Surgical notes of cases of gunshot injuries occurring during the advance of the Army of the Cumberland in the summer of 1863 / by I. Moses.

  • Moses, Israel, 1821-1870.
Date:
[1864?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgical notes of cases of gunshot injuries occurring during the advance of the Army of the Cumberland in the summer of 1863 / by I. Moses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    CMXXV [Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences for April 1864.J SURGICAL NOTES CASES OF GUNSHOT INJURIES OCCURRING DURING THE ADVANCE OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND IN THE SUMMER OF 1863. By I. MOSES, M.D., SURGEON U. S. V., MEDICAL DIRECTOR. In compliance with orders to report for duty to the commanding officer of the department of the Cumberland, I proceeded to Murfreesborough and was assigned to duty as medical director, April 29th, 1863. This village was formerly a pleasant place of residence, with about twenty-fiw hundred inhabitants, most of whom were engaged in trade. The stores are situated on the four sides of a square, with the court-house, a handsome brick struc- ture, in the centre. The streets, not wide, lead thence in several directions, and have on either side wooden cottages and occasional brick mansions of more pretensions surrounded with gardens; the surrounding country is gently undulating with fine woods. The whole locality is limestone, cropping out near the surface into vast ledges with little or no superin- cumbent soil. The water, whether of Stone River, its tributaries, or from springs, is decidedly limestone, and produces irritation of the bowels for several days in persons newly arriving; there are a few good springs of pure water, but the inhabitants prefer rain water collected in cisterns. The majority of the inhabitants, especially males, had left the place, being actively engaged in the ranks of the Confederate army. This being the headquarters and the front of our forces, was the centre of our line, extending from Franklin on the right to nearly McMinnville on the left. Our forces encamped around the town, the buildings were principally occupied as headquarters of generals, the staff departments, and as hospitals. There were in all thirteen hospitals, as follows:— Field hospital, under charge of Surgeon J. Y. Finley, 2d Kentucky Cavalry, composed of hospital tents erected two together, end to end, in streets, with wooden houses as kitchens and dining-rooms, capable of accommodating sixteen hundred sick or wounded. A garden of forty acres was being planted in the grounds on the south side of the banks of Stone River. This hospital was between the field works and the river,