| Buy DocSouth Books
THE GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL
FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS
IN PETERSBURG VIRGINIA:
Electronic Edition.
Funding from the Institute of
Museum and Library
Services
supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text scanned (OCR) by
Jim Crawford
Images scanned by
Joshua McKim
Text encoded by
Joshua McKim
and Natalia Smith
First edition,
1999
ca. 60K
Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
1999.
VCp970.77 P48g 1861 (North Carolina Collection, UNC-CH)
The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH digitization project, Documenting the American South.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
All quotation marks and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as " and " respectively.
All em dashes are encoded as --.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
Spell-check and verification made against printed text using Author/Editor (SoftQuad) and Microsoft Word spell check programs.
Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998
LC Subject Headings:
- General Military Hospital for the North Carolina Troops (Petersburg, Va.)
- Military hospitals -- Virginia -- Petersburg -- History -- 19th century.
- Military hospitals -- Confederate States of America -- History.
- Petersburg (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.
- Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals.
- North Carolina -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals.
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals.
- 1999-04-19,
Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther
revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition.
-
1999-03-18,
Natalia Smith, project manager,
finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing.
-
1999-03-15,
Joshua McKim
finished TEI/SGML encoding
- 1999-03-01,
Jim Crawford
finished scanning (OCR) and proofing.
THE
GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL
FOR THE
NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS
IN
PETERSBURG VIRGINIA.
RALEIGH:
STROTHER& MARCOM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS.
1861.
Page 3
GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL.
THE General Military Hospital for the North Carolina Troops, in Petersburg, Virginia, is situated on Perry street, within a few yards of the Southern Rail Road, and is one of the most convenient and comfortable Military Hospitals in the country. The building is three stories in height, each story or floor being divided into wards. It is provided with suitable heating apparatus, and the windows are arranged for lowering or hoisting. Each ward is lighted by gas; hot and cold water carried over the Hospital, into the kitchen, the bathing rooms and other places, on each floor, and into the laundry in the yard. Suitable arrangements have also been made for conveying patients from one floor to another without being carried up and down the stairs by hand.
The Hospital can be easily reached by means of an Ambulance Car, which will be run across the city of Richmond connecting the Central and Fredericksburg Railroads, which transport the sick and wounded from the armies on the Potomac and in Western Virginia, with the Richmond and Petersburg Roads, running within thirty-five yards of the Hospital door; while those from the Peninsular and from the south side of James River, can readily get to Petersburg along the different routs of travel from those places.
The affairs of this Hospital will be under the general management and supervision of the Governor of
Page 4
North Carolina, and the Surgeon General of the State, as an Executivee Committe, who shall have power to select and discharge all the officers and attendants required for the Hospital and Hospital Depots; to receive and apply any contributions of money or other things intended for the use of the North Carolina volunteers or Hospital; and to do everything necessary to carry out the objects contemplated by establishing this Hospital.
FIRST.--They shall apply to the Secretary of War and Surgeon General of the Confederate States for the appointment of such Surgeons and assistant Surgeons and Dressers as they may select.
SECOND.--They shall apply for the necessary medical supplies for this Hospital.
THIRD.--They shall apply for rations for the soldiers in Hospital, and such of the employees of the Hospital as are allowed rations under the rules and regulations of the Confederate States Army.
FOURTH.--They shall obtain transportation for Hospital Stores, forwarded for the use of the Hospital, or any of the North Carolina Volunteers in Virginia, and also for all persons employed in carrying out properly the objects of this institution.
And in turn it shall be their duty to furnish to the War Department any report or information relative to the patients and expenditures that may be asked for; and to publish from time to time such statements of the transactions of the Hospital as they may deem advisable, or shall be called for by authority, either for the information of the State, the Medical and War Departments of the Confederate States, Contributors, or for the benefit of the Volunteers.
It shall also be their duty to extend the benefits of
Page 5
this Hospital to the Volunteers of any other State when they can do so without excluding those from North Carolina.
NUMBER OF OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES.
One Surgeon-in-Chief, (commissioned;) two or three Assistant Surgeons, (commissioned;) one Apothecary; one Secretary and Clerk; one Steward and Treasurer; one Matron and two or three assistants; three or four Medical Students as dressers, &c.; Nurses, Servants, Cooks, and Washers, as many as may be required.
DUTIES OF THE HOSPITAL OFFICERS.
SURGEON-IN-CHIEF.
1. It shall be the duty of the chief Surgeon to superintend and
direct the medical and surgical treatment of the patients, and to
keep the Executive Committee informed of all requisitions
necessary for these purposes. He will distribute the patients,
according to convenience and the nature of their complaints,
into wards or divisions, under the particular charge of the
assistant Surgeons, and will visit them himself each day, as
frequently as the sick or wounded may require, accompanied by
the Assistant Surgeons, Dressers and Nurses.
2. His prescriptions of medicine and diet are daily to be
written down in a register, with the name of the patient and
number of the bed; and the Assistant Surgeons or Dressers, in
his absence, will see that the directions are carried out.
3. He will enforce the proper Hospital regulations
to promote health and prevent contagion, by having
well ventilated and not over crowded rooms, scrupulous
cleanliness, changes of bed linen, &c.
4. All the employees of the Hospital will be under
Page 6
his orders; and he will carefully see to the keeping of the
following records: a register of patients; a prescription and diet
book; a case book; copies of his requisitions; monthly returns
of sick and wounded; an order and letter book, in which will be
transcribed all orders and letters relating to his duties.
ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
The Assistant Surgeons shall be under the control and
direction of the Chief Surgeon, and in like manner subject to
removal. They shall see that subordinate officers do their duty,
and aid in enforcing the regulations of the Hospital.
They must not leave the Hospital without the consent of the
chief Surgeon, and one or the other of them must always be
there when the chief Surgeon is absent.
APOTHECARY.
The Apothecary must be a competent man, approved by the
Chief Surgeon, and appointed by the Executive Committee.
His duty is to dispense the medicines and put up the
prescriptions of the surgeons.
He must remain in the Hospital building day and
night, so as to be always at hand to discharge the
proper duties of his office.
RESIDENT STUDENTS OR DRESSERS.
There may be appointed by the Executive Committee four
medical students (commissioned) who shall have attended at
least one full course of lectures in a regular medical college, and
who shall perform the duties of dressers or assistants, to the
surgeons and apothecary,
Page 7
They are never to leave the Hospital without the consent of
the Chief Surgeon, or Executive Committee. They shall be
allowed board and washing in the Hospital.
SECRETARY AND CLERK.
The Secretary and Clerk shall keep a full record of every
patient admitted into and discharged from the Hospital--
showing his name, age, nativity and disease or injury; also the
company and regiment to which be belongs.
He shall make a memorandum of any money, clothing, or
other articles delivered to him by the patients, and hand the
same to the Treasurer or Steward for safe keeping, and do any
thing else that may be required of him by the chief Surgeon or
Executive Committee. For example, he shall receive and forward
all letters and packages directed to the care of the Hospital for
the North Carolina Volunteers in Virginia; and he shall keep a
full and accurate list of all the North Carolina Regiments and
Battalions in the service, and endeavor to keep informed of
their position and such of their wants as can be relieved from
this Hospital.
He shall attend to all letters of inquiry relative to patients in
the Hospital and the North Carolina Volunteers generally, as far
as he can, keeping up a weekly correspondence with the
Surgeons of our Regiments.
It shall also be his duty, under the immediate supervision of
the Surgeon in Chief, to draw up any report and furnish any
information that may be required by the Secretary of War, the
Surgeon General of the Confederate States, or the Executive
Committee.
Page 8
STEWARD.
The Steward shall have charge of the Commissariat of the
Hospital and attend to the marketing; take charge of all Hospital
stores, furniture of every description, supplies for the sick, and
superintend the domestic affairs of the Hospital generally. He
shall keep a roster of nurses, cooks, and attendants, and returns
for rations, according to the number in the Hospital; receive and
distribute rations, and submit his book to the chief Surgeon,
monthly for examination, or oftener if required. He will issue
stores to cooks and nurses, and enter the amount in his book.
He will be responsible for furniture, bedding, cooking utensils,
and for keeping the store room neat and clean. In the discharge
of these duties he will derive assistance from the matrons and
ward master.
He shall also act as Treasurer of the Hospital, giving bond
for the faithful performance of the duties of this office.
MATRONS.
The Matrons will assist the Steward in the general domestic
management of the Hospital, especially in looking after the
washing and cooking and nice condition of the wards, and in
seeing that the female nurses do their duty.
SURGEON-IN-CHIEF.
1. It shall be the duty of the chief Surgeon to superintend and direct the medical and surgical treatment of the patients, and to keep the Executive Committee informed of all requisitions necessary for these purposes. He will distribute the patients, according to convenience and the nature of their complaints, into wards or divisions, under the particular charge of the assistant Surgeons, and will visit them himself each day, as frequently as the sick or wounded may require, accompanied by the Assistant Surgeons, Dressers and Nurses.
2. His prescriptions of medicine and diet are daily to be written down in a register, with the name of the patient and number of the bed; and the Assistant Surgeons or Dressers, in his absence, will see that the directions are carried out.
3. He will enforce the proper Hospital regulations to promote health and prevent contagion, by having well ventilated and not over crowded rooms, scrupulous cleanliness, changes of bed linen, &c.
4. All the employees of the Hospital will be under
Page 6
his orders; and he will carefully see to the keeping of the following records: a register of patients; a prescription and diet book; a case book; copies of his requisitions; monthly returns of sick and wounded; an order and letter book, in which will be transcribed all orders and letters relating to his duties.
ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
The Assistant Surgeons shall be under the control and direction of the Chief Surgeon, and in like manner subject to removal. They shall see that subordinate officers do their duty, and aid in enforcing the regulations of the Hospital.
They must not leave the Hospital without the consent of the chief Surgeon, and one or the other of them must always be there when the chief Surgeon is absent.
APOTHECARY.
The Apothecary must be a competent man, approved by the Chief Surgeon, and appointed by the Executive Committee.
His duty is to dispense the medicines and put up the prescriptions of the surgeons.
He must remain in the Hospital building day and night, so as to be always at hand to discharge the proper duties of his office.
RESIDENT STUDENTS OR DRESSERS.
There may be appointed by the Executive Committee four medical students (commissioned) who shall have attended at least one full course of lectures in a regular medical college, and who shall perform the duties of dressers or assistants, to the surgeons and apothecary,
Page 7
They are never to leave the Hospital without the consent of the Chief Surgeon, or Executive Committee. They shall be allowed board and washing in the Hospital.
SECRETARY AND CLERK.
The Secretary and Clerk shall keep a full record of every patient admitted into and discharged from the Hospital-- showing his name, age, nativity and disease or injury; also the company and regiment to which be belongs.
He shall make a memorandum of any money, clothing, or other articles delivered to him by the patients, and hand the same to the Treasurer or Steward for safe keeping, and do any thing else that may be required of him by the chief Surgeon or Executive Committee. For example, he shall receive and forward all letters and packages directed to the care of the Hospital for the North Carolina Volunteers in Virginia; and he shall keep a full and accurate list of all the North Carolina Regiments and Battalions in the service, and endeavor to keep informed of their position and such of their wants as can be relieved from this Hospital.
He shall attend to all letters of inquiry relative to patients in the Hospital and the North Carolina Volunteers generally, as far as he can, keeping up a weekly correspondence with the Surgeons of our Regiments.
It shall also be his duty, under the immediate supervision of the Surgeon in Chief, to draw up any report and furnish any information that may be required by the Secretary of War, the Surgeon General of the Confederate States, or the Executive Committee.
Page 8
The Steward shall have charge of the Commissariat of the
Hospital and attend to the marketing; take charge of all Hospital
stores, furniture of every description, supplies for the sick, and
superintend the domestic affairs of the Hospital generally. He
shall keep a roster of nurses, cooks, and attendants, and returns
for rations, according to the number in the Hospital; receive and
distribute rations, and submit his book to the chief Surgeon,
monthly for examination, or oftener if required. He will issue
stores to cooks and nurses, and enter the amount in his book.
He will be responsible for furniture, bedding, cooking utensils,
and for keeping the store room neat and clean. In the discharge
of these duties he will derive assistance from the matrons and
ward master. He shall also act as Treasurer of the Hospital, giving bond
for the faithful performance of the duties of this office. The Matrons will assist the Steward in the general domestic
management of the Hospital, especially in looking after the
washing and cooking and nice condition of the wards, and in
seeing that the female nurses do their duty.STEWARD.
MATRONS.