The governor gave Wythe a letter to the surgeon-general at Washington, which apparently prepared the way for him to take the examination for eligibility to a special corps of surgeons which was selected for special executive work in the medical service of the army. The scope of the examination, which was both written and clinical, may be judged from the fact that out of thirty applicants, only three passed, one of whom was Dr. Wythe.
His entrance into the medical service in the Civil War proved to be the preliminary step for our immediate interest in him. Upon passing the examination he was appointed assistant surgeon in the U. S. Volunteers, September 11, 1862. A short time later, on December 4, 1862, he was advanced to surgeon, with rank of major. His first assignment was to take entire charge of the U. S. Transport Hospital Ship Atlantic, carrying 870 sick and wounded from Alexandria, Va., to New York City. He was then sent to various hospitals in Washington, D. C, and was finally assigned to the duty of organizing Camp Banks, near Alexandria, Va. This was a hospital camp for paroled soldiers from prisons in the south, at one time containing three thousand men. The death rate when Wythe took charge was enormous, but in a short time under the new surgeon, it was so greatly reduced that Chief Justice Chase and his daughter presented the camp with a beautiful flag in token of this record and complimented the medical staff on the success of their efforts.
The following year Wythe was transferred to Sacramento, California, and stationed at Camp Union, Sacramento, where he was on duty[1] until October 10, 1863. He was then put in charge of Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay, but because of illness contracted after the
- ↑ Personal communication from Bureau of Pensions.
