James D. Porter, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 7.1, Tennessee
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

When Dr. Stout was called upon to name the Tennesseeans who in his opinion were most distinguished for their services to the general and field hospitals, he named Doctors B. W. Avent, Frank Rice, J. R. Buist, R. W. Mitchell, W. L. Nichol, J. B. Murfree, Clayton, John Patterson, Compton, R. C. Foster, G. W. and John H. Currey, J. M. Kellar, J. B. Cowan, G. B. Thornton, C. C. Abernathy, J. F. Grant, and Bell, killed at Island No.10. A notice of this service is incomplete unless mention is made of the services of Dr. J. H. Bryson, a clergyman of Tennessee, appointed by General Bragg to look after the religious interests of the sick and wounded in the general hospitals. This devoted man gave every moment of his time to this service, and won the love and gratitude of all with whom he came in contact. His task was a herculean one, but he met it with the same courage characteristic of the men whose spiritual welfare he was seeking to promote.

No body of men in the service were more patriotic, more courageous and more self-sacrificing than the medical officers of Tennessee. They were on the battlefield, in the hospitals, often surrounded by contagious disease, but no one of them failed to discharge his full duty.