July 2, 1863
I am a Civil War nurse that helped the patients
that were wounded or sick in the Battle of Gettysburg. One day when the battle
was in full force someone got wounded pretty badly. To me it looked like he got
shot in the arm. It made a hole the size of a baseball in his arm! It looked
very nasty! It was my first day as a nurse so I guess I was considered a
trainee. When the wounded man came in, my trainer, Doctor J.W.C. O’ Neal, was
the one who had to help him. He asked me if I could hand him the tools he
needed when he needed them. I thought this was my time to shine and earn some
money. While he was looking at the hole in the man’s arm he told me to give him
a bone saw. I asked him what a bone saw was and he said it was a tool used to
cut off a person’s hand or arm. After he said that I shivered for a minute and
then gave it to him. He smiled and told me to look away. I didn’t waste any
time doing that. I didn’t see anything, but what was weird was that I didn’t
hear the man scream either. After the wounded man left, I asked my trainer
why he didn’t scream. He said that he used a tool called Chloroform, which is
used to help the patient not give a big, loud scream when the doctor is
operating on them. After he said that another soldier came in with a really bad
disease. I never found out what the disease was called, but my trainer fixed
him right up. He gave the patient a medicine called mercury, which made the
soldier go a little crazy. The soldier was acting so crazy that he led himself
out the door and never came back. I was so relieved that the day was almost
over until another soldier came in. This soldier looked the worst of them all.
He was covered in blood and he couldn’t move at all. After we cleaned up all
the blood on the beaten up soldier we found out that a bullet had gone straight
through his chest. He ended up staying over night, so he could stay safe while
we tried to find a way to help him. Finally, the moon had come up and the day
was over. I asked my trainer if I would get any money for the hard work I did.
That was the day I found out that these Civil War nurses don’t get paid. That
day turned out to be the saddest and most disgusting day for me.
-Preston H.
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