Today in History:

223 Series I Volume XXX-I Serial 50 - Chickamauga Part I

Page 223 Chapter XLII. THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN.

about the same until the men were able to procure blackberries, which were very abundant, and green corn, when it diminished to 4 per cent, and continued at that rate until after the battle of Chickamauga.

When the army marched from Murfreesborough, on the 24th of June, everything that related to preparation - in the medical department - for a vigorous campaign was in readiness and as complete in appointments as could be desired.

Skirmishing with the enemy was quite brisk at Hoover's and Liberty Gaps, on the 25th and 26th of June. As the result of these encounters, together with the subsequent pursuit of the enemy as far as the foot of the Cumberland chain of mountains, about 400 wounded had to be provided for. These were mostly sent to Murfreesborough. At Tullahoma a number of tents abandoned by the enemy were erected for men broken down on the march, and a building constructed for a hotel, of capacity sufficient for one hundred beds, was opened as a hospital. Four hospital tents were erected in the hospital yard for wounded men.

A few days after the occupancy of Tullahoma, the railroad was repaired and such of the sick and wounded as would bear removal were sent to the rear.

As the Twenty-first Army Corps occupied the line of the railway to McMinnville, I directed Surgeon Phelps, U. S. Volunteers, medical director, to open temporary hospitals at Manchester and McMinnville, making use of his reserve supplies for this purpose. The Fourteenth Army Corps established itself at Decherd, at the same time occupying the town of Winchester. A few hospital tents were erected at Winchester, and a church and school-house were occupied as temporary hospitals. A division of the Twentieth Army Corps was pushed forward on the line of the railroad, the advance occupying Stevenson about the 25th of July.

In order to secure ample hospital accommodations, as well as to be prepared for a general advance, I directed that half of the field hospital at Murfreesborough be brought to Cowan, a small town at the foot of the Cumberland Mountains. This was accomplished, and the hospital made ready for the reception of patients several days before the army crossed the mountain.

As soon as the army took up its march for the Valley of the Tennessee River, I directed the remainder of the Murfreesborough field hospital to be transferred to Stevenson, and, upon the occupancy of Bridgeport, I directed that a small tent hospital be established at that point also.

During these movements, the hospital train was running regularly to Nashville, where all proper cases for hospitals were thus kept comparatively empty until the order was given to march. The supplies for these hospitals were brought from Nashville and Murfreesborough, leaving the reserve supplies for the corps almost untouched.

There was nothing of special interest transpired while the army lay on the north side of the river. A slight increase of the malarial diseases was observed, but not enough to excite apprehension.

By the 25th of August, every preparation had been made for an advance upon Chattanooga; the field hospitals at Stevenson and Bridgeport were in readiness for reception of patients, though not as complete in appointments as was desirable.

During the 1st day of September the army crossed the river and


Page 223 Chapter XLII. THE CHICKAMAUGA CAMPAIGN.