Army doctors in the field.
Dr. Irwine is seen seated to the right of the tent pole, while the assistant surgeon faces him on the left.
The quarters of a regimental surgeon were generally established on the line of the officers' tents, and he was usually open to calls at all hours.
If he was a strict disciplinarian, he would only attend what was termed ‘the doctor's call’ on the morning of each day. The words which the men humorously fitted to the notes of this call went: ‘Come and get your quinine, quinine, quinine; come and get your quinine—quii-ni-ine!’
The Seventy-second New York took part in the
battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863, and in the pursuit of
Lee, and did duty along the line of the
Rappahannock till October of that year.
Its wounded were many, and the surgeons' duties were exacting during battle and for days thereafter.
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An army doctor in the field C. K. Irwine, surgeon of the seventy-second New York infantry September, 1863 |
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