Chapter XVIII: Appendix: B

REPORT OF DR. JOHN W. LYMAN,

Surgeon of the Fifty-Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Camp near Poolesville, Md., Headquarters 57th Regiment, Pa. Volunteers.

October 23, 1862.

The 57th Regiment, P. V., was organized at Harrisburg, Pa., and was mustered into the United States service in the latter part of October, 1861.

While in Camp Curtin the men suffered, like most other newly organized regiments, from rubeola, in common with the whole camp. Variola was also present, but by thorough and careful vaccination of the men as fast as recruited its spread was prevented, only two cases of varioloid occurring in the regiment. Typhoid fever, incident to the season in that region, diarrhoea and dysentery, the result of sudden change of diet, and other habits of life, as well as the crowded state of the camp, involving imperfect police arrangements, bad sinks, etc., together with the usual excesses of raw recruits, contributed to keep the sick list of the regiment, at that time numbering about 800 men, up to the average of fifty cases in hospital and quarters, or a little over 6 per cent.

During the prevalence of rubeola the regiment was ordered to Washington, D. C., about the middle of December, and though the intention of the medical officer was to have left all cases of measles behind, what with the anxiety of the convalescents to go along, and new cases occurring on the way, it was found when reaching Washington, that we had no less than fifteen cases of rubeola in various stages of progress, and in three days nearly double that number.

The men were very much exposed to the effects of cold during the trip, being two days and nights in open cars. The site selected for a camp--near Bladensburg toll-gate--was a bad one, low and wet. The result was many cases of pneumonia as a complication or sequella of rubeola, with innumerable catarrhs of all degrees of severity. Four cases of pneumonia resulted fatally the second week. Many more were sent to the general hospital as soon as admittance could be obtained for them. At first admittance was refused for fear of infecting the hospitals. Stimulants were freely used with benefit in simple rubeola as well as that complicated with pneumonia.

A change of camp to better ground about the 1st of January, 1862, together with a full supply of medical and hospital stores, effected a gradual improvement, but the appearance of mumps among the men before the measles had entirely disappeared kept the sick list large all winter, sometimes as great a proportion as 10 per cent. of the whole command. The men were quartered in Sibley tents, not more than 10 or 12 in a tent, inspected daily, and by great care in cleanliness and ventilation, typhus fever was avoided, and but few cases of typhoid appeared.

In February we were moved to near Fort Lyon, below Alexandria, and placed in General Jameson's brigade, from which time until nearly the last of August, the military history is nearly identical with that of the other regiments of the same brigade and its medical history similar. They were the 63d and 105th Pennsylvania and the 87th New York Volunteers.

On the 17th of March we were shipped on board transports at Alexandria for Fortress Monroe, where we were landed at dark during a cold rain storm, to which the men were exposed during the night, in and by the roadside, without any protection whatever. The next day and night they were quartered in open horse sheds. Then for two weeks they were camped in open fields near Hampton, in shelter-tents, in the use of which the men were entirely unskilled, a matter of more moment than would at first appear. The result of the unusual exposure was the appearance of dysentery to considerable extent among the men, even at that early season.

On the 4th and 5th of April we were marched from Hampton to within three miles of Yorktown and confined for one week within short range of the rebel guns. A heavy rain flooded the tents for four days, during two of which neither officers nor men had anything to eat. The brigade was then moved back half a mile into the woods, to a spot in the immediate vicinity of several large marshes; in fact, the camp itself was little better than a swamp. For three weeks the men walked in mud, slept in mud, and drank water from holes scooped out in the mud. The combined remonstrance of the medical officers of the brigade, that a "month's continuance in that place would deprive the Government of the services of one-half the men and officers," was met by the silencing reply: "It is a military necessity."

The subsequent amount of sickness shows that our fears were well founded. The malaria imbibed in the marshes and swamps at Yorktown, together with the excessive amount of labor performed there, on picket and in the trenches, debilitated our men for months, putting dozens of them in their graves and rendered hundreds of them unfit for service for months, many of them for life.

We had one man killed by a shell and five wounded while before Yorktown, in the skirmish of the "peach orchard," and two by accident, one shot through the penis and scrotum, above the testicle, and behind the cord and thigh, by a small sized rifle bullet, recovered rapidly by simple dressing. One shot through the leg died afterwards in general hospital. Remainder slight wounds.

On the 4th of May we again marched in pursuit of the enemy, leaving forty-three sick in hospital and sending four back next day, mostly cases of remittent fever, some diarrhoea and dysentery.

The 5th we marched nine miles through deep mud and rain to the battlefield in front of Williamsburg, the last four and a half on the double quick and a run. The men, exhausted, in profuse perspiration, and wet to the skin, were obliged to lie on their arms during the night without either blankets or fires. From that hour the sickness of the regiment increased frightfully, six or eight new cases occurring daily. We left twenty-seven men in hospital at Williamsburg, sent six to transports at West Point when opposite that place, sent sixty away at Cumberland Landing, left forty-eight at Baltimore Store, and had sixty-four on the sick list at Bottom's Bridge on the 31st of May.

At the battle of Fair Oaks, on the last day of May, we lost of men and officers eleven killed and forty-nine wounded. Of the last, twenty-three were wounds of the upper extremities, two requiring amputation of the arm, and one exsection of the elbow joints; twelve of the lower extremities, four of thigh, seven of leg, and one of knee joint, eight of trunk (three serious); six of head (one serious), and two of both upper and lower extremities.

While at Fair Oaks from the 1st to the 29th of June, the regiment suffered greatly from fever and dysentery, the first of miastamic origin, which, together with the effect of constant apprehension, rendered the nervous system highly impressible. Hence the marked effect of the malaria upon the nervous centers, especially the spine, as evidenced by the almost constantly present--to a greater or less degree--numbing of the extremities with partial paralysis of the lower, usually severe pain in the hips and lumbar region, with great depression of spirits, etc.

The diarrhoea, as well as all diseases resulting from bad digestion or affections of the digestive organs, were caused mainly, if not entirely, by improper habits of cooking and eating. Each soldier cooked for himself, having no other implements than a small tin pail made from fruit can, a tin cup and a borrowed frying pan. Every leisure moment was devoted to cooking and eating; meat of every description was fried instead of being boiled. All regularity in eating was lost, except that uncertain kind, produced by relief from the routine of duty. Nor can any remedy be suggested short of the entire removal of the cooking business from the hands of the soldier, and placing it in charge of a competent corps organized for that special purpose. Soldiers cannot march and fight each with a complete stock of cooking furniture on his back.

In an active campaign like that on the Peninsula, officers suffer from bad cooking equally with the men. Servants are an uncertain kind of dependencies and often obliged to cook for himself, the officer is of course as unskilled as the soldier. A regimental mess for the officers of this regiment under charge of a competent cook, established a few weeks ago, has already proved decidedly advantageous. A similar arrangement for the men, for instance by companies, would be found to be as great an improvement.

For five days before commencing the retreat from before Richmond to Harrison's Landing our men were almost constantly on duty. On the 29th of June they skirmished all day, then marched half of the night. The next day (30th) they fought at Charles City Cross Roads, losing seven killed and fifty-six wounded, most of whom fell into the hands of the enemy. They watched until two o'clock a. m., July 1st, then marched to Malvern Hill, fought there, losing two killed and eight wounded; remained on picket until 9 a. m. next morning, then marched twelve miles through deep mud and hard rain to Harrison's Landing, camped at night in the mud, then moved three miles and camped permanently for outpost duty.

All were exhausted and disheartened, scarcely a well man in the regiment, two hundred and thirty on the sick list for the first few days. Scurvy made its appearance to a small extent, yet sufficient to complicate and multiply other ailments. However, a few weeks' rest, abundance of fresh vegetables, lemons and ice, and we were ready to commence the retreat from the Peninsula with two hundred and fifty men for duty, having lost four by death at Harrison's Landing--two by typhoid fever, one from entraperitonitis and one from phthisis pulmonalis.

On reaching Alexandria we immediately moved to the Rappahannock, had no sickness of moment except two cases of sunstroke, being actively engaged, yet not overworked.

We had three wounded at Bull Run, one in the hand, one in the hip, and one in the breast and face. These last two have since died.

The present health of the regiment is good and its moral condition excellent.

The general conclusions we arrive at are:

First.--That constant seasonable activity is necessary to promote the health of the regiment.

Second.--Men accustomed to exposure in the open air when attacked by fever of any kind, recover with much more certainty and much sooner in tents than in general hospitals in houses, probably because less crowded and admitting more perfect ventilation, and free access to light.

J. W. LYMAN,

Surgeon 57th Reg't., Pa. Vols.