Project Gutenberg 2025-05-30 Public domain in the USA. 240 Welch, Spencer Glasgow 1834 1916 Wright, Eloise Welch 1874 1973 11020523 A Confederate surgeon's letters to his wife $aNew York :$bThe Neale Publishing Company, $c1911. Fiona Holmes, Tim Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) "A Confederate surgeon's letters to his wife" by Spencer Glasgow Welch is a collection of wartime letters written in the mid-19th century. The work presents a Confederate army surgeon’s frontline perspective on marches, battles, medical duty, and camp life in the Army of Northern Virginia. It centers on his experiences with South Carolina regiments, blending eyewitness detail with personal reflections for his wife and child. The opening of the collection begins with an editor’s note about condensing the letters for historical value, then follows Welch from May 1862 near Fredericksburg through forced marches, sickness, the Seven Days around Richmond, and Jackson’s hard-driving maneuvers, all amid scarce rations and overflowing field hospitals. He gives close, practical accounts of his medical work at Second Manassas and Ox Hill, the grim toll of amputations and deaths, and the daily realities of hunger, gear shortages, discipline, and occasional picket fraternization. Winter 1862–63 covers Fredericksburg, relative quiet along the Rappahannock, and reflections on morale; at Chancellorsville he labors at the field infirmary through the assault and notes heavy losses and brief cooperation with Union surgeons under a flag of truce. He then traces the march up the Valley into Pennsylvania, requisitions on the countryside, and a detailed, day-by-day view of Gettysburg, followed by the rain-soaked retreat, a cavalry surprise at Falling Waters, and the deaths of key officers. Back in Virginia he records a lull near Orange Court House, executions for desertion, an autumn maneuver that pushes Meade back, a sorrowful return from furlough after his child’s death, and a harsh winter softened by boxes from home. The section closes with the spring 1864 campaign—the Wilderness’ chaotic, close-quarters fighting and Spotsylvania’s “Bloody Angle,” where he lists leaders hit and captures the unbroken roar of musketry as both sides hold on in brutal combat. (This is an automatically generated summary.) https://archive.org/details/surgeonsletters00welcrich/mode/2up 20241104080754welch 1911 US Reading ease score: 80.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. en United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate Confederate States of America. Army. South Carolina Infantry Regiment, 13th E456 Text Category: Biographies Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: History - American Category: History - Warfare 163711 2025-07-30T07:03:48.767918 text/html 138916 2025-05-30T09:37:51 text/html 396003 2025-07-30T07:03:52.814874 application/epub+zip 394873 2025-07-30T07:03:49.904980 application/epub+zip 362050 2025-07-30T07:03:49.248912 application/epub+zip 1231447 2025-07-30T07:03:55.023891 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1216464 2025-07-30T07:03:52.292889 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 147995 2025-07-30T07:03:48.456927 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 127977 2025-05-30T09:37:51 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 14404 2025-07-30T07:03:55.199867 application/rdf+xml 24245 2025-07-30T07:03:49.470892 image/jpeg 2560 2025-07-30T07:03:49.352894 image/jpeg 1022732 2025-07-30T07:03:48.797917 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog