I acted from principle
Subtitle: the Civil War diary of Dr. William M. McPheeters, confederate surgeon in the Trans-Mississippi
By: edited by Cynthia DeHaven Pitcock, Bill J. Gurley.
Contributors: Pitcock, Cynthia DeHaven.; Gurley, Bill J., 1959-
Series: Civil War in the West
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Fayetteville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 423
Subjects: McPheeters, William M. 1815-1905 -- Diaries.; Confederate States of America. Army -- Surgeons -- Biography.; Surgeons -- Confederate States of America -- Diaries.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Medical care.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.; Southwest, Old -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate.; Southwest, Old -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Medical care.; Southwest, Old -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects.
Genres: Diaries.; Personal narratives, Confederate.
Description: "At the start of the Civil War, Dr. William McPheeters was a distinguished physician in St. Louis, conducting unprecedented public-health research, forging new medical standards, and organizing the state's first professional associations. But he lived in a volatile border state. Under martial law, Union authorities kept close watch on known Confederate sympathizers.

McPheeters was followed, arrested, threatened, and finally, in 1862, given an ultimatum: sign an oath of allegiance to the Union or go to federal prison. McPheeters "acted from principle" instead, fleeing by night to Confederate territory. He served as a surgeon under Gen. Sterling Price and his Missouri forces west of the Mississippi River, treating solders' diseases, malnutrition, and terrible battle wounds. Meanwhile, his wife and two children suffered harassment by Federal military officials, imprisonment in St.

Louis, and legal and literal banishment.".

"From almost the moment of his departure, the doctor kept a diary. It was a pocket-size notebook which he made by folding sheets of pale blue paper in half and in which he wrote in miniature with his steel pen. It is the first known daily account by a Confederate medical officer in the Trans-Mississippi Department.

The journal appears here in its complete and original form, exactly as the doctor first wrote it, with the addition of the editors' full annotation and introduction to each section."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Prologue "A Bold Beginning," 1841-62 Chapter 1 The Helena Campaign, 1863 Chapter 2 The Womenfolk, 1863 Chapter 3 The Loss of Little Rock, 1863 Chapter 4 Winter Quarters, 1863-64 Chapter 5 "No Abiding Camp," Winter 1864 Chapter 6 Red River andJenkins' Ferry, 1864 Chapter 7 A Summer's Respite, 1864 Chapter 8 The Grand Expedition, 1864 Chapter 9 Arkansas Again, 1864-65 Chapter 10 Banishment and Reunion, 1865 Chapter 11 Surrender, 1865 Epilogue The Homing, 865-I905 Appendix Extant Reports.