CHAPTER XXVII

MEDICAL CARE AND HOSPITAL LIFE

OORLY prepared as the Government was, at the begin

ning of the war, for conducting great military operations, it is believed that the Medical Department was in the worst condition of any branch of the public service. This was not due to the character and qualifications of its officers, but to the fact that Congress had neglected to make proper provision for its needs and for the progress made in the profession. It may safely be said that Congress has, even to the present day, neglected to give proper consideration to that branch, or make suitable provision for its improvement. The war between Russia and Japan has taught the nations that they have much to do to raise their medical departments to the high state of efficiency maintained in the Japanese army. Our medical officers have been given meagre compensation, uncertain and, at the best, slow advancement, the most competent never attaining more than third or fourth rate recognition. This department of the army has certainly not been an inviting field for men of talent and marked skill, yet many have entered the Medical Corps from higher motives than the simple rewards of rank and compensation, and have brought to it high attainments and skill which placed them among the first of their noble profession.

During the Civil War the surgeons-general of the States required that applicants for appointment, as surgeons and assistant surgeons of regiments entering the field, should submit to a most thorough examination to establish their

fitness for the position sought; yet many who passed the technical examination were utterly incompetent to discharge the duties required, and, in some cases, physicians sought the positions merely for the purpose of perfecting themselves in surgery; but a majority of the medical officers were competent and faithful.

The camps were located by their commanders "at or near" some stated positions, without the advice of an officer of the engineer or medical branches of the service, no thought being given to sanitary conditions. These evils were augmented by bad cooking, the open sale in the camps by sutlers and "pie peddlers" of the most unwholesome trash, and the use of contaminated water; these conditions had to be met as best they could by officers totally ignorant of the proper care of men, their drill, and discipline. The regimental hospitals had few facilities for properly caring for the sick, no special diet, no trained nurses, seldom cots, and, generally, a rubber and a woolen blanket as their only bedding. The most intelligent surgeons protested against these methods, but with little avail. General hospitals, to which the worst cases were sent, were better provided for, but the red-tape which had to be unwound left many to die in camp, whose recovery might have been speedily secured in a well appointed hospital. The cases previously mentioned illustrate the difference between good hospital care under a competent surgeon, and the facilities and care of an ordinary field hospital.

The system of caring for the sick and wounded was greatly improved as the war progressed, and the Government doubtless had this branch of the service as efficiently managed as in other countries. It is not the intention of the writer to follow the steps taken by the Government officials to bring about the important changes that were effected, but to notice more particularly the unofficial and unpaid labors of the

noble men and women who came forward to supply deficiencies in material, and to care, not only for the sick and wounded in general hospitals throughout the country, but for those in the regimental camps and field hospitals.

What these unselfish patriots accomplished in the camps, the field hospitals, and the general hospitals established in Northern cities, is well understood and appreciated by those who fell under their care, but too little consideration has been given in the official reports and war papers to the magnitude and importance of the services rendered by organized associations and by individuals. The scope of this work will not admit of more than a brief reference to the most important association, "The United States Sanitary Commission," which raised from voluntary contributions by the people and disbursed in medical supplies to the sick and wounded soldiers, twenty-five millions of dollars.

Important as was the work of the Sanitary Commission, in providing articles not furnished by the Medical Department of the army, it was indeed very small when compared with the inestimable services of the patriotic and devoted women who nursed and cared for the men disabled by wounds and disease. Although no complete history of the Sanitary Commission has ever yet been written, much interesting and valuable information relating to its purpose and work can be obtained from The United States Sanitary Commission edited by Miss Katharine Prescott Wormeley, published by Little, Brown and Company; from The Other Side of War by the same author, published by the Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and from Hospital Transports compiled by Mrs. Kirkland, published by Ticknor and Fields; and from the letters and journals of those engaged in this service.

As late as August, 1861, there were no chaplains in the

Washington and Alexandria Hospitals, and frequently "no one at hand to read or pray for a dying man, or to conduct the funeral services of the dead." Miss Georgeanna M. Woolsey wrote to President Lincoln asking that chaplains should be appointed, but no action was taken; then Mrs. Howland wrote to Colonel Van Rensselaer, of General Scott's staff, and received the following letter:

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, August, 1861.

My dear Mrs. Howland: If you will send me the names of persons you want appointed to act as Chaplains for Hospitals, I will get the Lieutenant-General to give them (not a regular commission) but an authority to visit and have access to the Hospitals at all times. This will invest with full authority but no rank or emolument.

"Very truly yours,

"H. VAN RENSSELAER."1

Following this letter, Mrs. Howland wrote to Professor H. B. Smith of the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, asking him to suggest the right man; he recommended Mr. Henry Hopkins, son of President Mark Hopkins of Williams College, who accepted the position and held it until May, 1864, when he was appointed chaplain

I Henry Van Rensselaer resigned from the United States Army soon after his graduation from West Point, and erected a fine mansion at Woodford, on the St. Lawrence River, west of Ogdensburg. During his residence in Northern New York he managed his large holdings of real estate, and took an active interest in public affairs having been elected in 1840 a Representative in Congress, the only Whig Representative ever chosen in that district. In the fifties, he sold his lands to settlers from New England and Great Britain, and removed to New York City. At the opening of the Civil War, he was appointed Colonel and Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Lieutenant-General Scott.

of the One Hundred and Twentieth New York, in which he served until the regiment was mustered out in June, 1865.

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of Chaplain Hopkins's service, or the embarrassments he encountered in performing his unselfish labors without actual rank. His success was wholly due to his good sense and native tact. Few could write reminiscences of that period which would be more interesting and valuable than those Chaplain Hopkins could give, and the incidents he might relate would bring to the present and coming generations lessons in practical humanity and in Christian charity. The experiences then gained were valuable in his preparation for a successful ministry in Kansas City, Missouri, and for his later labors as the President of Williams College, where he has maintained a standard worthy of the son of one of the most distinguished educators of his time.

The Sixteenth New York was more fortunate than many regiments in the character and qualifications of its medical officers; it was more favored than others, for it had a reserve force that was never failing. Mrs. Charles W. Woolsey had taken an active part in providing hospitals, in New York and elsewhere, with clothing and delicacies at the beginning of the war, and when her son-in-law, Joseph Howland, joined the Sixteenth as adjutant, the Woolsey family took the sick and wounded of the regiment under their especial care. When the Sixteenth went to the Peninsula, in April, 1862, Mrs. Howland and her sister came to the York River on a Hospital Transport and sent articles of special diet to the sick in the camps, and, after battles, they with the other ladies of the Sanitary Commission cared for the wounded as they were brought in from the front. It was a standing request of Mrs. Howland that she should be informed of the name and destination of every member of her husband's