Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/142

 136 Southern Historical Society Papers.

war under any one Confederate commander. If we add to this the losses occurring in the field and general hospitals, from sickness, discharges, deaths and desertions, the loss sustained by the Confed- erate forces in these operations would equal an army of at least seventy-five thousand.

The heart of the Southern patriot stands still at the recital of these humiliating details. The Confederate commander, General J. C. Pemberton, was not merely outnumbered, but he~ was outgeneraled by his Northern antagonists.

What medical and surgical records have been preserved of this mass of suffering, disease and death ? Who has written the medical history of the sufferings of the brave defenders of Vicksburg ?

Fellow soldiers and comrades of the Confederate Army and Navy, I accepted the honor conferred upon me by one of the most illustri- ous captains of the struggle for Southern independence, not because it conferred power or pecuniary emoluments, but solely that I might in some manner further the chosen project of my life. When my native State, Georgia, seceded from the Federal union in January, 1861, I placed my sword and my life at her service. Entering as a private of cavalry, I served in defense of the sea coast in 1861, and although acting as surgeon to this branch of the service, I performed all the duties required of the soldier in the field. Entering the medi- cal service of the Confederate army in 1862, 1 served as surgeon up to the date of my surrender in May, 1865. Through the confidence and kindness of Surgeon-General S. P. Moore, Confederate States Army, I was enabled to inspect the great armies, camps, hospitals, beleagured cities and military prisons of the Southern Confederacy.

The desire of my soul, and the ambition of my entire life, was to preserve, as far as possible, the medical and surgical records of the Confederate army during this gigantic struggle.

The defeat of our armies and the destruction of our government only served to increase my interest and still further to engage all my energies in this great work, which, under innumerable difficulties, I have steadily prosecuted in Augusta, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, up to this happy moment when I greet the stern but noble faces of the survivors of the Confederate Army and Navy.

I hold this position, which has neither military fame nor financial resources, solely for the right which it gives me to issue a last appeal for the preservation of the Medical and Surgical Records of the Medical Corps of the Confederate Army and Navy.