May 20.—Last evening a friend sent me word that my brother was in the Gilmer Hospital. (It is now on the same hill as the Academy). I went there immediately, and was glad to find that he had not much the matter with him. He has a carbuncle on his arm, caused by bad food. A change of air and diet would, I feel certain, benefit him more than any thing else.
I staid all night with Mrs. Gorman, the matron of the hospital; it is a perfect treat to visit there. The hospital buildings are newly put up; they are composed of four or five two-story wards, each large enough for about fifty patients. Each ward has a small room attached to it, used as a distributing-room and pantry, and another, used as a bath-room. I went through Dr. Cannon’s ward. (Dr. Cannon is the same whom I met in Corinth.) Every thing about it was in perfect order. The bunks had on white comforts, not the least soiled, although they had been in use some time. The view from the upper part of these wards is perfectly entrancing; the trees are magnificent. I called Dr. Cannon’s attention to the scene, and asked him if there was any thing in England to equal it (he is an Englishman). He said he had seen nothing to surpass it, and that he considered the view from his window one of the finest in the world.
This morning, before leaving, I paid a visit to the Academy Hospital, which is but a short distance from the other. They both belong to General Polk’s corps. Both have been put up since we came to Chattanooga. The Academy has been finished some time. It is perfect in every department. The wards are but one story high, each holding about twenty-five patients. They have a small distributing room for every two of these wards. The food is brought from the kitchen to them, and distributed by a ward matron.
They have very few patients at present . The wards are fixed up very nicely, having been newly whitewashed, and Mrs. N. has them very tastefully dressed with evergreens. The attendants sleep in tents, some of which are fixed up as nicely as any house. I visited one belonging to the druggist’s wife, who is one of the matrons. There was a place dug in the ground about three feet deep, the sides bricked around, and floored with planks, on which was a carpet . It had a chimney and fire-place; the tent-cloth was put over all, and gutters around, to keep out the rain. A very nice lady has charge of the linen room. In this hospital the patients have their clothes washed as soon as they come in. The wash-house is a little ways from the rest of the hospital; in it are large boilers, built on brick, and an ironing-room, and a shed for drying the clothes in wet weather.
There is one great drawback which we all have: the water used has to be carried from the river in barrels. The wards are at least twenty yards apart. Mrs. N. tells me that Dr. Hawthorne, the surgeon, is one of the best managers she has ever been with; but I have been told one thing about him, that proves that he is not a humane man; I refer to his method of punishing the men by bucking and gagging; sometimes he puts a bayonet in their mouth instead of a stick, and ties it so tightly that the blood gushes out. Many a time he has made the men stay in this position twenty-four hours, giving them neither food nor water. I do not think there is any necessity for going to such extremes. We have as good discipline in our hospital as there is any need for, and nothing of that kind is ever resorted to.
On my way back this morning, I called on Mrs. Brewer, and had an introduction to Major-General McCown, who is now under arrest for disobedience of orders, or, as a lady the other day told me, for giving his men coffee! I found him very pleasant in conversation; he told us he had experienced nothing here in comparison with what he had endured in other campaigns. I think he had been in the regular army, and had been at Salt Lake, or on some expedition against the Indians.
