Treating the Wounded

Treating the Wounded. Honey Springs Battlefield. The medical and surgical materials available in the field were generally limited to what the surgeon carried in his case, known as the surgeon's field companion. The regimental hospital steward carried a hospital knapsack--a bulky, cumbersome affair weighing about 20 pounds. These kits held crude implements and pills and liquid medicines including opium-based laudanum, mercury, arsenic, and alcohol. Field surgeons operated with varying degrees of skill, often without anesthesia. The state of medicine during the war was such that the treating of the wounded became a great laboratory experiment. Great strides were made in medicine based on what the doctors learned on the battlefield., The casualties of my command are as follows: Private Huston Mayfield, Company F, drowned in the Arkansas; Private Key Dougherty, Company F, drowned in the Arkansas; Private Tocah-le-ges-kie, Company F, drowned in the Arkansas; Private Grass, Company B, wounded in left side, severely; Private Backwater, Company A, right thigh broken, wound mortal; Private Leach Rice, Company I, right hand wounded slightly. , Lt. Col. Fred Schuarte, , 2nd Indian Home Guard, USA, I was wounded at the Battle of Elk Creek, Indian Territory, slight wound to the head. William Huddleston was killed at my left at the time I was wounded, 365 of us went into battle and only 105 came out. , Pvt. James Johnson, Company C, , 20th Texas Cavalry, CSA