Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-10
GHAsTL|NEss OF WAR
AS SEEN IN HOSPITAL
Onc-'Fimc Patient HI Petersburg Re.
lates Incidents Which Impressed
Themselves Upon Ills Mind.
WAS SAVED BY GENERAL LEE
Givcn Up to- Die and Removal For
hidden, Permit Comes From Com
nander-IIc Is Taken to House of
Friend and Life Saved.

March $. 1865. deserves to he re-
corded In the calendar OF my dark
and trying days. For several hours
rode In an ambulance with my
wounded leg beside Private Jesse
houldman, through whose entire body
- ninnie ball had passed. and whose
breathing was difficult and painful. The
vehicle In which we rode i'm {, reclining
position was hard Of plank and rough
OF springs. built with little If any re-
gard to the comfortable transportation
OF wounded men. The road over which
we travelled was one of the main thor
oughfarcs leading from the south into
Petersburg, over which during all the
previous winter artillery and army
supply trains OF wagons had been pass
ing. and was consequently in despcr-
atcly bad condition. with rut and nire.
Much OF 1t had been repaired with
corduroy. which greatly Increased the
ioltinR and discomfort of riding in an
ambulance with stout springs
Our team was two mules OF moder-
ate size. In very good condition, ana
disposed TO move brIskly without the
tmoderatc drawing on their bits. Our
driver was an enlisted man. detailed
from some company TO servo in this
scafaCity. not. certainly, because of any
special aptitude for 1t, but rather. IL
MAY he inferred. from a desire on his
spart to secure bombproof service and
ESCAPE the dangers of battle. Men OF
this class are generally less gentle and
tender than those who are willing to
serve on the firing line. and shrink
not from the hardships of the march
and the fierce shock Of battle, for II
!s true. as Bayard Taylor appropriately
said:
Z The bravest are the tendcrest,
The loving are the daring"
"Our driver had no milk of human
gt< n nn 60 IN, 10 hyr uf I,a
character OF his service or the wintry
chill of=the morning mad CONCEALED II.
s He was disposed to let his mules
push ahead over ruts and pine poles
without check or pause, despite poor
C;ouldinan's Groans OF suffering and
raspings for breath. But for my fire.
hUent interpretation In the lattcr's be-
half nfn quite sure that ere we reach
ed q hospital in Petersburg the vital
spark would have been joItcd out of
him. and he would have no more need
Cd the shelter OF Il hospital or the at
tentions OF 4 Iurgeon.
CONFEDERATE HOSPITAL
FINALLY IS REACHED
Sometime In the afternoon we halted
In front OF the Confederate Hospital.
the largest in the besicHed city, and
were assigned cots on the FIRST floor.
II being impracticable to secure cots
together, we had TO occupy two widely
separated from each other. Mine WAS
the first on the right as we entered
from the street and back from the door
ten of twelve feet, the Intervening
space being filled by the surgeon Of
flee. ON the eide of this office next
TO my cot, and IL few feet removed from
IL, were a succession of shelves such
as appear in drug stores and like them
in the large number OF labeled bottles
OF various shapes and sizes, which they
contained. When / stretched myself
out on my narrow bed. witt: my head
on its scanty pillow. ! felt that 1 had
never before had so good an oppor-
tunity to become familiar with the
foreign terms and signs on apothe-
carries bottles. and the superabundant
smells that usually accompany them.
found the hospital TO which | had
been admitted WAS one or the great
tobacco factories OF the city, having
three stories, now converted into three
wards, each capable OF accommodating
zoo patients. and all of them were
now filled But little observation
sunCed TO make II plain To me that
Of the 500 sick and wounded men In
the building. there were those In every
stage OF convalcsccnce and others in
every stage of physical decline and ap-
preaching dissolution. Many from hor-
Viblo- wounds were suffering intense
pain. with no heartrendinS screams
hut with clinched fingers and grim
writings OF face and heavily sup
pressed means ana SrOanS that be-
Spok. horrible agony.
when the supper bell rang | hob
blcd out to the dining hall, passing
in doing SO, down II long passage be-
tween rows of cots and through
door At the end of the ward, which
admitted 10 a shed of the full length
OF the building. In this were long
tables and benches on either side of
Them and to these had come nearly,
quite, four score of convalescentS,
impng. hobbling, creeping. The sup
per was provided. 1t appeared. with
an cver-rigld regard TO the rule of
permitting invalids to have only a
light and simple diet.
Git:STS AT TABLE
SHOW WARS EFFECTS
That which impressed me most dur
this meal was not it's poverty.
:ti,css and meanncss, so much as
feeble motions. trembling limbs,
'..i and cadaverous appearance of
Yflo partoolt of IT. Sidney Smith
OF corpulent person. who. suffer
- from the intensity of the heat,
ed that he might divert himself
is flesh land sit in his bones"
.>~,t Of my comrades at that hospital
table had nearly reached the attenuated
state of such wish. Their cheeks
were hollow, their eyes sunken, their
countcnances detected and forlorn, and
CHASTITY Dallor appeared In their faces.
y few feeble candles lit UP the gather
ing darkness of the long room and
cast Il pale and siokly lighy on, the
group. and made me feel much as
though | had entered some dim Plu-
fonian chamber and was breaking
bread chat was all there was to brcalt)
With palld shades of the dead With
,f, tarrying long, ] iimped back to my
at and returned no moro to the dining
Il.
,,n the next morning my wound
lowed signs of Inflammation, and n
Ugh fever had possession of me. The
, .iui gcon in Il day or two began to fill
TIA hole in my leg with raw cotton and
saturatc IL with spirits of turpentine,
which he assured me was necessary to
"ounteract gangrene In the wound. At
lie time, morning and evening, when
'icsc applications were made, the pain
.as severe, hut little so at other times.
~ meals were brought to me. and
rs re all that my system needed, as
lrh day seemed to lessen the denim nd