Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/137

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The Medical History of the Confederate States. 131

period specified, embracing the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga, the sick and wounded of the Armies of Tennessee and Mississippi numbered more than two hundred thousand.

Surely from this mass of suffering humanity, valuable records and practical precepts in the practice of medicine and military surgery must have been evolved. It was and is the solemn duty of every member of the Medical Corps of the Army of Tennessee to place the results of his experience in a tangible form, accessible to his comrades ; and no officer, however important his position during the Confederate.struggle, has the right to withhold for his personal bene- fit the Hospital and Medical Records of the Army of Tennessee. These views are applicable to the medical and surgical statistics of the several armies of the late Confederacy east and west of the Mis- sissippi.

The Armies of Tennessee and Mississippi, under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, sustained a loss of killed, one thousand two hundred and twenty-one, wounded, eight thousand two hundred and twenty-nine; total, nine thousand four hundred and fifty in the series of engagements around and from Dalton, Georgia, to the Etowah river, May yth to May 3Oth, 1864; series of engagements around New Hope Church, near Marietta, June i, July 4, 1864.

The Army of Tennessee (the Army of Mississippi being merged into it), under the command of General J. B. Hood, during the series of engagements around Atlanta and Jonesboro July 4 to Sep- tember i, 1864, loss, killed, one thousand eight hundred and twenty- three, wounded, ten thousand seven hundred and twenty-three; total, twelve thousand five hundred and forty-six.

During a period of four months the Armies of Tennessee and Mis- sissippi fought no less than six important battles, and sustained a loss of killed, three thousand and forty-four, wounded eighteen thousand nine hundred and fifty-two. Total killed and wounded, twenty-one thousand nine hundred and ninety six.

During the month of October, 1864, the Army of Tennessee lost killed, one hundred and eighteen; wounded, six hundred and twenty- two ; total, seven hundred and forty. During the month of No- vember : Killed, one thousand and eighty-nine; wounded, three thousand one hundred and thirty-one ; total, four thousand two hun- dred and twenty. These casualties include the bloody battle of Franklin, Tennessee, fought November 30, 1864.*

  • Report of Surgeon A. J. Foard, Medical Director Army of Tennessee.