Hospital work in a farm-house after the battle of fair oaks
The old farm-house in this photograph was serving as a hospital for the troops of
Hooker's division after the
battle of Fair Oaks, in the month of June, 1862, when Mc-Clellan had made his passage up the
Peninsula in his celebrated campaign against
Richmond.
It lay to the right of the battlefield.
To it the wounded were hurried in ambulances.
The earliest arrivals were placed in the interior of the house and the slave-hut immediately adjacent.
Those who were brought in later rested in the tents shown in the lower photograph.
Patients are visible in the windows of the building.
Quite a number of the wounded soldiers who are able to walk have gathered in its shade and are giving earnest attention to the photographer.
The medical department was charged with the transportation of the sick and wounded.
This resulted not only in the organization of ambulance corps for duty on or near the battlefield, but in the organization and direction of wagon-trains, hospital railroad trains, and hospital ships plying from the field hospitals to those farther to the rear.
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Hospital work in a farm-house after the battle of fair oaks—June, 1862 |
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Tents for the overflow |
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