The Field Hospitals

 Introduction

This page is inspired by the work of the late author Gregory Coco, whose book, 'A Strange and Blighted Land, Gettysburg:  Aftermath of a Battle'  - I highly recommend.  The author compiled and relates great quantities of material regarding the suffering and horrors at Gettysburg following the battle.  I can only offer this somewhat 'sanitized' version on the subject.

The Philadelphia Inquirer which leads off this page conveys some of this atmosphere; if one pauses and contemplates the scenes described.  Sarah Broadhead's experiences are also liberally quoted to convey these sensations, and the resolve so many citizens needed to cope with the numbers of dead and wounded soldiers, as well as the rotting horse flesh prevalent on the battlefield.  It took months to clean up. The story of Miss Gilson, Gettysburg Nurse follows Sarah's journal entries and continues on the same theme.  With these pieces setting the tone the stories continue with a few brief entries from the 13th Mass.

Private John Shaw, Company A, writes a few letters home from Letterman Hospital, the large Medical Facility established to care for the wounded after the battle. Next, Melvin Walker of Company K describes some of his over-all hospital experiences during the war. This is followed by several newspaper clips from the Boston Transcript and the Chelsea Telegraph & Pioneer, reporting to the home-front the fatalities of the battle.  The page ends with an extended biography of Captain Moses P. Palmer of Company I.  He was an important figure in the regiment, and his wounding at Gettysburg ended his military career in the Volunteer service.  Dont' miss the short remembrance at the end of the page for a surprising narrow escape from death in a most unexpected manner!

PICTURE CREDITS:  All  images are from the Library of Congress with the following exceptions:  Seminary Building from Maine at Gettysburg, Lakeside Press, Portland Maine, 1898, photo by P.J. Severance.;  Confederate Dead from the Chrysler Museum of Art, digital collections, [www.chrysler.org];   Sepia illustrations accompanying the Inquirer article are from 'Boys of '61' by Charles Carleton Coffin, accessed digitally;  Surgeon Alexander from Maine State Archives;  Color Vignettes from the Gettysburg Cyclorama are from Wikimedia Commons;  Camp Letterman Hospital from 'Gettysburg Daily', November 18, 2008.  [www.gettysburgdaily.com];  Wounded soldiers illustration from  Harper's Weekly, accessed at  [www.sonofthesouth.net];  Charles Reed's hospital sketches from New York Public Library Digital Collections,  [www.nypl.org];  Portraits of Edwin Field and Charles Leland courtesy of Mr. Scott Hann;   Moses Palmer's personal artifacts courtesy of Mr. George Oldenburg; Moses Palmer's portrait from State of Massachusetts Archives [http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/203239];  Henry Bacon illustration is from 'Deeds of Valor' accessed on-line;  Howard Pyle illustration from  'History and Romance, Works by Howard Pyle From the Brokaw Family Collection, Brandywine River Museum,1998.;  ALL IMAGES have been edited in PHOTOSHOP.

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Description of the Battlefield

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Wednesday, July 8, 1863.

THE GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

Interesting Details by our Special Correspondent — The Killed and Wounded.
MR BABCOCK’S LETTER.
Special Correspondence of the Inquirer.

TWO MILES BEYOND GETTYSBURG, July 5, 1863.

After three days of intense excitement, occasioned by our conflict of arms with the “Rebel hordes,” who deemed it policy to invade your loyal, peaceful State, and lay waste the pleasant homes there located, we are now settled down into comparative quiet. During the entire day and night, of yesterday our advance guard, who were thrown out as pickets, along the entire line, as well as those of the Rebels, were continually firing upon each other, and with such earnestness that hundreds of both parties were either killed or wounded.

The Battle-Field.

To-day have we made a tour of inspection over the three separate spots in this neighborhood where the desperate engagements of the first, second and third days of July were held; one to the west of Gettysburg, back of the Seminary; another south of the same place, near the Emmettsburg road, and a third upon the Cemetery Hill.

 All exhibit the same evidence of the fearful struggle for supremacy there taken place.  Every variety of military acoutrements, every species of arms, dilapidated artillery, wagons, abandoned and worthless ammunition, as well as dead horses, are scattered about in profusion.

Upon the battle-field in rear of the Seminary we witnessed at least as many as five hundred Rebel dead bodies lying in every conceivable position, and emitting a perfume anything but agreeable.  All this, too, after the enemy themselves had been in possession of the premises for two days after the battle.

 Upon the site of what is known as the Cemetery Hill battle, where the First and Second Corps fought so gallantly, the Eleventh not doing so well, besides other evidences of the fearful conflict which had there been raging, we counted eighty-one horses lying dead, from the effect of the shot and shell which had there been so fearfully raining. 

 Scarcely a house or barn in the immediate neighborhood of these battle-fields but are in some way injured, while many are totally destroyed, being set on fire by shells.  All along the many positions where our line of battle was formed, are evidences in the shape of hastily constructed breastworks, of the never failing ingenuity of the ready-handed Yankee.

 Our dead are all interred, while at the head of the grave of each some mark is placed, by which the body there buried can be recognized.

 Gettysburg.

During the afternoon of Saturday the above named place was held jointly by our own and by the Rebel forces, but late in the evening the Rebels evacuated their portion, leaving us in quiet possession of the built-up section of the town.

 To-day we spent over an hour in roaming about the place and in conversing with the inhabitants, many of whom remained at their residences while the fearful struggle was in progress, and the possession of the town was in dispute.

 With the exception of but very few, all seemed glad that the “Yankees” had obtained the supremacy, while the many acts of kindness exhibited towards our well, as well as wounded troops, are worthy of the highest commendation and praise.

That portion of the town located nearest to the seminary, and where the road from Emmettsburg enters, exhibits some evidence of the fearful battles which had been fought. Yet nothing like the destruction and desolation anticipated is apparent.

 The large majority of the residents are in their houses, and to-day are attending to family matters the same as though nothing had happened.

The Eleventh Corps occupied the town until late last night, doing guard and provost duty.  Those of our wounded who could not bear the fatigue of a journey to your many northern hospitals, have been removed within the town, and by the inhabitants are being handsomely provided for.

 Generous Action.

It gives us great pleasure to state a case worthy of record : -

Dr. Nordquist, the excellent and agreeable Medical Director of the Second Division of the First corps, tells us that one Dr. Huber  and his estimable lady, residents of Gettysburg, were exceedingly active in attending to the wants of all, and by their timely assistance much comfort was afforded the suffering.

 While many of the ladies were hid during the day, in the cellars of their houses, the wife of the excellent-hearted Doctor was running about from house to house, regardless of the danger, and exhorting the occupants of cellars to come out and help to collect the large amount of lint and bandages necessary to dress the wounds of our disabled troops.

 To her and her husband’s assistance not only are the surgeons, but the wounded men, under earnest and hearty obligations.

Vandalism and Robbery.

Many atrocious acts were committed by some of the troops belonging to the Rebel army, some of them of a character too indelicate to mention.  Among the many acts of vandalism prominent, was that of wantonly destroying with axes and hatchets in hands, houses and furniture, robbing stores, and otherwise committing acts worthy of the dark ages.

During the night of the 1^st two of their solders were detected in the act of maltreating a middle-aged lady. A Captain in their service, who was near by at the time, and who, hearing the screams, at once rushed to ascertain the cause of them, shot dead the offenders.  We would, with pleasure, mention the name of this Captain, did we know it.

In direct contrast with this, another Captain was noticed at the head of a gang of men, making forcible entries into stores and houses, and such valuable as could not be transported were destroyed.

Downright Murder.

On the afternoon of the 1^st, as the Rebels charged through the town, the pistols carried by them, and with which they were abundantly supplied, were fired promiscuously at all who might be in the street, looking out of windows or standing in the doorways.  A squadron of this charging party rode directly up to the front of the hospital before spoken of, and deliberately discharged their pistols at those who were standing upon the steps and upon the walk in front.

This firing instantly robbed our service of one of its most pious, excellent and beloved Chaplains, the Rev. Dr. Howell, of the Ninetieth Pennsylvania Regiment.  The same discharge of fire-arms put an end to two privates of the Ninth New York Militia, who were there doing guard duty, as well as severely wounding Dr. Parker, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, and Dr. Alexander, of the Sixteenth Maine.  Those committing these downright, deliberate murders, seemingly exulted over the crimes.  [Pictured left, is Surgeon Charles Alexander, 16th Maine.]

 Our Losses,

At the present writing, for the reason that such constant moving of our troops has been in progress, and from the frequent changes in the location of our hospitals, it is utterly impossible to make a statement, anywhere near correct, of our loss in killed and wounded. It cannot be less than fifteen thousand, and may, possibly, reach twenty thousand.  It is impossible for us at present to obtain a correct list of the names, even of those who are now confined in the hospitals.

Perhaps the worst feature of our disaster is that so many of our most skilled and efficient general officers are either killed or incapacitated, by reason of serious wounds, from immediate duty.  Among our other losses, and one of a serious matter in our present position, where rapid and frequent marches are to be made, is the unusual number of horses that have been slain.  Some battalions are minus their entire supply, while others have all more or less suffered.  Still, in spite of all this, we are up and after them, and with every prospect, to use a familiar phrase, “of gobbling them up.”

The Losses of the Enemy

Cannot be positively stated.  Still, when considering that they were the attacking party, and we, for once, were enabled to choose our position, it is no exaggeration of the truth to say that their losses are double the number of ours.  Even as late as Sunday, and along the front of our entire line, their dead lay thick, no effort, apparently, being made to bury them.

Of their General officers, Longstreet, Armistead, Barksdale, Ricketts and Garnett are wounded.  The second named is dead and buried within our lines. The prisoners taken are but a trifle less in number than 8000.  Many of them say boldly and openly that they are tired of the war, and neither care to be paroled nor exchanged.

 Generous Citizens.

On Sunday morning, and long before daylight, light buggies, double carriages and market wagons began to make their appearance, and were driven into the points where our hospitals are located. These vehicles were all loaded with substantials and delicacies for the sick, brought and distributed by the fair hands of the ladies of York and adjoining counties, many of which ladies are now doing duty as volunteer nurses.

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Sarah Broadhead's Hospital Experiences

The following passages are from, "Diary of a Lady of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from June 15 to July 15, 1863"  By Sarah M. Broadhead.  Sarah, a 30 year old resident of the town, relates her personal experiences caring for the wounded after the battle.  (I have added paragraph breaks for easier reading).

July 5. — What a beautiful morning !  It seems as though Nature was smiling on thousands suffering.  One might think, if they saw only the sky, and earth, and trees, that every one must be happy; but just look around and behold the misery made in so short time by man.  Early this morning I went out to the Seminary, just outside of town, and which, until the retreat, was in the hands of the enemy.  What horrible sights present themselves on every side, the roads being strewn with dead horses and the bodies of some men, though the dead have nearly all been buried, and every step of the way giving evidence of the dreadful contest.  Shall we — for I was not alone — enter the building or return home?  Can we endure the spectacle of hundreds of men wounded in every conceivable manner, some in the head and limbs, here an arm off and there a leg, and just inside a poor fellow with both legs shot away?  It is dreadful to behold, and, to add to the misery, no food has been served for several days.  The little we have will not go far with so many.  What can we do? is the only question, and the little we brought was distributed.  It is heart-sickening to think of these noble fellows sacrificing everything for us, and saving us, and it out of our power to render any assistance of consequence.  I turned away and cried.  

We returned to town to gather up more food if possible, and to get soft material to place under their wounded limbs, to help make them more comfortable. As we returned, our cavalry was moving out to follow the Rebels, and the street was all in an uproar.  When I reached home, I found my husband’s brother, who had passed through the battle unhurt and had come to see us.  I rejoiced at seeing him, for we feared he had fallen, and at once set to work to prepare a meal to appease his hunger. As I was baking cakes for him, a poor prisoner came to the door and asked me to give him some, for he had had nothing to eat for the past two or three days.  Afterward more joined him, and made the same statement and request.  I was kept baking cakes until nearly noon, and, in consequence, did not returned to the Seminary.  The poor fellows in my house were so hungry that they could hardly wait until the cakes were baked.

July 7. — This morning we started out to see the wounded, with as much food as we could scrape together, and some old quilts and pillows.  It was very little, but yet better than nothing.  We found on reaching the hospital that a wagon-load of bread and fifty pounds of butter had arrived, having been sent in from the country, and a supply of what the soldiers call “hard tack,” had been distributed.  All got some to eat, but not as much as they desired. Government meat is promised for to-morrow, and a full supply of provisions.  I assisted in feeding some of the severely wounded, when I perceived that they were suffering on account of not having their wounds dressed. I did not know whether I could render any assistance in that way, but I thought I would try. 

I procured a basin and water, and went to a room where there were seven or eight, some shot in the arms, others in the legs, and one in his back, and another in the shoulder.  I asked if any one would like to have his wounds dressed?  Some one replied, “There is a man on the floor who cannot help himself, you would better see to him.”  

Stooping over him, I asked for his wound, and he pointed to his leg.  Such a horrible sight I had never seen and hope never to see again.  His leg was all covered with worms.  I inquired, Was there no doctor in the building?  If there was, I must see him. One was brought, and I asked, How the men ever came to be in such a condition?  He said, Enough men had not been detailed to care for the wounded, and that that man had been wounded in the first day’s fight, and held by the Rebels until the day previous, and that they (the surgeons) had not yet had time to attend to all, and, at any rate, there were not enough surgeons, and what few there were could do but little, for the Rebels had stolen their instruments.”  He declared further, that many would die from sheer lack of timely attendance.  We fixed the man as comfortably as we could, and when the doctor told me he could not live, I asked him for his home, and if he had a family.  He said I should send for his wife, and when I came home I wrote to her, as he told me, but I fear she may never see him alive, as he is very weak, and sinking rapidly.* 

I did not return to the hospital to-day, being very much fatigued and worn out, and having done what I never expected to do, or thought I could.  I am becoming more used to sights of misery.  We do not know until tried what we are capable of.

*NOTE -On July 10 Sarah returned and the man had died.  A woman who had sat with him cut a lock of his hair and gave it to Sarah.  The soldier's wife arrived July 12.  Her husband was dead.  All she could do was recover the body.

Ladies of the Christian Commission in camp at Gettysburg.

July 8 — Again at the hospital early this morning.  Several physicians and lady nurses had come on from Washington the previous evening, and under their care things already began to look better.  The work of extracting the balls, and of amputating shattered limbs, had begun, and an effort at regular cooking.  I aided a lady to dress wounds, until soup was made, and then I went to distribute it. I found that I had only seen the lighter cases, and worse horrors met my eyes on descending to the basement of the building.  Men, wounded in three and four places, not able to help themselves the least bit, lay almost swimming in water.  I hunted up the lady whom I had been helping and told her to come and see how they were situated  When we came down she reverently exclaimed, “My God!”  they must be gotten out of this or they will drown.”  I gladly, in answer to her request, consented to assist her.  She called some nurses to help, and getting some stretchers the work was begun. There were somewhere near one hundred to be removed to the fourth story of the building.  

The way they happened to be in such a miserable place was this.  On the first day, during the battle, they had been taken into the building for shelter. On Thursday and Friday the Rebels planted a battery just behind this hospital, which annoyed our troops not a little, who, in endeavoring to silence it, could not avoid throwing some shells into the building.  Some entered several of the rooms, and injured one of the end walls, and the basement became the only safe place to which our wounded could betake themselves, and the heavy rains, following the engagement, flooded the floor.  I did not think all could be removed to-day, but the lady said it must be done, and by hard work she had it accomplished.  We had the satisfaction of seeing them more comfortably fixed, though they lay on the bare floor with only their gum blanket under them, but dry and very thankful for so little, I fed one poor fellow who had had both legs and one arm taken off, and, though he is very weak and surely cannot live, he seems in right good spirits. Some weeks since I would have fainted had I seen as much blood as I have to-day, but I am proof now, only caring to relieve suffering.  I now begin to feel fatigued, but I hope rest may restore me.

July 9. — Rain began to fall early this morning, and so violently that it produced quite a flood, which prevented me from getting to the hospital.  I visited, with what supplies I had, some of those in town.  I found the wounded in them much better situated, some attention having been paid to them, by the citizens near, during the battle.  All had plenty to eat, though very few had beds to lie on and rest their wounded bodies.

Nearly every house is a hospital, besides the churches and warehouses, and there are many field hospitals scattered over the country near the scene of the battle.  A man called to-day and requested me to take into our house three wounded men from one of the field hospitals. I agreed to take them, for I can attend to them and not be compelled to leave my family so long every day as I have done.

I am quite anxious to learn the condition of that man at the Seminary whose wife I sent for.  I was thinking of her when the cars, for the first time since the destruction of the Rock Creek bridge, came into town, the road having been repaired.  The Government can now forward supplies in abundance, and the poor fellows can be better provided for in every way.

I talked with some wounded Rebels at one of the hospitals, and they are very saucy and brag largely. They are very kindly treated, and, supplied, in all respects, as our men are. The spirit manifested by those I met was so vindictive that I believe they would, if they could, requite all the kindness shown them by murdering our citizens.

Pictured are members of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, Gettysburg.

 The merciful work of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, aided by private contributions, was to be seen at every hospital.  Without the relief they furnished, thousand must have perished miserably, and thousands more have suffered from want of the delicacies, food and clothing their agents distributed, before the Government even could bring assistance.  They are God’s blessed agencies for providing the needy soldier.  No one knows the good she has done, in making bandages and clothing, and in contributing dainties and provisions, until she sees the operations of these agencies in distributing her gifts to the wounded and sick soldiers.  Whoever aids them is engaged in the noblest work on earth, and will be amply rewarded even here, to make no mention of hereafter.

On July 11 - - This day has been spent in caring for our  men.  We procured clean clothes from the Sanitary Commission, and having fixed them up, they both look and feel better, though their wounds are very painful.  Our town, too, begins to look more settled, and more like its former self. The atmosphere is loaded with the horrid smell of decaying horses and the remains of slaughtered animals, and, it is said, from the bodies of men imperfectly buried.  I fear we shall be visited with pestilence, for every breath we draw is made ugly by the stench.

The proper officers are sending off the wounded Rebels, left in our hands with only a few surgeons by their inhuman commanders, as fast as their condition will admit of the journey.  All day ambulances filled with them have been passing our door on their way to the depot.  Though they are enemies and saucy, pity them.

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Gettysburg Nurse Helen Gilson

The following news article continues on the same theme of Sarah Broadhead's memoirs.  It appeared on the now defunct website, 'Letters of the Civil War,' which was maintained by Mr. Tom Hayes.

Nurse Helen Gilson

Information on Nurse Helen Gilson is from the Rutgers University Special Collections.

Helen Gilson (1836 – 1868) of Boston joined the war effort as a nurse in the spring of 1862. Formerly a school teacher and governess, Gilson was passionate about the war and wanted to support the troops directly in the field. She applied for her nursing diploma in 1861 but was turned down by Dorethea Dix, superintendent of army nurses, because she was too young. Undeterred, Gilson volunteered under her uncle, Francis B. Fay, who primarily cared for the Army of the Potomac. During her time in the war, Gilson was instrumental in renovating the dilapidated hospital for the “colored troops” of the Army of the Potomac at City Point in Petersburg, Virginia. Gilson cared for all soldiers, no matter their race, and as a result was known as an “angel of mercy.” As Robert McAllister wrote in a letter home, [Nurse Gilson’s] whole time and thoughts are devoted to the sick and wounded soldiers…She is truly a benevolent lady.

Letter of Nurse Gilson for Colonel Robert McAllister

Gilson contracted malaria during the war and never fully recovered.  She died on April 2, 1868, in childbirth due to her weakened state.  Gilson was photographed on January 18, 1865, in the Boston studio of James Wallace Black and John G. Case, the largest in the city at that time.  KF (Robert McAllister Papers. Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives.)

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Two Letters of Private John H. Shaw, Company A.

The following letters were shared with me by a neighbor of Private John Shaw's descendants.  The family has proudly preserved John's letters home.  I hope someday, I can acquire some more copies of his letters.

Private John Shaw's Gettysburg wound would earn him an honorable discharge from the service.  The roster states he mustered out of the '13th Mass,' October 10, 1863.  He later re-enlisted in the 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery.

Camp Letterman Hospital, September,1863; Tyson Bros. Photo; from the website 'Gettysburg Daily,' a post dated Nov. 18, 2008.

Letter 2, July 11, 1863

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HOSPITAL EXPERIENCES

By Melvin Walker

From Circular # 33, September 1920, —one of the last reminiscences to be published in the 13th Regiment Association Circulars.

The article by President Walker will probably recall to some of our comrades yet living many scenes of experience in army hospitals. It was my lot after being wounded, to be sent with hundreds of others from the Bull Run battle-field, first to Washington, where I spent a couple of days at the Carver hospital, and then to Philadelphia.  When we arrived at the latter city we were conveyed to the different hospitals in ambulances belonging to the Fire Department which in those days were very handsome being painted in an elaborate manner.

I happened to be taken to a hospital at the corner of Fifth and Buttonwood Streets, a large six-story building formerly Dunlap's carriage factory. This hospital accommodated some four hundred patients and was filled to the maximum. Each ward had from sixty to seventy single cots so near together that one could reach out on either side and touch his neighbor's cot.  The nurses were all men and while they were not always over careful in handling wounded patients, still they took fairly good care of them. As I had the use of my legs and was in good health I spent very little time in the hospital excepting nights. I would get a pass each day after having my wound dressed, which allowed me to be out until 8 o'clock p. m.  As I was only a kid of eighteen years (?) and very boyish looking, with my right arm in a sling, I seemed to attract a great deal of attention from the many kind ladies whom I would meet on the streets and I was flooded with invitations every day to visit their homes. I therefore made many delightful acquaintances and spent many happy hours with some of the best families in that city.  My Yankee manner of talking always seemed to please them, and likewise some of their peculiar accents and expressions in conversation were very pleasing to me.  I received my discharge on the 24th of November, 1862, and reached my home in Dorchester, Mass., on a Thanksgiving morning.  In March. 1864, I again enlisted as a recruit in the Eleventh Mass. Battery, but was rejected at the Long Island rendezvous in Boston Harbor on account of my former wound.  Perhaps it was all for the best as I might have got it worse a second time, though I was mightily disappointed when rejected.

WALTER E. SWAN,
Secretary.

HOSPITAL EXPERIENCES.
      BY MELVIN H. WALKER.

Some years since an article appeared in one of our circulars which seemed to me to give an erroneous impression of work done in our military hospitals during the civil war. There were two classes of these hospitals in use, one under the immediate administration of the United States Medical Service, and the other known as Contract Hospitals, in which everything needed for the care of the sick and wounded was provided at a price per week for each inmate agreed upon.

All hospitals were of course under the inspection and supervision of the medical department. It was my fortune to have an experience in each class of these hospitals. In the late summer of 1862  I became an inmate of a hospital of the first class, situated in a large church on the corner of C and 3rd streets, Washington, D.C., which was crowded with sick and wounded men from the armies then under General Pope. The surgeon in charge who had been driven from his home in Texas because of his loyalty to the Union was a skilful, devoted and kindly man and an efficient manager. This hospital was considered among the best and everything possible was done for the comfort and welfare of the sick and wounded patients.

Hospital Illustration by Charles W. Reed

The nurses were all that could be desired, and in addition to the food provided, many delicacies were contributed by the loyal ladies of the city.  The food was abundant and excellent in quality and variety.  For the more serious cases a daily dietary was prescribed by the surgeon and for the convalescents tables were spread in the basement where each one helped himself.  As a result of all this, notwithstanding the serious reverses of that year, the boys generally were not only comfortable but cheerfull as well.

At York, Penn., a large one-story building had been erected for a contract hospital and in the early days of July, 1863, it was filled to repletion with the wounded from the battle field of Gettysburg.  Having been wounded on the first day of the battle I became an inmate of this hospital on July 5, 1863.

There had been much criticism of contract hospitals and I therefore felt much regret at being sent there but must confess that I was happily disappointed. While the building was a rough board structure furnished with cot beds and little else, the beds proved comfortable, the surgeons were skillful and untiring, the nurses, all men detailed for this work, were kind and helpful but not in the same class as women nurses at Washington, yet fairly satisfactory and quite as good as could be expected in an emergency. The supply of food was ample and reasonably good, but we missed the delicacies so much enjoyed at Washington. The place was neatly kept and the general tone cheerful owing in part no doubt to the then recent victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg which made certain the final triumph of the Union cause.

Nothing in hospital life is more interesting than to watch the influence of pluck and determination in the hastening of recovery from illness or wounds. A striking case occurred at the York hospital: A boy of sixteen years belonging to a good family in Philadelphia ran away from home and joined a Pennsylvania regiment and was wounded in the first day's fight at Gettysburg. A minie ball had passed through his body and  perforated the liver. When brought into the hospital he seemed almost at the point of death but in a faint whisper said he had no idea of dying. The surgeon said he could not live the day out, but the next morning found him still alive and determined to live, and so he went on from day to day wasting away almost to a shadow.  A sister came on to help care for him and after many weeks he began to improve and finally he fully recovered and returned to his regiment for active service. The surgeon stated that had the boy given up for one moment he certainly would have died. This was only an extreme case among many recoveries all through the war. Of course it was equally true that many died that might have recovered but for lack of hope and courage.

Homesickness, without doubt, had much to do in causing fatal results. I feel very confident from my own experience and from the testimony of others that as a rule hospitals were well managed and all that could reasonably be expected was done for the comfort and welfare of the inmates. The only serious oversight that I recall was the lack of reading matter in the hospitals.  What little we had, if any, we had to secure ourselves.

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Newspaper Reports of Casualties

The excerpts from the Boston Evening Transcript that follow, show how the names of the killed and wounded soldiers were reported to the home front.  Unlike the New York Papers quoted above, this paper did not contain any soldiers' letters with long lists of casualties for the Massachusetts Regiments.  Perhaps other Boston papers did so.  These reports were often full of inaccuracies later corrected as new information surfaced.  The Chelsea Telegraph & Pioneer transcripts are from the now defunct site 'Letters of the Civil War,' maintained by Tom Hayes.

Private Edwin Field, & Charles E. Leland, Company B

The following Clip is from the now defunct website, "LETTERS OF THE CIVIL WAR."

One last news clipping dated many years after the battle follows.

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 Captain Moses Palmer

Captain Moses Poore Palmer was an important personality in the 13th Mass. Vols.  His wounding at Gettysburg  ended his military career, and so a brief look at his life and service is called for here.  

He was one of the original organizers of Company I, from Marlboro, and was elected the company's captain.  The Federal Government had other ideas however, and Palmer was forced to step down in rank to First Lieutenant in order to accommodate a "foreign officer” with supposed "military experience” in the Crimean War. This experiment in grafting foreign fruit onto native soil proved a failure, and after about a year of service, Captain Palmer was restored to the rank of Captain.  

He received his first serious wound at the battle of 2nd Bull Run;  in the jaw,— which gave him trouble swallowing for the rest of his life.  It was also at this battle a wagon load of rifles was lost, which for the want of an account, the Government never stopped pestering him, and threatened to give him a dishonorable discharge.  Captain Palmer received his second serious wound at Gettysburg in the knee.  It took him many months to recover, some of which is noted in the sporadic diary entries he kept during his service.

Photos of Moses' artifacts courtesy of Mr. George Oldenburg of California.

Captain Moses Poore Palmer

The men of the 13th Mass entered the battle of Gettysburg so quickly they hardly had time to think about it.  The enemy fired upon them from a distant stand of trees as they advanced north of the Chambersburg road and along Oak Ridge to extend the existing Union lines.  The firing immediately became heavy.  Captain Moses P. Palmer was leading Company I into the fray.   During a charge upon the enemy several men fell dead or wounded, as a deadly volley slashed through the line just south of the Mummasburg Road, where their monument now stands.   Sometime during the fray Captain Palmer was wounded. The sudden sting of the bullet, and the burning sensation that followed, produced a numbing pain in his right leg.  It probably knocked him to the ground.  The men of his Company would have to continue their battle without his leadership and encouragement.  Captain Palmer was through for the day.

   Somehow he made it to town and a surgeon removed the musket ball from his knee. Moses kept it as a souvenir. His wound was a bad one.  Room to convalesce was made for him at the McCreary home where Colonel Leonard and other wounded officers from the brigade, had found shelter.

 In the late afternoon Rebel soldiers pushed the Federal army from the fields and ridges north and east of the town and occupied Gettysburg. The public buildings and private houses designated as makeshift hospitals, crowded with Federal wounded, were surrounded by the enemy and the inmates were made prisoners of war.  Confederate soldiers made the rounds searching for prisoners. They demanded captured Union officers surrender their swords.  Captain Palmer’s descendants claim that when these Rebel trophy hunters entered the building where Moses lay, he hid his sword underneath his body to prevent its capture, probably saying it was lost on the field.  The ruse worked and Captain Palmer kept his sword.  He remained at the McCreary house for the next several weeks.  [Moses Palmer's Presentation Sword, September, 1862, pictured].

Young Jennie McCreary mentioned him in a letter she wrote to her sister a few days after the battle.

“We retired about 11 o’clock.  All were in bed but myself when there was a rap at the door. Papa got up and went to the door.  There were two rebels.  They said the rebel General Trimble and three of his aides wanted supper and lodging.  Well, all we could do was to get what we had for super and made a place for them to sleep, although our house was full already.  After we had fixed everything his aides came to say the General had concluded to stay where he was.  They, however (his aides) took supper and then went away.

“That night [July 2] the rebels tried to break in the house but Captain Palmer, the one who is still here, called them and told them it was a hospital and they went away.”

It took Captain Palmer a long, slow, discouraging time to recover.  A brief biography [with liberties taken] written by Massachusetts Historian and statesman, Samuel A. Green, from the book, “History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts,” by D. Hamilton Hurd, 1890, follows.

Moses Palmer was born at Derry, New Hampshire on May 1, 1830 to Moses Harriman Palmer and Mary Harriman (Hale) Palmer who were cousins.   The family moved to Groveland Massachusetts in 1832 where their son Moses attended school at Merrimack Academy in that village.  During the summer he worked on his father’s farm.  In the winter he worked on a shoemaker’s bench which was the custom of young men at that time.  He learned the trade of shoe-cutting at Marlborough and in 1854 came to Groton to superintend a shoe factory organized by Messrs. Bigelow and Randall. The building burned in December 1855, and the business was transferred to another in town at the corner of Main and West Streets.  Here young Palmer remained until 1858, when in partnership with his brother, they set up their own shoe manufacturing business at Marlborough.  Moses continued there until the war broke out.

In the Spring of 1861, Moses helped organize a rifle company in the town of Marlborough, and was commissioned captain of the company on May 6.  In the meantime the quota of men asked for by President Lincoln was filled, so the company was not at once accepted.  It was ordered to report to Fort Independence for garrison duty on June 25, and attached to the 4th Battalion of Rifles which became the nucleus of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers.  Amidst all this Moses got married.  He wed Martha Green of Groton on July 7, 1861.  He affectionately called her Mattie.  The following letter from Martha to Moses is dated Saturday, August 20th and probably written in 1859. (courtesy of Mr. Richard Humphrey).

The brief honeymoon of Martha and Moses was suddenly interrupted when the regiment was mustered into Federal Service and ordered to the front nine days after their marriage.  In the Fall of '61, his  newlywed bride was able to visit her husband in camp at Williamsport, Md.  Martha stayed at a neighboring farm house where Moses would visit.  Following one of these visits he nearly fell into an abandoned well on his way back to camp.  The short article from Bivouac Magazine, (below)  recalls this incident.

When the regiment was mustered into service on July 16, Captain Palmer had to step down to the rank of First Lieutenant, in order to accommodate the appointment of Captain R.C. Shriber to Company I. Much has been written about Capt. Shriber, on this website, who proved to be a fraud and was eventually dismissed from the service. Moses officially regained his captain’s commission on August 16, 1862,  although he commanded his company almost all the time since leaving Boston. Capt. Shriber had left camp soon after arriving in Maryland, to seek out greater fortunes at Brigade headquarters.

Moses Palmer was in command of his company during the arduous Summer campaigns of 1862 and was badly wounded on August 30^th at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Colonel Leonard described Captain Palmer’s wound in this way:

“He was wounded as follows, very Severely by a Musket Ball Entering the left Side of the neck, under the Ear, and coming out on the right Side of the Chin, fracturing the lower jaw bone, from the effect of which wound the Said Moses P. Palmer is Still at the time of his discharge Suffering as follows, pain and inconvenience in Eating food.  At Same Battle of Bull Run Va, He was also wounded in the left hand near Knuckle joint of forefinger by a piece of Shell, affecting the joint at time of his discharge.”

Austin Stearns recalled running into Captain Palmer during this engagement.

“When I found that I was mixed with another regiment I started to find my own.  I had gone but a few steps when I met Cap’t Palmer of Co. I wounded; he asked me if I would give him my help and assist him off the field.  I locked in arms with him and we started for the rear; just then a solid shot came over and struck the ground but a few feet from us and the dirt was thrown upon us, the shot ricocheting far away in the direction we were going.  Cap’t Palmer said “I can’t stand this,” and bounded away like a deer, leaving me far in the rear.”

Moses own diary entries for the engagement state:

“Saturday, Aug. 30, 1862: (and Sunday, Aug. 31) Marched to front at 6 ?, changed position at noon to rear of woods, changed again to left of battle line, ordered to front at about 5 p.m.  Hard fight, wounded in throat and hand.  Fell back to one mile of Centerville.  Slept on ground.  Left for Alexandria in the morning.  Arrived about midnight and slept on the floor of the Mansion House Hospital.  Feel bad.

“Friday, Sept. 5, 1862: Fine day.  Pieces of bone came out of my chin.  Hope it will feel better.  Don’t like to stay here.”

By September 10, Captain Palmer was recuperating at the home of Martha's grandfather in Groton, Massachusetts.  He wrote, “Shall get well home for I get much good care taken of me.”

His biography says he was back with the regiment for the Battle of Fredericksburg, and that he was slightly wounded in that engagement.  After the engagement the regiment camped at Bell Plain Landing in Stafford County, Virginia.  Excerpts from Captain Palmer’s diaries follow.

“Tuesday, March 17, 1863:  Fine day, seems like spring.  Wish we could end this horrid war, but will fight to the death before giving up.

Wednesday, April 1, 1863:  Fine day.  All fools day.  Some had little jokes played on them.  We are all more or less foolish.

Tuesday, April 14, 1863: Orders to have five days’ rations in the knapsacks and three days’ in haversack… big load for a soldier.

At the Battle of Chancellorseville he wrote:

Friday, May 1, 1863:My birthday. Lay in the road all day and night. Not any shelling. Rebels getting into position. Expect hotwork.”

At Gettysburg July 1, 1863, Captain Palmer was shot in the right knee and crippled for life.

The paperwork of Surgeon Robert Horner, the attending physician, described Moses’ wound and treatment as of July 21^st.

“Wounded at Gettysburg July 1st 1863 — in head of right Tibia by Musket ball — The ball was cut out of the bone the same day.  Tibia not broken.  Violent inflammatory disease followed involving the Knee Joint.  Matter buried around the joint rupturing several openings- the inflammation has all gone — Anslytosis  [Anisocytosis is excessive variation in size of blood cells] of the Joint –

Treatment, (with the right leg suspended) included doses of quinine 3 times daily, with doses of Morphine at night as needed.”

Moses' diary entries document his slow recovery.

“Wednesday, July 1, 1863:  Cloudy in morning.  Marched towards Gettysburg seven miles, arrived and formed in line of battle.  Went to the front, hard fight, shot in the knee, got back to town… had the ball taken out of my knee.. bad wound.

“Friday, July 3, 1863:  Hard fighting all day and part of the evening, shelling from the town, the rebels getting the worst of it.  I hope we lick them this time.

“Thursday, July 16, 1863: Brother Charles and Mattie arrived.

“Sunday, July 19, 1863: Charles went for Mother.

“Thursday, July 23, 1863: Charles and Mother arrived.

“Saturday, Aug. 1, 1863:  I think I never shall be any better.

“Sunday, Aug. 2, 1863:  What a pain… leg all rotten.

“Friday, Aug 7, 1863: Leg a little easier.  Charles and Mother left for home. Mother sick.

“Thursday, Aug. 20, 1863:  Think I am gaining slowly.

“Thursday, Oct. 15, 1863:  Left for Baltimore.

“Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1863:  Arrived in New York 6 o’clock morning.  Left for home on 8 o’clock train.  Arrived at Father Eatons’s… glad enough.”

Though Captain Palmer recovered at home, he lost the entire use of his knee and was compelled to walk on crutches.  On March 9, 1864, he was honorably discharged from the army.  In April, Colonel Leonard filled out an affidavit in support of Captain Palmer’s application for an invalid pension.

“Moses Palmer was faithful in his duties as an officer until Wounded as aforesaid.  That his wound was a very Severe one affecting him as follows.  Causing great pain and Suffering and confinement to his Bed in Hospital for many months, at time of his discharge,  etc  Motion of the Knee joint, wound open., unable to walk without crutches, and in poor health. - S.H. Leonard, Col.”

On May 10, 1866, Moses P. Palmer was brevetted Major of Volunteers for gallant and meritorious services in the field.

After the war, Moses and Mattie purchased a farm in Groton about a mile from the village.  He held many town offices including selectman, assessor, and Overseer of the Poor.  He was Commander of the E.S. Clark Post, No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic for 7 years; Master of the local Grange of which he was a charter member; officer of the Groton Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Club; and an active member of the Middlesex North Agricultural Society at Lowell, having been for many years one of its Vice Presidents and Trustees.  He was a Justice of the Piece and treasurer of the New England Milk Producer’s Union.  He also served as a member of the House of Representatives in 1884 and a member of the Senate from 1888-1890.

The Palmer's had three children; one son and two daughters.

 In Groton, he frequently rode with other Civil War Veterans in the annual Memorial Day Parades.  His granddaughter, Elizabeth Bedell, still possessed the two bullets Moses kept as a souvenir of his military career.  One is the ball that killed John L. Spencer of Company I, in 1861, the first man of the regiment to die by enemy fire. The other was the mis-shaped ball that ended his military career.  

Moses Palmer was an active member of the 13th Regiment Association.  He was president of the association in 1889 and attended the reunion dinner that year and in 1890, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1910, 1912, and 1915.  On years he could not attend he sent letters, and money to support association activities.

His last published letter to the Association was in Circular #33.

Moses died at his home on  Sept. 23, 1920 at the venerable age of 90. His obituary was printed in the 13th Regiment Association Circulars, #34 Sept 1, 1920.

REMEMBRANCES - A NARROW ESCAPE

The Following article about Moses Palmer, appeared in the magazine Bivouac, Volume I, 1885, p. 252-253.

The perils of army life were not confined to those originating from the combustion of “villainous saltpeter.”  The Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, encamped during the Winter of 1861-2 at Williamsport, Md., were in a community comparatively free from “War’s alarm”  -- any disturbance of the peace came from over the river, and a vigilant picket was maintained along the towpath of the canal, with occasional raids and reconoissances into the enemy’s territory.  Furloughs not having come into fashion so early in the war, advantage was taken of the lull in the hostilities by families of friends to visit the camp for brief periods. 

Our junior captain, proud of the additional bar but recently added to his shoulder-straps, renewed the honey-moon interrupted by an early departure for Washington, and was happy in the presence of his wife, who boarded for a few weeks at a pleasant farmhouse adjacent to the camp.  The latter was situated about a quarter of a mile from the road behind a curtain of woods, the pathway from which was rather imperfectly marked by the wheels of the wagons that brought the supplies. 

At a late hour on a very dark night, our captain after leaving the camp, found that he had lost the path.  Struggling along, hoping that he would quickly recover the direction, he soon became entangled in the remnants of a decaying rail-fence, matted with blackberry-vines.  Suddenly the ground seemed to collapse beneath his feet, but with an effort he caught by his elbows amid the brush, while his feet hung dangling in the cavity below.  

Somewhat alarmed by the extraordinary change in the condition of the ground, he crawled out and groped his way into the open field, and finally reached the regular road, speedily ending his disagreeable journey.  Reconnoitering the place by daylight, and making inquiries in regard to it, he found that he had barely escaped entombment in a disused well over forty feet deep, the mouth of which was hidden by decaying sticks and briers, remote from the camp.  If he had not escaped by his own endeavors, the probabilities would have been that he would have been buried alive with little possibility of discovery.  

Several times wounded in subsequent engagement, he yet accounts this as his very narrow escape.

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© Bradley M. Forbush, 2017

Page Updated February 27, 2017.