoid fever, said to me
as he looked up, holding feebly out his
thread and pins and buttons. This win
be my only Christmas present: 1t is so
nice to be remembered
"The letters from the children who
sent these things were also a blessing
to the men. One Of these particularly
been rehearsed to little group a bail
was heard from a distant corner: I say,
let's have It up here now
"A fine-looking man, propped up In
bed. having lost his arm, was chosen
reader; and as he spoke in a full, clear
voice, every eye was upon him, while
men were turning in their cots to catch