The Civil War, or War Between the States as it is called in the South, was the costliest "conflict" that Americas had to fight since the birth of our Nation. The issues and causes, which will be debated upon until the end of time, should no longer be an issue. The losses, however, and the great sacrifices of those that served on both sides, should never be forgotten. Of the 359,528 deaths in the Federal Army, 67,058 (18.7%) were killed on the battlefield, 43,012 (12.0%) died from their wounds and 224,586 (62.5%) died of disease. The other 6.8% died from miscellaneous causes. Of the 2,893,304 total enlisted men that wore blue during the war 12.4% would loose their lives. Of the approximately 1,317,035 total enlisted men that served in the Confederate Forces, 94,000 died as a result of battle and 164,000 died of disease. Across the board, the death rate in the Confederacy (from all sources) was 19.6 percent.  In simple terms, about 1 out of 10 of the Federal troops that marched off to war and almost 1 out of 5 of the Southern troops that defended their homeland made the ultimate sacrifice.  A total of 617,528 men gave up their lives, in both the Union and Confederacy, during this tragic war. All wars are tragic, as anyone that served in one can tell you, however, in regards to the loss of American lives, the American Civil War (1861-1865) leads the list. Attempting to stem this tremendous loss of life where a mere handful of Surgeons that served on both sides during the war. (Field Hospital display set up in the xxxxxxxxxxx House by Lawrence Jones and Fred Schaller)

When one considers the losses, especially prior to the advent of the devastating weapons of the later centuries, it is hard to conceive such a loss of human life. During the D-Day invasion, 6,603 Americans became casualties of which 2,499 were fatal. At the Battle of Antieham, Maryland (17 September 1862) the Union sustained 12,410 losses and in the Confederate forces 13,724 casualties resulted. At the Battle of Tarawa, one of bloodiest days in WWII, the US Marines had 1000 men killed and 2,296 wounded.  The casualties inflicted to soldiers on both sides at the Battle of Chickamauga Georgia ( 19-20 September 1863) exceeded 34,633 in number. In the 3 days of fighting at Gettysburg, the Union 23,049 men and the Confederates lost 28,063 troops respectively.  (The case on the right is a Civil War era Surgeon's Amputation Case)

In regards to medical care of the sick and wounded, the standard treatments provided, in comparisons to today's standards, was archaic at best. Knowledge of disease was primitive, and in fact, little was known of their origins or how to effectively combat them. The wide spread use of narcotics, such as opium and morphine, was universally used to relieve pain and eventually led , after the war, to many veterans being addicted to these drugs. Filth and disease was common fare in "regimental field hospitals", a situation that did not change until hostilities ended even though Surgeon Lettermen made great attempts to improve these condition in the Federal Army.  Fully, two-thirds of fatalities in the Civil War were the result of illness, such as diarrhea/dysentery, an "affliction" that spread through the armies of both sides like a storm rendering entire Regiments incapable of conducting military operations on the field. Infections, such as gangrene, were a constant threat in wound management and amputations of the infected limb was most often the treatment of choice. Lack of knowledge, as to the treatment of this "surgeon's curse", as well as the insufficient number of skilled and available doctors to care for the wounded, made any other course of action a virtual impossibility. (The case on the left is a Surgeon's Field Companion)

It has all to often been said that Surgeons, on both sides, had little professional knowledge nor did they care to take the time to provide proper care to their patients, outside of the expeditiously dispensing dangerous drugs and freely applying the amputation knife. As this may well have been true in many cases, it was not the norm. Creditable medical schools were rare and the use of cadavers, for use in training students on anatomy as well as surgical procedures, was illegal in the United States.  Most who aspired to be physicians, studied as an apprentice under a practicing surgeon, attended "medical lectures, periodically at best, for a couple of years and then became "doctors". At the start of the war there were no medical boards in existence to test the competency and knowledge of those desiring to serve as physician in the Army. Once commissioned, these fledging young doctors soon found themselves dodging shot and shell on the battlefield, while they toiled under the worst conditions conceivable, treating a steady stream of battered and bloodied soldiers, often from both sides. It was a shock for all involved in the best of terms. Under staffed, ill equipped and constantly strained, field dispensaries became little more than butcher shops, where other alternatives were much desired but impossible to attain.  (The case on the right is a Surgeon's Field Companion)

It would be over 100 years after the war had finally ended that we would finally come to realization that the blood of all men runs red.  Yet, this undeniable fact was not lost to those as they served on the battlefields as they struggled to mend the broken bodies of those that endured the four long years of fighting that left our young nation bloodied, battered and with the indelible scars that still remain to this day. As for the members of the Hospital Department (Medical Service), as well as all of the Soldiers that fought in the Civil War, their service was best summed up by President Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg address.  "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.......that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion."  (A faithfully reproduced copy of a Civil War Hospital Knapsack is pictured on the left)

FIELD HOSPITALS DURING THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN

The Warren House (left), built in 1859, served as a Field Hospital, first for the Confederate Army, and then as Headquarters, and a Field Hospital for the Union 52nd Illinois Regiment, during the Battle of Jonesboro, 31 August and 1 September 1864. On the second day of the bloody battle a portion of the battle line was actually located around the stately old plantation itself as well as on the adjacent property. Signatures of Northern troops are still visible on the walls. Margaret Mitchell, author  of "Gone with the Wind" visited the Warren House several times in 1935 and 1936. The Gayden-Sims-Webb House (right) was built in the 1850's by Francis T.Gayden, who later served as a Surgeon in Gen.  Joseph Wheeler's Confederate Calvary. During the Battle of Jonesboro, the building and surrounding grounds served as a Confederate Field Hospital.

The Andrew J. Cheney House (left), located in SW Marietta at the corner of Powder Springs Road and Bankstone Roads, like the two other historical structures above, sits on hallowed ground. Also known as the Cheney-Newcomer House, the stately old Greek revival plantation house was built about 1856 by Andrew Jackson Cheney. During the Civil War, Union Major General John M. Schofield established his Headquarters in the Cheney House in late June 1864. Cox's Union division camped on the site, after a brisk skirmish on the actual grounds and General W. T. Sherman inspected the right wing of the Kennesaw line at the Cheney Place during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864. Immediately following the Battle of Kennesaw, the Cheney House served as a Field Hospital for the Union Army. In the late 1980's and into the 1990's, the home and grounds, then owned by Mr. Ken Newcomer, often played host to many Civil War Reenactor groups that conducted living history programs and and social events on a regular basis. Mr. Newcomer, a Reenactor himself, passed away in 1999 and the property went into probate. Currently, there is no access to this celebrated old antebellum mansion, as it was purchased by Ambling Development Partners  in 1999 and a assisted-living facility was built on the property that now surrounds this historic old home. In 2002, the Cobb Preservation Foundation acquired the Cheney-Newcomer home and it is currently up for sale.  Truly it is "Gone with the Wind".

FORGOTTEN BATTLEFIELDS IN ATLANTA

Studying the battlefields in Atlanta is impossible, since they have been destroyed and replaced with cold steel, concrete, glass and the rapid transit system of this growing city.   If the history of this famous battle, fought in and around Atlanta in the summer of 1864, interest you at all then read about it if you must. For the "city planners and politicians" have made it their life's work to insure that you will never see nor place a foot on any vestige of hallowed ground in this city. The slaughter, during the Battle of Atlanta, was horrific. Since there is no way of counting the dead in the fighting, authorities believe that all casualty figures given are vastly underestimated. Computed losses, including the wounded and captured, vary from 6,000 to 10,000 Confederates, and from 4,000 to 7,000 Federals with an additional losses of between 2,700 and 5,000 Confederates and 650 Federals killed and wounded at the Battle of Ezra Church, west of the city, on 28 July 1864. This does not include the estimated casualty figures of 5,000 Confederates and 2,000 Federals sustained during the Battle of Peachtree Creek on 19 July or the 3,000 Confederate and 1.600 Federal casualties at the Battle of Jonesboro in August and September 1864. 

While Atlanta is a city rich in multi-culture history, it has apparently forgotten those that fought and died here during the Civil War. The Jimmy Cater library sits on the same ground where General Sherman watched the Battle of Atlanta and where the Augustus Hurt House stood during that battle.

The Troup-Hurt House, depicted in famous Atlanta Cyclorama and where intense fighting both before and during the Battle of Atlanta occurred, has long since been replaced by a stone church. It was from this rise that General Sherman's men first fired artillery into the city of Atlanta and during the fighting that day this position was a key position in the Union Army's defense. Not even a marker indicates this site and most folks have no idea what happened here.  Again...... "Gone with the Wind".

Some of the bloodest The Union line was along Flat Shoals (the major diagonal street), then running north along Moreland to Little Five Points. This was the site of the Battle of Atlanta, and the Little Five Points section is depicted in Grant Park's Cyclorama. Leggett's Hill (Bald Hill) was just a few hundred yards to the north, just out of this photo.  Now, I-20 crosses Moreland Avenue in the same location and the Atlanta Motel and other commercial buildings now exist where the heat of the battle was fought. Nothing remains to indicate that a single drop of blood was ever spilt   Leggitt's division was defending Bald Hill in a seesaw struggle in holding this position much of the afternoon where bloody charges were made by both sides. Bald Hill was renamed Leggett's Hill as a direct result of that battle. General Mortimer Leggett commanded the brigade that included both the 12th and the 16th Wisconsin infantry regiments. His orders from Sherman on the 21st were to take that hill and to hold it. He did. And the Battle for Atlanta on the 22nd involved the unsuccessful efforts of the Confederate army to dislodge him from this strategic location. Nearly 12,000 men were killed, wounded or taken prisoner in that battle and it became the decisive battle in what became known as the Siege of Atlanta.

LOST TO GENERATIONS

Unfortunately, Atlanta, like many other "Old South" cities and towns, has, either for reasons of economic "development" or other reasons, has forsaken its own rich heritage for the sake of the (now sagging) US dollar. Brave men, on both the Confederate and Federal Armies, fought, shed their blood and gave their lives on the properties shown above. The old buildings shown above, still stand today as a haunting testament to the struggle and sacrifice of those brave Americans on "both sides of the river". The acknowledgement of their sacrifices, and where their life's blood stained the soil, is all but forgotten. Their legacy and their contributions, as conflicting in purposes as they may have been, are still part of our heritage as Americans, regardless of our own color, race, creed, religion or national origin. Whether we had ancestors in the State of Georgia, at the time of the tragic Civil War or they arrived after that conflict matters not. If we consider ourselves Americans and we consider Georgia as our "home", then what they did and the cost they paid in doing it, right or wrong, is part of us and should never be forgotten. It is time, and has long since been time, to stop selling off our own hallowed grounds for the sake of the Almighty Dollar. For once these monumental symbols of our Southern Heritage are gone, they will truly forever be GONE WITH THE WIND.