The distinguished surgeon Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, whose son, Lieut. Bowditch, was mortally wounded in the cavalry fight at Kelly’s Ford, voiced, in his “Plea for an Ambulance System,” the general dissatisfaction of the medical profession with the neglect or barbarous treatment of our wounded on the battle-field. This was as late as the spring of 1863. They had petitioned Congress to adopt some system without delay, and a bill to that effect had passed the House, but on Feb. 24, 1863, the Committee on Military Affairs, of which Senator Henry Wilson was chairman, reported against a bill “in relation to Military Hospitals and to organize an Ambulance Corps,” as an impracticable measure at that time, and the Senate adopted the report, and there, I think, it dropped.
CHAPTER XVII.
SCATTERING SHOTS.
“His coat was e’er so much too short,
His pants a mile too wide,
And when he marched could not keep step
However much he tried.”
THE CLOTHING.
Forty-two dollars was the sum allowed by the government to clothe the private soldier for the space of one year. The articles included in his outfit were a cap or hat (usually the former), blouse, overcoat, dress coat, trousers, shirts, drawers, socks, shoes, a woollen and a rubber blanket. This was the wardrobe of the infantry. It should be said, however, that many regiments never drew a dress coat after leaving the state, the blouse serving as the substitute for that garment. The artillery and cavalry had the same except that a jacket took the place of the dress coat, boots that of shoes, and their trousers had a re-enforce, that is, an extra thickness of cloth extending from the upper part of the seat down the inside of both legs, for greater durability in the service required of these branches in the saddle.