Fifteen Months in Dixie; Or, My Personal Experience in Rebel PrisonsDay, W. W. (William Worthy)
History
Fifteen Months in Dixie; Or, My Personal Experience in Rebel Prisons
Day, W. W. (William Worthy)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons
When a gangrenous wound needed washing, the limb was thrust out a
little from the blanket, or board, or rags upon which the patient
was laying, and water poured over it, and all the putrescent matter
allowed to soak into the ground floor of the tent. The supply of
rags for dressing wounds was said to be very scant, and I saw the
most filthy rags which had been applied several times, and
imperfectly washed, used in dressing wounds. Where hospital gangrene
was prevailing, it was impossible for any wound to escape contagion
under these circumstances. The result of the treatment of wounds in
the hospital were of the most unsatisfactory character, from this
neglect of cleanliness, in the dressings and wounds themselves, as
well as from various other causes which will be more fully
considered. I saw several gangrenous wounds filled with maggots. I
have frequently seen neglected wounds among Confederate soldiers
similarly affected; and as far as my experience extends these worms
destroy only the dead tissues and do not injure specially the well
parts. I have even heard surgeons affirm that a gangrenous wound
which had been thoroughly cleansed by maggots, healed more rapidly
than if it had been left to itself. This want of cleanliness on the
part of the nurses appeared to be the result of carelessness and
inattention, rather than of malignant design, and the whole trouble
can be traced to the want of proper police and sanitary regulations
and to the absence of intelligent organization and division of
labor.
The abuses were in large measure due to the almost total absence of
system, government, and rigid, but wholesome sanitary regulations.
In extenuation of these abuses it was alleged by the medical
officers that the Confederate troops were barely sufficient to guard
the prisoners, and that it was impossible to obtain any number of
experienced nurses from the Confederate forces. In fact the guard
appeared to be too small, even for the regulation of the internal
hygiene and police of the hospital.
The manner of disposing of the dead was also calculated to depress
the already desponding spirits of these men, many of whom have been
confined for months, and even for nearly two years in Richmond and
other places, and whose strength had been wasted by bad air, bad
food, and neglect of personal cleanliness.
The dead-house is merely a frame covered with old tent cloth and a
few brushes, situated in the south-western corner of the hospital
grounds. When a patient dies, he is simply laid in the narrow street
in front of his tent, until he is removed by Federal negroes
detailed to carry off the dead; if a patient dies during the night
he lies there until morning, and during the day, even the dead were
frequently allowed to remain for hours in these walks. In the
dead-house the corpses lie upon the bare ground, and were in most
cases covered with filth and vermin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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