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Report from the Union Medical Director at the Battle of Shiloh
MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, ARMY OF THE OHIO,
Camp
on Field of Shiloh, April 21, 1862.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the
following report of the operations of the medical department during and after
the battle of the 6th and 7th instant:
On the morning of the 6th I was at Savannah, and being ordered to remain at that place, I occupied myself in procuring all the hospital accommodation possible in that small village and in directing the preparation of bunks and other conveniences for wounded.
In the afternoon the wounded were brought down in large numbers, and I then
superintended their removal to hospitals, and did all in my power to provide for
their comfort. On Sunday evening, the divisions being under orders to come up as
rapidly as possible, I ordered the medical officers, as it was impossible to
take their medical and hospital supplies -- the teams and ambulances being in the
rear and the roads blocked up with trains -- to take their instruments and
hospital knapsacks and such dressings and stimulants as could be carried on
horseback, and to go on with their regiments. I left Savannah by the first boat
on Monday, and arrived at Pittsburg Landing at about 10 a.m. I found the
principal depot for wounded established at the small log building now used as a
field post-office. They were coming in very rapidly, and very inadequate
arrangements had been made for their reception. I found Brigade Surgeon
Goldsmith endeavoring to make provision for them, and at his suggestion
immediately saw General Grant, and obtained his order for a number of tents to
be pitched about the log house.
I then rode to the front and reported to you. The great number of wounded which
I saw being transported to the main depot, and the Almost insurmountable difficulties
which I foresaw would exist in providing for them, convinced me that my presence
was needed there more than at any other point on the field. After spending an
hour in riding a little to the rear of our lines, and seeing as far as possible
that there were surgeons in position to attend immediately to the most urgent
cases, I returned to the hill above the
Landing, and used every exertion to provide for the wounded there. I ordered
Brigade Surgeons Gross, Goldsmith, Johnson, and Gay to take charge of the
different depots which were established in tents on the hills above the Landing,
directing such regimental and contract surgcons as I could find to aid them.
Many of the wounded were taken on board boats at the Landing and some of our
surgeons were ordered on board to attend them. On Tuesday I had such beats as
I
could obtain possession of fitted up with such bed-sacks as were on hand and
with straw and hay for the wounded to lie upon, and filled to their utmost
capacity, and at once dispatched to convey the worst cases to the hospitals on
the Ohio River, at Evansville, New Albany, Louisville, and Cincinnati. In
removing the wounded we were aided by boats fitted up by sanitary commissions
and soldiers' relief societies and sent to the battle-field to convey wounded
to
the hospitals. Some of these, especially those under the direction of the United
States Sanitary Commission, were of great service. They were ready to receive
all sick and wounded, without regard to States or even to politics, taking the
wounded Confederates as willingly as our own. Others, especially those who came
under the orders of Governors of States, were of little assistance, and caused
much irregularity. Messages were sent to the regiments that a boat was at the
Landing ready to take to their homes all wounded and sick from certain States.
The men would crowd in numbers to the Landing, a few wounded, but mostly the
sick and homesick. After the men had been enticed to the river and were lying
in the mud in front of the boats it was determined in one instance by the Governor
to take only the wounded, and this boat went off with a few wounded, leaving
many very sick men to get back to their camps as they best could. By the end
of the week after the battle all our wounded had been sent off, with but few
exceptions of men who had been taken to camps of regiments in General
Grant's army during the battle. These have since been found and provided
for.
The division medical directors were very efficient in the discharge of
their duties, and they report most favorably of the energy and zeal displayed by
the medical officers under them in the care of the wounded under most trying
circumstances -- of want of medical and hospital stores, and even tents. Owing to
the fact that a large majority of the wounded brought in on Monday and Tuesday
were from General Grant's army, some of whom had been wounded the day before, it
was impossible to attend particularly to those from our own divisions. Many
Confederate wounded also fell in our hands, and I am happy to say that our
officers and men attended with equal assiduity to all. Indeed, our soldiers were
more ready to wait on the wounded of the enemy than our own. I regret to say
that they showed incredible apathy and repugnance to nursing or attending to the
wants of their wounded comrades, but in the case of the Confederates this seemed
in some measure overcome by a feeling of curiosity and a wish to be near them
and converse with them.
We were poorly supplied with dressings and comforts for the wounded and with ambulances for their transportation, and it Was several days after the battle before all could be brought in. Our principal difficulty, however, in providing for the wounded was in the utter impossibility to obtain proper details of men to nurse them and to cook and attend generally to their wants, and in the impossibility of getting a sufficient number of tents pitched,
or in the confusion which prevailed during and after the battle to get hay or straw as bedding for the wounded or to have it transported to the tents. The only details we could obtain were from the disorganized mob which lined the hills near the Landing, and who were utterly inert and inefficient. From the sad experience of this battle and the recollections of the sufferings of thousands of poor wounded soldiers crowded into tents on the wet ground, their wants partially attended to by an unwilling and forced detail of panic-stricken deserters from the battle-field, I am confirmed in the belief of the absolute
necessity for a class of hospital attendants, enlisted as such, whose duties are
distinct and exclusive as nurses and attendants for the sick, and also of a
corps of medical purveyors, to act not only in supplying medicines, but as
quartermasters for the medical department.
I append a list of the number of killed and wounded in each regiment, brigade, and division engaged, in all amounting to 236 killed and 1,728 wounded.(*)
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. MURRAY,
Surgeon, U. S. Army, Medical Director.
Col. J. B. FRY,
Asst. Adjt. Gen. and Chief of Staff, Army of Ohio.
USCivilWar.Net wants to thank
Jenny Goellnitz for compiling this information. jgoellnitz@yahoo.com
