OR XLVI P1 #8: Report of Surg. George B. Parker, in charge of Depot Field Hospital, March 27-June 30, 1865

No. 8. Report of Surg. George B. Parker, U. S. Army, in charge of Depot Field Hospital, of operations March 27-June 30.¹

WASHINGTON, D. C.,
July 25, 1865.

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the Depot Field Hospital of the Army of the Potomac from March 27, 1865, to June 30, 1865:

In pursuance of General Orders, Numbers 77, paragraph 4, dated headquarters Army of the Potomac, March 25, 1865, I assumed, on the 27th day of March following, the duties of acting chief medical officer of the Depot Field Hospital at City Point, Va. The hospital consisted of 90 stockade pavilions and 452 tents, and then embraced and included the hospitals of the Second, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, and Cavalry Corps, belonging the Army of the Potomac, and the capacity of the hospital was 5,414 beds. Its railroad communication extended to Burkeville, Va., and afterward to Danville, Va., and patients were received direct from these points.

On the 28th day of March, 1865, the medical of the Army of the Potomac ordered the hospital to be increased to its utmost capacity, and additional tents were erected and the capacity of the hospital increased to 8,800 beds.

Pursuant to telegraphic order from the medical director, supplies for 2,500 patients for ten days and 25 medical officers were forwarded to Burkeville, Va., and a receiving depot established there. This sub-division of the Depot Field Hospital was intended for the reception of patients unable to travel, and for whom immediate transportation could

not be furnished, and was ready for the treatment of patients April 7, 1865. During its continuance 1,173 patients were received and transferred to City Point, Va.

In consequence of the detachment of the Ninth Army Corps from the Army of the Potomac, after the campaign had terminated, the hospitals of that corps belonging to the Depot Field Hospital were closed on the 24th of April, 1865.

On the 4th day of May, 1865, the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac ordered the removal of the Depot Field Hospital to Alexandria, Va., and medical officers and requisite supplies were sent forward, and a hospital with a capacity of 2,000 beds established at that place in advance of the arrival of the returning armies.

The Depot Field Hospital was finally broken up on the 30th day of June, 1865.

Patients belonging to the Army of the Potomac treated in Depot Field Hospital, from March 27, 1865, to June

A large number of men not belonging to the Army of the Potomac were received fat the Depot Field Hospital, Virginia, and sent forward immediately to Point of Rocks, Va., by transports, but, in consequence of the great number of these patients and their rapid arrival and departure, the surgeons in charge of the corps hospitals failed to register their names, and they are not borne upon the records of the depot hospital.

The number of patients treated in the hospital after the removal to Alexandria, Va., amounted to 1,446.

The supply of water for the depot hospital at City Point, Va., was received from flowing springs found under the bluffs of the Appomattox. The water was raised to a reservoir, at a proper elevation, by two stationary engines, conveyed by pipes to the respective corps hospitals, some of which were half a mile distant, and an abundant supply kept constantly on hand. the general sanitary condition of the hospitals was invariably good; neither gangrene or any epidemic appeared; good order, discipline, and cleanliness were constantly maintained. There was ever an ample supply of all medical and hospital stores, and every luxury and comfort required by the sick and wounded was furnished by the medical department with the least possible delay, and in concluding it is proper to refer to the efficiency of the following-named surgeons in charge of the respective corps: Actg. Staff Surg. John Aiken, Second Army Corps; W. L. Faxon, surgeon Thirty-second Massachusetts Volunteers, Fifth Army Corps; Asst. Surg. J. Sykes, esq., U. S. Volunteers, Sixth Army Corps; W. O. McDonald, surgeon, U. S. Volunteers, Ninth Army Corps; C. A. McCall, U. S. Army, Cavalry Corps; H. Bendell, surgeon Eighty-sixth New York Volunteers, in charge sub-depot at Burkeville, Va.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. B. PARKER,
Surgeon, U. S. Volunteers.

Colonel T. A. McPARLIN, U. S. Army,
Medical Director Army of the Potomac, Washington, D. C.

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