MONROE COUNTY, GA - MILITARY HOSPITALS Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Jane Newton Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/monroe.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm CONFEDERATE HOSPITALS - FORSYTH During the War Between the States, and especially the last years of the war, many sick and wounded soldiers were treated in hospitals established in Forsyth. Prior to this, Confederate Hospitals were set up in Chattanooga, and Jan 1, 1863, Dr. John Patterson was assigned, chiefly in Newsom and Foard Hospitals. When these were evacuated in early September 1863, they were moved to Marietta, Georgia. Georgia became a center for military hospitals stretching from Dalton, Kingston and Rome to La Grange, Griffin and Forsyth. 1)"General Hospital No 1", previously located at Tunnell Hill in northern Georgia, in September 1863 was established in four houses in the center of the town of Forsyth....and called CLAYTON HOSPITAL, possibly in honor of confederate Surgeon H.H. Clayton. 2)"Hardee" was the other hospital in Forsyth at this time. Sandra Ivey, (Memorial Day April 24, 1959): "During the War Between the States, the Southern soldiers who were sick or wounded wer often placed in public buildings, when they were available, but many died of pneumonia contracted in the wet trenches. Negro men and women, principally field hands from the surrounding plantations, were utitlized to help with these patients. The hospital corps, in addition to a large number of surgeons and physicians, consisted of men detailed from the army to act as nurses, cooks and such other positions as were necessarily filled about the hospitals. Conditions were horrible. Only a few of the soldiers had blankets, and they were covered with vermin. These were the conditions that Mrs. Ella Palmer found at a hospital near her home in Cleveland, Tenn. Mrs. Palmer was a widow with a 5 year old daughter. her heart was so touched by the sickness and suffering of the men, and the great need for nursing that she gave her furnishings to the local hospital and took her little girl with her to take charge of the work with the field hospital. When General Joseph E. Johnston was being driven towards Atlanta, Mrs. Palmer was near Marietta with the Foard Hospital. The hospital had tents, but no floors. Mos of the time they had about a thousand patients in these tents. The roar of the cannons came closer and closer and finally the orders came to go to Forsyth. But, how? There was nothing to go on. There was fighting along Peachtree Creek when a long freight train was backed down from Atlanta. By 7 o'clock the next morning the wounded men, hospital stores and bags were put aboard the train except for seven men who were so badly shot and had gangrene that the doctors said they could not live anyhow; but Mrs. Palmer objected and said they should not be left. She found one old dirty car that had not been used and had those men put into it, and got in with them. The doctors told her that if she chose to risk her life she could not take her daughter in with that gangrene. So they took charge of the child. She was put in a care with about 40 Negroes, wild with fear and religious enthusiasm. In charge was a white overseer. This was in July and the child sat all day in the hot sun while one of the old colored mammies held an old broken umbrella to try to shade her head. What a strange sight that train must have been as it rolled slowly through Atlanta, the wounded groaning and crying because the jolting of the freight cares hurt them so, the Negroes singing, shouting and praying ans so wild that at times the over- seers could hardly control them! The battle seemed to be raging on all sides. What a terrible morning! What a ride! Mrs. Palmer got her seven men all alive to Forsyth, GA. She thought at times they would all die on the train. One died after they reached Forsyth. All of the others got well. One of them was a Mr. Johns of Murfreesboro, TN. The kind people of Forsyth met the train in a body and welcomed the strangers with all kinds of edibles, which were more than acceptable, as there had been no breakfast that morning, and only the wounded had had anything to eat. The same afternoon the Foard Hospital ground at Atlanta was the center of one of the most desperate and terrible battles of the war. Afterward Gen. J.B. Palmer told Mrs. Palmer that he had ridden by the Foard Hospital field at 5pm leading a charge, and the bullets were so thick that men went down on every side. Finding no suitable houses in Forsyth, the hospital tents were pitched in a beautiful grove just back of the town, adjacent to the present high school building. The work that this involved can be imagined, as the tents were floored this time and trenches were dug around each one. A scientific man belonging to the corps found a bed of pottery clay; and as all kinds of vessels, dishes, etc were becoming very scarce this proved a great boon to the hospital. A potter was speedily found, and a large furnace was built, which was run night and day until the need was more than supplied. They made enough cups and plates and other vessels to last them through the rest of the war. Mrs. Palmer said [it was] best and strongest brown stone crockery she had ever seen. The hospital had hardly become settled and in good running order when the battle of Stone Mountain occurred. The next morning the trains began to come in bearing the wounded. It was well that the hospital was in a grove, for it had tents for only 1200 men and they already had 800 on hand. Over a thousand wounded men were brought off of these trains. These were hauled out to the hospital in horse-drawn ambulances and wagons and laid under the trees. The need was so urgent that the people of Forsyth went to work and helped bring them out to the hospital in their wagons, carriages, etc. These good people tore up their sheets, tablecloths, etc to make bandages, and brought bedding and other necessary things to the hospital. The physicians of the town came in and offered their services which were gratefully accepted. The surgeons had their operating tables placed out under the trees and attended to the most urgent cases first. All day long Mrs. Palmer, with her scissors hung by a cord from her waist, went from soldiers to soldier, cutting the dry bloody bandages off the wounds so they could be dressed by the nurses. Even the services of her little girl were in demand that day when she went from tent to tent with her little bucket and cup giving water to the thirsty wounded whose nurses had been taken away from them to take care of the new arrivals. The merchants of Forsyth , the Negro men of the hospital and others from the town to cut limbs from the trees and built beautiful bowers and in these they drove down stakes, and improvised cots and leafy branches on which to lay the wounded until more tents or cots could be obtained or some of the wounded be shipped to the rear. Outside of the hospital limits, there were crowds of the women and children of Forsyth, who had done all they were permitted to do, silently waiting to see if there would be any more need for their services. The kindness, humanity and patriotism of the people of Forsyth would never be forgotten. Mrs. Palmer said that she never saw anywhere, people who helped so much as they did. Several times while at Forsyth the hospital was in danger of being captured by different troops of Federal cavalry. One time the hospital was all lighted up as the Federals galloped by, and at other times, although the lights had all been put out, the full moon plainly revealed to the enemy the white tents among the trees. They evidently knew that it was a hospital, for not a shot was fired into it. They only blew their bugles and galloped on to Macon, Ga." ============================= CLAYTON HOSPITAL "The Confederate Medical Department authorized hospitals such as the Clayton to retain a staff of one surgeon for every 70 or 80 patients. Assisting the medical officers were a number of matrons--women charged with seeing that patients' food was properly prepared, beds and clothing laundered, and medicines administered. The ladies of Forsyth who served in this capacity received repeated compliments from the hospital medical officers. In addition, slaves were hired as cooks, laundresses, or other workers..... The start of Sherman's advance on Atlanta in early May, 1864, found Clayton Hospital with a large number of vacant beds and the surgeons and nurses comparatively idle. Then the fighting started, with the campaign's first big battle at Resaca, May 14. Within another 10 days, almost all the Clayton's 300 beds were filled with patients. The transport by train of wounded soldiers to hospitals 100 miles in the rear created medical problems for surgeons at Forsyth....Dr. J.A. Winkler protested, "several patients have been brought into this Hospital in a dying condition. Humanity demands that such cases should not be moved." [instead of being treated in hospitals nearer to the army] With the sudden increase in the wounded, Dr. Patterson acquired the use of the three-story Monroe Female College, located east of town near the railroad. Bunks and clothing were a while yet in arriving and the loss of the building's cupola in a rainstorm added further discomfort to the patients inside. As last as June 30, most of the sick and wounded still lay on the floors of the college building. But by July 11, bunks and hospital clothes had arrived for the college wards, which brought Clayton's capacity to 500 beds. Even more were added later when wooden sheds were built in front of the Southern Botanico-Medical College. By mid- August, John Patterson was in charge of a nearly 700 bed hospital. [The building was burned in 1879, but was rebuilt. Today it is part of Tift College and bears a plaque} Forsyth eventually became a major Confederate hospital center in the state. As a result of the gradual Confederate withdrawal from North Georgia, hospitals were relocated at points south of Atlanta. By July 16, three hospitals formerly situated at Marietta (The Academy, Gilmer, and Foard) had been established just outside of Forsyth. An additional "tent hospital" named for Surgeon Stout, was set up a mile south of town at Smyrna Church. [later renamed for General Johsnton after the latter was relieved from command of the Army of Tennessee] By late July, a seventh facility, the McFerrin Hospital, was being established with eight wooden sheds, 100 feet long and 18 feet wide, built on the campground eight miles below Forsyth. The capacity of all these various hospitals probably numbered at least 2500 beds. [McFerrin may have been temporary as it was not listed when Forsyth was evacuated in mid-Oct 1864] Most common diseases and cause of death are reviewed in the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia. It was pointed out that the low death rate from wounds was due to the location of Forsyth being so far from actual battle fields. "Most seriously injured Confederate soldiers were operated on in Atlanta and sent farther south only later" The diseases most common were: (Clayton Hospital two month period July-August) 1)debilitas (general weakness) 64 patients 2)Chronic or acute diarrhea 59 patients (evidently the most common cause of death due to disease) 3)acute rheumatism 26 patients 4)pneumoia 7 patients - 3 died 5)pleuritis 16 patients 6)bilious reminttant fever (malaria) 21 patients In July when Sherman sent the cavalry to destroy the Confederate Railways, Medical Director Stout prepared to evacuate if needed. "The Yankee horsemen, headed for macon, did not enter Forsyth". On October 1, Dr. Patterson was ordered to remove by rail to Americus all patients and property at Clayton and Hardee Hospital. Foard, Gilmer, Johnston, and Academy hospitals were ordered to Columbus. All patients too sick to be removed would remain at the Female College under the direction of Surgeon M.J. Bolan. Trains actually arrived Oct 16 but only patients from Hardee were boarded. There was not room for Clayton patients. A week later the Clayton Hospital order was to Slema, Alabama beginning October 25 --- reaching there Nov 2. He was ordered almost immediately to move them to Columbus, Mississippi. They arrived there by Nov 6 and began to treat patients. After the defeat at Nashville, Dec 15-16, Surgeon Stout moved his hospitals back to Georgia. On Feb 25, 1865, Dr. Patterson was relieved of his duty in Mississippi and ordered to return to Forsyth where he re-established Clayton Hospital in early March. This decision was reached when the Confederate Army was moving north to begin the invasion of Tennessee. ================ Resources: "The Confederate Hospital in Forsyth" Sandra Ivey, Memorial Day Program April 24, 1959. Printed in The Monroe Advertiser May 21, 1959. The Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia. "A Confederate Hospital" Stephen Davis. jan 1986 vol 75 pg 15 - 24 =================== ++++++++++++++ Researcher: CM Pierce John Jackson Chason Confederate C 12 Militia GA J. J. Chaisin Private ------- (can't read) Militia Regt Name appears on a Register of Officers and Soldier of the Army of the Confederate States who were killed in battle, or who died of wounds or disease - lists him as Confederate Pvt. Co. H 12 GA Militia - When Deceased Sept. 26, 1864 - Where and from what cause - CLAYTON HOSPITAL Forsyth GA from Gunshot wound - In whose charge John Patterson, Surgeon - When received Oct. 15, 1864 - Number of Certificate 511 - Confed. Arch., Chap. 10 File No. 4 Page 55. and the other sheet Confederate C 12 Mil GA J. J. Chaisin Pvt. Co. H 12 Regt GA Mil appears on a Register of Effects of Deceased Soldiers, turned over to Quartermasters, U.S.A, Receipt filed 1864 No. 6488 Amount $16.00 At bottom of page - Confed. Arch. Chap. 10, File No. 21, Page 117. Card # on Josiah Chason 11868168