So much to do, so tempted to lose myself in Civil War-era New York Times archives. Taken from his diaries which later became Memoranda During The War, Walt Whitman’s report on December 11, 1864 is incredible, but the headline itself is like poetry of another kind:
OUR WOUNDED AND SICK SOLDIERS.; VISITS AMONG ARMY HOSPITALS, At Washington, on the Field, and here in New-York. CAMP HOSPITALS, FREDERICKSBURGH, NEAR FALMOUTH, VA. VIA AQUIA CREEK, UP THE POTOMAC. SPECIMENS OF HOSPITAL VISITS. FIFTY HOURS LEFT WOUNDED ON THE FIELD. METHOD OF VISITS, ENLIVENING, ETC. WRITING LETTERS BY THE BEDSIDE. AFTER CHANCELLORSVILLE. JUNE, JULY, ETC. THE HOSPITALS FULL. AMBULANCE PROCESSION. DEATH OF A NEW-YORK SOLDIER. VISITS CONTINUED HOSPITAL WISDOM. CULPEPPER AND BRANDY STATION. MARCH AND APRIL, 1864. AROUND WASHINGTON. WOUNDED FROM WILDERNESS, SPOTTSYLVANIA, ETC. LAMENTABLE DEFICIENCIES AFTER HEAVY BATTLES ASSISTANCE MORE ABOUT HOSPITAL VISITING AS AN ART. ICE-CREAM TREAT. CHARACTERISTIC SCENE IN A WARD. DEATH OF A CASE FROM SECOND BULL RUN. CONVALESCENT CAMP. LATTER PART OF 1864 IN NEW-YORK. READING, INTERESTING THE MEN, ETC. WOMEN NURSES. GOVERNMENT CARE FOR WOUNDED. LITTLE GIFTS OF MONEY. WOUNDS AND DISEASES. SURGEONS, THE YOUNG MEN. AMOUNT OF THE TWO YEARS’ VISITS. HUMAN MAGNETISM AS A MEDICAL AGENT. CONCLUSION