Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 03.djvu/193



March 20th, 1865—I have suffered severely for several days from cold and hoarseness, with an occasional fever, and Dr. Hays, Chief of our Division, advised and obtained an order for my transfer to the hospital. I reluctantly consented to go, for I had a feeling recollection of my unkind treatment in other Yankee prison hospitals, and shrank from a renewal of my very unpleasant acquaintance with them. Thoughts of Knowles of West's Hospital, and of Heger of Point Lookout Hospital, have caused me to dread my treatment at the Fort Delaware Hospital. Growing worse, however, I went, and was registered in ward 11. All of my clothing was taken from me, and I was clad in shirt and drawers of coarse texture, belonging to the hospital, and which had probably been frequently used before by smallpox and other diseased patients. My crutches were also taken from me. "Doctor" Miller, a youth of perhaps twenty years, diagnosed my disease and pronounced it "remittent fevorfever [sic]." He prescribed pills. Judging by Miller's manners and appearance, he must be some medical student practicing to gain experience solely, or he has but recently graduated. The accommodations are as good as could be expected in a place conducted without regard to system, and where the patients are under the charge of such young and totally inexperienced physicians. At the head of each bunk or bed a card is suspended against the the wall, having on it the name and rank of the patient, character of his disease, and number of his bed. Corn mush, without salt or milk, composed my supper.

March 21st—Meals are quite scanty in quantity and uninviting in quality, and the officers from Hilton Head and Fort Pulaski, afflicted with scurvy, are constantly complaining of hunger, and wishing for meal hour to arrive. Mush made of yellow corn meal is the usual supper. The poor fellows suffering from scurvy are a sad sight, as they walk in their hospital garb of shirt and drawers (which are oftentimes either too large and long, or too tight and short for the wearers), from their beds to the stove. Their legs and feet are so drawn as to compel them to walk on tiptoe, their heels being unable to reach the floor. How necessary a few vegetables are to these helpless sufferers. The "best Government the world