Existing comment:
Field Hospital
After the Battle of Shiloh, Federal soldiers buried the dead, and medical officers faced the enormous task of caring for the 16,400 wounded. Many were crowded onto steamboats for transport to Northern cities, while others were taken to nearby homes. Some of the wounded received professional medical treatment here.
On this high ground surrounding the farmhouse of Noah Cantrell, medical officers of the Union Army of the Ohio set up a large field hospital under canvas. Tents, bedding, and supplies were secured from the infantry camps to accommodate some 2,500 sick and wounded.
Ordinarily, regiments took care of their own wounded. Here was the first consolidated tent hospital -- a forerunner of modern military field hospitals.
Asst. Surgeon Bernard J.D. Lewin established and organized the hospital. Union and Confederate soldiers alike were given excellent treatment, considering the lack of supplies, the horrible nature of the wounds, and the great number of patients. |