IN the hospitals of the army during the Civil War 6,049,648 cases were treated by the officers of the Medical Department. The medical skill of the surgeons and physicians is evidenced by the fact that only 185,353 of these patients died during their detention in the hospitals. While a large number of these soldiers suffered from gunshot wounds, the disease of chronic diarrhoea was nearly as fatal, and its deadliness was closely followed by the ravages of typhoid fever and lung diseases. It is estimated that 285,245 men were discharged during the war for disability. A tribute should be paid to the nobility of the hospital corps. Many noble men and women did great service to their country in relieving the sufferings that followed the battles. After many of the terrific conflicts the ground was strewn with the dead and dying. The wounded, in whom there was a hope of life, were given immediate care and hurried on stretchers to nearby houses and barns from which floated the yellow flag of the Medical Department. Large hospital tents were erected near the scene of battle. At times all the rooms in the surrounding farmhouses were full of wounded; the injured men were laid on cornstalks and hay in the barns. Sometimes it was impossible to find shelter for them all and they were laid on boards inclined against fences. Many of the large trees formed a shelter for a temporary hospital, where the men were laid in rows while the attendants administered to their wants. In no previous war in the history of the world was so much done to alleviate suffering as in the War of 1861-1865. But notwithstanding all that was done, the wounded suffered horribly. After any great battle it required several days and nights of steady work before all the wounded men were gathered. [Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE AMBULANCE CORPS WERE REMOVING WOUNDED SOLDIERS TO THE FIELD HOSPITAL] [Illustration: SMOKESTACK OF EXPLODED RAM "VIRGINIA" IN 1865] [Illustration: CONFEDERATE ARTILLERY ON WHARVES NEAR RICHMOND] [Illustration: RUINED LOCOMOTIVE AFTER FALL OF RICHMOND IN 1865] [Illustration: AMBULANCE CONVEYING JEFFERSON DAVIS AFTER HIS CAPTURE--PASSING THROUGH THE STREETS OF MACON, GEORGIA]