Existing comment:
A Flood of Wounded
As the fighting raged at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, both sides struggled to care for nearly 40,000 wounded men. The Confederates transported their wounded from temporary field hospitals in Richmond, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Gordonsville.
The Union army evacuated its wounded through Fredericksburg, which became, as one newsman described it, a "city of hospitals." As many as 500 civilian relief workers, including about 50 women, rushed to Fredericksburg to help. More than 26,000 wounded soldiers passed through the town between May 8 and May 26, 1864. |