The sick and wounded at Charlottesville.
University of Va., July 29.
To the Editors of the Dispatch:
--Are your readers aware that there are twelve hundred sick and wounded soldiers at this place?
Immediately after the glorious battle of Manassas the stream began to flow in this direction, and ever since they have come in day by day, in steadily increasing numbers.
It seems that when the first offers were made by Professors Cabell and Davis to erect a hospital here, only a limited number of patients was expected, and for these ample accommodations and excellent medical attendance were within reach.
The two outer ranges of dormitories of the University proper were quickly put in order and furnished for the reception of patients.
Messrs. Cabell and Davis were duly commissioned surgeons of the C. S. Army.
Owing, however, to the sudden pressure upon the other hospitals at Manassas and Culpeper, hundreds were of a sudden sent to follow the others.
With culpable negligence, no notice was given of this number or the time of their arrival, and it was a sad and painful sight indeed to see on Monday last hundreds of wounded men lying in a pelting rain at our station.
There was no one there to receive them.
A carriage, a few open wagons and an omnibus were the only means of conveyance, and it was left to a few gentlemen and a handful of servants to transfer the sufferers, covered with dust and begrimed with blood as they came from the battle field, to the distant buildings of the University.
Soon all the public houses and large halls rented for the purpose were overflowing, and still new arrivals thronged to the place.
In vain did the authorities remonstrate by letter and by telegram, and repeat the assurance that no more men could be received.
Expediency and humanity were alike disregarded.
Every day saw the same sorrowful sight repeated.--Now, every lecture-room and dormitory, the great public hall and the chapel, all are filled to their utmost capacity, and most of the private houses in town and here contain a number of sick and wounded.
To the Editors of the Dispatch:
To throw such an immense burden, that ought to be borne by the Confederacy at large, upon a small community like this, is as unfair as it is inexpedient. And yet never was a call more promptly and more nobly responded to. The physicians here and in town at once offered and rendered service; from the neighborhood ten or twelve were soon added; refuges joined the residents, and men like Dr. Fairfax brought their long experience and valuable skill to the increasing store of professional assistance. The families, near and far, sent day by day supplies in such vast abundance that there was more danger from over feeding than from want. Clothes and bed-linen poured in from all quarters, lint was made by skillful hands and bandages prepared to meet the emergency. The professors nursed and watched the sick, and aided in making lists and reports. The cadets — nearly 125 in number — cheerfully gave up their mattresses, bringing them in great glee slung on their backs, and numerous instances might be mentioned where men and women denied themselves not the luxuries only, but the necessities of life, to minister to the wants of the poor soldier. The ladies, as usual, set the example of self-sacrifice, and young and old may now be seen soothing the sufferer, watching by the sleepless and praying with those to whom Heaven's consolations are granted. From far and near they come, day by day, to perfom their sacred duty.
At first the greatest want felt was in medical stores; the department seemed to be paralyzed, and the most urgent demands brought no supply. At last the persevering energy of the surgeon sent a special messenger to Richmond, and on the day after all that was needed for the moment came up.
The state of the hospital is most satisfactory. The few cases of death are extremely cheering. But one of the wounded has so far died; he was a Yankee and fearfully injured. The largest number of wounded belong probably to the 4th Alabama Regiment, and there are also several brave young men of the Orlethorpe Light Infantry, from Savannah, and half a dozen students from the University of Oxford. Miss., here. By far the large majority of sick are down with the measles and will easily recover. Among the more seriously wounded are also two Yankee captains from a New York Regiment.
Thanks to the energy and the zeal displayed on all sides, order begins to reign and system to prevail amid the immense number. More physicians have arrived from other towns: among them Dr. Alex. Rives, late house-surgeon of Bellevue Hospital, New York; Dr. Moon, and a young lady of the neighborhood, to whose skillful and experienced hands the care of a ward has been entrusted. Other States, also, are coming to the relief of their sons.--South Carolina, ever ahead in all noble enterprises, has already taken measures to provide houses, provisions and nurses for her wounded or sick soldiers, and we doubt not that her example will soon be followed by others. It is Virginia, however, who of course ought mainly to see to it that this truly grand institution should be kept up in a manner worthy of her name and of the noble men who are now tended by her sons and her daughters.--The benevolence of a single locality ought not to be over taxed; the care of wounded solders ought not to be left to private charity. Nor should their religious interests be over-looked, and the appointment of a Chaplain would be a wise measure on the part of Government, and a great boon to more than a thousand men, led by sickness and death to think seriously of their soul's welfare.
