Surgeons’ report at Indy Military Hospital

A report by Dr. John M. Kitchen and Dr. Patrick H. Jameson, hospital surgeons at the Military Hospital in Indianapolis, provided the following information in a report to Inspector-General Miles Murphy. The report was published by the Indianapolis Daily Journal. The report was dated Friday, August 16, 1861. The hospital began accepting soldiers April 29, 1861, with the Sisters of Providence arriving May 17, 1861, to take over “domestic arrangements” including nursing.

The following is a partial list of diseases and wounds of the soldiers from April to August 1861:

• 640 patients registered
• Measles: 430
• Typhoid fever: 7
• Pneumonia: 26
• Dysentery: 26
• Obstinate diarrhea: 28
• Gunshot wounds and other injuries: 8
• 593 soldier-patients recovered and were discharged, 13 died and 34 were still receiving care at the time of the report.

The doctors ended their report with this tribute to the Sisters of Providence:

“In conclusion, we feel that we have performed only a plain, straight-forward duty, and that whatever success may have attended the management of the Hospital is due in a great degree to the noble and self-sacrificing efforts of those meek and worthy women — the Sisters of Providence.”