uD ~ > ie > OD /B67b v CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is responsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the Property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of Illinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign MAY 2 > 2005 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 A BRIEF PLEA AN AMBULANCE SYSTEM FOR THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AS DRAWN FROM TITE EXTRA SUFFERINGS OF THE LATE LIEUT. BOWDITCH AND A WOUNDED COMRADE. Ba HENRY I. BOWDITCH, M. D. PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE IN HARVARD COLLEGE, BOSTON: Cun IN Chit. AN eo. Bt BW IDS; 1863. te - te. re mee ee Richard Barksdale Harwell A BRIEF PLEA AN AMBULANCE SYSTEM FOR THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AS DRAWN FROM THE EXTRA SUFFERINGS OF THE LATE LIEUT. BOWDITCH AND A WOUNDED COMRADE. BY HENRY I. BOWDITCH, M. D. PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE IN HARVARD COLLEGE, BOS FO Re TICKNOR AND FIHLODS, 1863. A 3 : . : i a. 2 . # . ‘ al i. 2? ae Pal? Pl % r) ’ i i re. ' be oo. 4 Sew ‘ Om et Me f. i s ; A] f ; j ‘ f 4% ’ olive yi i Te 5 ' ‘ = | be ’ $ J } * r » | 7 Fuse Uherar ))! 8 Vs i! Ke Py ae E +0 mm % .! . Chet tte? y ~ | I ay ' ‘oo. y PR ee y meth ” BS +}' F a fi tt. ~ ¢ ad : pw oe tn Cae (ea h §39S) } eae uy ) a. t x "2 oot oF ’ 4 i * ¢ ‘ afd Te We? Bee tay 4 fi . th TL G PR ATa Se.) EE Ae 4 . d j . Le t ‘ en 7m eae J oy, 4 Pm ' ) “ A ait PO ; Bere ES et 3 4 Pe kc ny ay a *) re De 48S x f te ‘ iv cal if Pas Me “ { 7 P ia ' eek. s or tt | i * die ~ 4 be “ ih tay F < i . > fer - . d ‘ + at! ¥ Py, fs ; 3%, - Pes is “ws Ae or) ry ei ~ To tHe Loyat anp HumAne Hearts or NortHeRN MEN AND WomMEN. Some extra copies of this Plea for an Ambulance System in the United States Armies, are printed from an Appendix to a Valedic- tory Address, delivered before a Class of Medical Students. I know of no other way, in which any man can fully act up to the duties of the hour, than by a faithful expression, in thought and action, of whatever his mind or his hands may find to do towards assisting the country and our brave army in their present trials. Providentially, as I deem it, I have been twice brought to know the wretched want of system now existing in the arrangements for taking care of the wounded on the field of battle, viz: — during my visit to Centreville, in September last, and from the dying statements of my son. I am fully sensible of the imperfections of this appeal to the men and women of the North. I make it, however, under a solemn sense of responsibility. I should be faithless to what I deem a high trust, were I to allow any fear of making an imperfect state- ment to deter me, and, on that account, should keep silence. Let me earnestly appeal to all loyal and humane hearts to look into this matter for themselves, and then, I am sure, something will be done. The responsibility for allowing these evils to continue, rests with you. I pray you not to fail of using your most active exer- tions to overcome them. HENRY I. BOWDITCH. i * ; ne ‘ds _ " ee é iY ” oe ‘ ‘ - ‘ ? : ‘ ‘ ? * \ \ Tal r f 4 A » . : m wr; ‘ va 4 * at ¥ i, 1 * , . i ’ ‘ js « he ; a i ¢. CR Ar: ritpes im ft ‘ Eid ‘ * 4% He aE OF aie ind Bit. Tyme hirer j i) n! ‘ om | ae 4 RAF ore vie oe at hy OV 002 > ae Mi Ji rh vt dt!) ae a4 “Whe rz ee eet j tal : éUcs ¥ i i 4 vw cas Of Li be. : . “ 7 ' , 7 “ee we - ic < } Y " m eg a } 4 ‘ies al Ag ‘¥ + dy ste “ae Sis 4 . 2 % } ‘ : 7 ‘ bd ‘ . A . 7 ee ple ae. cr i RRO. Lye eee be ae ev ft pion f om i . 7! ea, re i a eithe Mak’ ie ©: § ney ae oa 2) » A ED vehi y aN Pe Pe a ‘ , ' P bios a by bbe e tar: en oy eas e Rep De fee Ata er .. PORE Se APE, ‘ : 4 \} 47504 i A BRIEF PLEA For an Ambulance System for the Army of the United States, as drawn from the extra sufferings of the late Lieut. Bowditch and a wounded comrade. The foregoing address is printed, as will be seen by the annexed correspondence, in accordance with the wishes of the Graduating Medical Class of Harvard College, as expressed in its vote of March 11, 1863. The publication has been delayed, in consequence of my journey to the camp of the First Massachusetts Cav- alry, to bring home the dead body of my eldest son, who had Galtent while leading a charge in this war for free institutions, and for liberty. I little thought that, in less than one week from the hour at which I, in a few words, at the conclusion of my address, begged of the earnest youths, then before me, to do everything they could to alleviate the suffer- ings of the sick and wounded soldiers, I should have presented to me the terrible thought that my own son would, -perhaps, need the care of stranger surgeons and soldiers for his own relief in his dying hour. Since his death, I think that I stand in different, and, may I not say? somewhat wider relations, than 6 those I enjoyed from the teacher's chair. Resting as I now do under the solemn cloud-shadow of a great but benignant sorrow, I hope that some words I may now write, will reach beyond the confines of my profession, and touch other human intellects and hearts, — intellects and hearts of men and women, who will have influence upon those in power, and who will, with me, endeavor to persuade our leaders to do simple justice toward every wounded soldier in the armies of the United States. May I not believe that now I can, of myself, exert a greater moral influence upon those in power, and that I can now do something — as all my previous efforts seem to have been vain — toward persuading the authorities to take some measures, that will secure to our wounded soldiers the Nation’s fostering care, from the first moment of their fall upon the bloody field, until they arrive in our well supplied and most excel- lent hospitals. This is not the case at present; for, under the want of all proper arrangements by the Government, a wounded soldier is liable to be left to suffer, and die, it may be, on the battle-ground, without the least attention, save what common humanity would lead one soldier to bestow upon a comrade. This happens, first, because Congress steadily refuses to establish any definite and efficient Ambulance Corps in the armies of the Republic; second, because the War Department declines to do anything in the prem- 1S€S. As an illustration of, and in addition to what has been already published by others, as well as by my- 7 self,* I beg leave to state that Lieut. Bowditch, having been mortally wounded, in the first charge made after leaving Kelly’s Ford, lay helpless on the ground, for some time, by the side of his dead horse. ‘Two sur- geons saw him, but they evidently had no means for carrying off the wounded officer, and it is believed no one connected with an Ambulance Corps ever approached him there.t A stranger horseman, — probably from the Rhode Island forces, — finally assisted him to get into a sad- dle ; and he rode off, leaning over the neck of the ani- mal, —a terrible mode of proceeding, considering his severe wound in the abdomen. All this happened when he was in the rear of our victorious army, or, in other words, at just the place and time, at which a thorough Ambulance Corps should have been busily at work, seeking out, and relieving, with every means a great Government should have had at its disposal, the wretched and, perhaps, dying sufferers. But what, in reality, does the Government do to meet such an emer- gency? It provides a carriage, which a perfectly healthy man would find exceedingly uncomfortable to drive in, even for a few miles, and one driver, some- times not the most humane: ‘There are, also, I doubt not, various articles of surgical dressings, etc., for the wounded ; but these articles are generally far in the * Appendix A. + Three days after the fight, I heard several staff officers, — one of whom, certainly, was a surgeon, — talk, not as if they approved of the fact, but as if it were a matter of course, — saying that they “thought” a flag of truce ought to be sent over the river, to see to our wounded, many of whom were then, as they believed, still lying on the field! 8 rear of the army. The United States Government did not then, and never does, provide any men, whose duty it is to hasten to meet and to relieve these hours of poignant suffering. After Lieut. Bowditch arrived at the ambulance carriage, there was no water to be found in the casks, connected with it, although, by law, there should have been. The driver was wholly igno- rant of the names of those whom he was carrying. He actually, and in answer to a direct question from Col. Curtis, denied that Lieut. Bowditch was one of them. He did not get any water for the Lieutenant and his still more suffering comrade, although both longed and asked for it! A wretched and dying Sergeant begged much for it, and in vain! Had it not been for the kind- ness of Col. Curtis, who, after much difficulty, found out where my son was, no water would probably have been procured for either of the parched sufferers. As it was, it arrived at last, too late for the Sergeant, who was so much exhausted as to be unable to avail him- self of the cup, finally proffered him by his wounded comrade. I mention these shortcomings, as I deem them, of the Administration and of Congress, with great reluctance, and without a trace of any feeling, save of sorrow. A few months ago, when treating of this same subject, I felt, and may have, at times, expressed, indignation, — not an unrighteous one, however, I hope,—at such neglect. Now, with the solemn memories of the past few weeks resting on me, I am sure that all will be- lieve that sadness, not anger, must be uppermost in my mind. But. I would fain plead, with all the earn- estness a stricken father might be supposed to have, 9 when in sight of the mangled dead body of a darling, first-born son, that such enormities, as are now liable to happen, under the present want of any proper ambulance system in the United States army, shall not be permitted hereafter. So far as the ensuing summer campaign is to be considered, it is already too late to do anything. The Senate of the United States, under the leadership of the Chairman of its Military Committee —an honorable Senator from Massachusetts — refused, a few days be- fore the late Congress adjourned, to concur in the passage of a bill, previously passed, unanimously, by the House of Representatives. I am not an advocate of any particular bill or special plan. I only ask for some system. ‘The Senate considered the plan pro- posed ‘‘impracticable,” and therefore declined doing anything! * If all things were managed by mortals, according to such a mode of reasoning, very little progress would be made, very little humanity be prac- tised, in this world. The Senate and Government of this free people, decline to do for its citizen volunteer sol- diery, what every despot of Europe carefully looks after, with reference to his conscripts or his hirelings! Some have asked, ‘‘ But does not the Government do all it can? What do you want?” My reply is, a corps of detailed soldiers, or, what may be deemed better, a corps of honest, brave, and humane men, en- listed for this special duty, is needed. Such a corps exists in every army in Europe. I have now before me a pamphlet devoted solely to giving an account of the French and English ambulance systems. From it I will quote the following table : 2 * Appendix B. 10 § Gg ¥ 9 T Op |-T 5 ae or fe 2 9 | 2 0% Gacritieh I z j fp g 9 F 8 F 8 $ 8 ¢ Or Ce eae Ge et Bo 8 Po) me lee FP ery re [ez Pate) Ge lear 9c $szs0djno ano yo syruy ogy ur | SG P € 9 5 8 G FL 8 OT or 0% II GO pe Suyjz0v Suu [0d Jo yo a1 g $1 € ¢ 9 $ 8 9 rf Z FI 6 SI me ote anne Wie CV ane Py z 3% F F 8 g OL g Or ¢ Or 9 rat dv or10y UdALs szunoUls oy, I Zz I ~ I x z - ~ Fa x BS z } I 3j I j 3 P € 9 ¢ 9 p 8 F 8 ‘dWVO DONWINANV NOI CACHAN SHIOLLUV AGNV SATAW = €% a G2 ae OF ae Gg os G9 wg 2 ey 06 ee I ee j ee - ee 5 ee 9 ee 9 ee 8 ee T ee T ee g ee F ee - ee $ ee 9 ee ee ee 3 ee z ee € ee 5 a ee 5 ee 9 ~e I me t be . = : = I zn t ha I “- Ms = z _ 5 a 9 = 8 7 8 = OL ee T ee r ee iF ee re ee ¢ ee g ee - =f - = a a t he I es . 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