Today in History:

155 Series I Volume XLIX-I Serial 103 - Mobile Bay Campaign Part I

Page 155 THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN.

The wounded did not endure any exposure to wet, cold, or heat that was of long duration or sufficient to cause suffering. Rain fell heavily three days, but those wounded on the skirmish line, though remaining on the field until night, were protected by the rubber blankets of their comrades. The wounded were moved from the division hospitals to transports for transfer to New Orleans within two to four days after the injuries were received, accompanied by medical officers, cooks, and nurses, and furnished with medical and hospital supplies and rations, under orders from Surg. E. H. Abadie, chief medical officer, Army and Division of West Mississippi.

At the time of the assault on Blakely I was absent at Starke's Landing, paying attention to the transfer of wounded to transports, and having no notification of intended action did not provide for the necessities of the field. I am informed that three hours' delay occurred in removing some of the wounded of this corps from the field. The next morning I found all the wounded of the First and Second Divisions, who participated in the assault, gathered into division hospitals. In the First Division all necessary operations performed, and in the Second Division all but one. This man was ordered to be retained for operation, but by some misapprehension was sent on the next day to New Orleans on transport, and, I am informed, died on the passage as the result of the neglect. The Second Division hospital was not in a creditable condition. But it is impossible for a surgeon in charge (in advance) to judge unerringly of the comparative executive ability of the various surgeons newly placed under his direction. Those wounded at this assault were sent to New Orleans, by the way of Starke's Landing, thirty-six hours afterward. Medical officers accompanied them, a

surgeon in charge, an assistant to each fifty patients, and one nurse to each fifteen patients. Rations also, and medical and hospital supplies for three days, were sent with them. Hay was drawn by requisition on quartermaster's department, and a liberal amount placed in the ambulances, which transferred the severe cases, and in the six division wagons which carried the sick and slightly wounded, for whom the ambulance accommodations were insufficient. The wounds received in this assault, it is believed, were principally from musketry fire. The proportion of amputations to the number of wounded at Spanish Fort was large, as the majority of wounds during the first days of the siege were from the explosion of shell.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. B. WHITE,

Surgeon, U. S. Vols., Medical Director, Thirteenth Army Corps.

Colonel E. H. ABADIE,

Surgeon, U. S. Army, Chief Medical Officer,

Army and Division of West Mississippi.


Numbers 11. Reports of Brigadier General James C. Veatch, U. S. Army, commanding First Division, of operations March 18-April 12.


HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
Mobile, Ala., April 1, 1865.

MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this command in front of Spanish Fort:

On Sunday, March 26, 1865, the Twenty-first Iowa, of General Slack's brigade, being in advance, they commenced skirmishing with the


Page 155 THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN.