Posted on 05/31/2010 10:51:12 AM PDT by XRdsRev
In the spring of 1864, Federal and Confederate Armies began a savage campaign for control of Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning in May, a series of battles and skirmishes took place which lasted through the summer and stretched from the Tennessee line to the outskirts of Atlanta itself, which was captured by Federal forces on September 2, 1864.
Casualties for both armies were staggering. In total, nearly 9000 men were killed, over 41,000 wounded and 17, 000 missing or captured.
On May 27, 1864 Federals under command of General Oliver O. Howard attacked Confederate troops entrenched near Pickett’s Mill, Georgia. Fighting left nearly 1500 Federal troops killed, wounded or captured, over 10% of the attacking force.
The following two letters are part of my personal collection. Both originated from the Military Prison Hospital in Atlanta Georgia which was established by Confederate authorities to receive and treat wounded Federal prisoners coming in from the battlefields northwest of the city in 1864. They concern Corporal George Terry and his brother Henry both of whom served in Company F of the 49th Ohio Infantry Regiment. The letters are in the handwriting of H.H. Cunningham an Assistant Surgeon serving in the Confederate Medical Department at the Military Prison Hospital. In an extraordinary gesture, Cunningham sends these letters by Flag of Truce through the lines to the family of an enemy soldier he had under his care. The letters illustrate the cost of war on one family and the fortitude and honor of soldiers on both sides.
Military Prison Hospital Atlanta Georgia June 18th 1864
Mr. Jerry Terry
Dear Sir,
Enclosed will be found a letter from your son Geo. J. Terry who was brought to this hospital on Saturday the 28th last mortally wounded in the right lung as his medical attendant I can safely assure you that no one was met with more Christian courage and fortitude though a stranger to his attendants, all by his kind and Christian deportment he won and received a large share of their sympathy. He lingered till Monday evening 14th last, as the hour of ten was announced he breathed his last. His remains were decently interred in a plain coffin on yesterday and a slab with his initials Co & Regiment marked his resting place. At his last request I enclose his last letter to you by flag of truce.
Yours with respect H. H. Cunningham Assistant Surgeon (Confederate Army)
Prison Hospital Atlanta Georgia Wednesday June 12nd 1864
Dear Father Mother Brothers Sisters and friends Generally
I am wounded and a Prisoner Was wounded last Saturday evening 10 O’Clock and laid on the Battle field until next morning when I was carried to field hospital staid there but a short time before I was sent to this place it being such warm weather and my wound pained me so that I felt nearly used up when I arrived here. My wound may prove fatal. Unless it does I shall not have this sent but if my wound and the exposures accompanying it prove to much a task for this frail bark to endure and God in his infinite wisdom should deam it proper to call Brother come home, thy warfare is over, sleep the sleep that knows no waking, I shall have arrangements made so as to send this to you through the kindness of friends.
I have been treated kindly since here have no reason to complain Henry is also a prisoner and Wounded this I am sorry to say is all I can say about him we were separated but I saw him a prisoner and wounded I shall endeavor to meet my god in peace Farewell Geo J. Terry
To Sanford I send the following injunction the notes you hold and whatever you may collect of my back pay and Bounty and allowances from the Government you can dispose of as you see fit. I would like to have you donate some of it to Henry’s family some to erecting a marble slab to my memory, Oh God how my heart sickens and I faint Remember me Justice demands it, Farewell a long farewell Geo J. Terry
Note: George J. Terry – Company F, 49th Ohio Infantry was mortally wounded and captured during the bloody Federal assault on the Confederate entrenchments at Pickett’s Mill, Georgia May 27th 1864. He died on June 14th 1864 at the Hospital for Federal Prisoners in Atlanta Georgia. Henry Terry (Co F, 49th Ohio), George’s brother, who he mentioned as being wounded and captured in his last letter, died of his wounds on the battlefield. Both brothers now rest in the Marietta Georgia National Cemetery.
It shows a level of civility that is gone now forever.Today we fight against animals.
I do and thank you for posting this. Many of us today do not know how comparatively bad the medical treatment was back in the Civil War. A wound in a limb meant amputation to prevent gangrene and a wound in the gut was sure death unless the victim had not eaten for a long time before.
Yet this and the Crimean war of a decade earlier started a revolution in the medical arts and it was lead by women who's names still shine bright, Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton (as well as others). Their efforts at improving sanitation and nursing care saved the lives of thousands then and continue to today.
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