. . . On April 17, 1861, I left Philadelphia, with the Twenty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers as Assistant Surgeon. On July 2, the whole Army, under Major-General [Robert] Patterson, advanced across the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland. . . . The enemy were reported to be in force, a few miles to our front, to resist our advance on Martinsburg. Upon advancing about three miles, to a place called Hainesville, or Falling Waters, they line of battle, 2,700 strong, were under Colonel T. J. Jackson, the celebrated “Stonewall” of later fame, while our advance brigade, Colonel George H. Thomas, Second United States Cavalry, commanding, numbered about 2,000 of all arms.
The action was sharp and vigorous for about one hour, when the enemy broke and retreated in confusion, pursued by our cavalry. The casualties attending this skirmish did not amount to more than eight men killed and fifteen wounded.
A small house on the roadside, contiguous to the field, was converted into a temporary hospital, where the wounded were received. The wounds were all from gunshot, and principally of the lower extremities, produced by round musket balls, buckshot, and, in one or two instances, by sphero-conical balls, fired at a range of from sixty to 200 or 300 yards. These wounds were, in no instance which presented itself to the writer, of a necessarily fatal character. As fast as the facilities of ambulances transportation offered, these men were removed to the general hospital at Hagerstown, Maryland, arrangements for their reception having been carefully provided by Surgeon [Charles] S. Tripler, United States Army, Medical Director of the Army. . . .
[CHARLES FITZ HENRY CAMPBELL.]
Sources
Hewett, Janet B., Noah Andre Trudeau, and Bryce A, Suderow, eds., Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Pt. I, Vol. 1. Wilmington: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1994.
Spirit of '61 