. . . . [T]he march through the south-west had been undertaken in the winter, over bad roads, with deficient transportation, and the medical department was most miserably provided with the means of taking care of so many wounded.  The surgeons were without hospital clothing, without stimulants, so necessary in surgical operations, without bedding for the wounded, and their supply of medicines was exceedingly limited.

The desperate character of the battle had suddenly thrown upon their hands nearly a thousand badly wounded men, in a country thinly settled by a people living mostly in log houses, and having few of the necessaries of life.  The court house at Cassville, and all the principal dwellings -- there was not a church in the place -- were filled, and many wounded were also housed in the same way at Keitsville, so that on approaching these villages every other dwelling seemed to be a hospital, having a red flag floating over it.

*******

On the news of this battle reaching St. Louis, the members of the Sanitary Commission worked day and night, packing up sanitary stores, and sent forward Mr. A. W. Plattenburg in charge of hospital supplies, on the 11th of March, who was followed immediately after by another supply of as many more.  In this undertaking, Maj. Gen. Halleck furnished every facility in his power, giving to Mr. Plattenburg an order, over his own signature, addressed "to all quartermasters and other officers between St. Louis and Sugar Creek, Ark.," directing them "to furnish every reasonable facility in their power, to forward, with all possible dispatch, consistent with safety, the bearer, Mr. A. W. Plattenburg, and the hospital stores under his care, destined for the wounded in the late battle at Sugar Springs" -- afterwards named Pea Ridge.

In his report of his journey and arrival at Cassville with his stores Mr. Plattenburg says:

"I arrived at Rolla, Mo., at four o'clock, p. m., of the same day and was furnished with a horse and transportation for sanitary stores.  The first day we proceeded fifteen miles over a road that was as bad as it could be.  The day following I rode forty miles and stopped at night with a Union man, who had been robbed of almost everything movable.  He had two sons in Phelps' Missouri regiment, one of whom had just died in the Springfield hospital.  On Sunday morning I reached Springfield at 10 a. m.  The Quartermaster was ordered to furnish transportation by the first train.  The wounded from the recent battle were coming in, as well as some rebel prisoners.  I visited the post hospital, accompanied by Dr. Ebert.  There were one hundred sick and wounded, mostly from Pea Ridge.  I examined the hospital very carefully; found a part of the men on the floor, destitute of all comforts.  They had neither bed sacks, blankets nor sheets, not even tin cups or a teapot.  They were, however, very cheerful.  Dr. Ebert, a very kind and attentive surgeon, requested me to procure a wardmaster and matron.  I made a requisition upon your Commission for them, as also for a large number of supplies for the hospital, enough to make all the patients as comfortable as possible.

"The train with your stores reached Springfield on Wednesday following, and on Friday were sent forward.  Transportation was so insufficient that this delay was unavoidable.  The next day, 25th, I arrived at Cassville.  Here I found two large tents, six buildings, among them the court house, and the tavern, used as hospitals.  The patients were lying on the floors, with a little straw under them, and with knapsacks or blankets under their heads for pillows.  They had no comforts of any kind, no change of clothes, but were lying in the clothes they fought in, stiff and dirty with blood and soil.  There were four hundred federal wounded here.  There was a great deficiency of nurses, detailed men not answering the purpose well.  Their sheets had been torn up for bandages, and until Dr. Otterson reached there with his supplies they were poorly furnished with medicines.  Stimulants were very much needed to sustain the sinking men, but none were to be had.  There were no brooms to sweep with and no mops to wash the rooms.  Your stores were here turned over to the brigade surgeon, who opened and distributed them to the different hospitals.  Never was a provision train more joyously greeted by starving men than was this ample supply of hospital stores by these sick and suffering soldiers.

"On the next day I went forward to the army, reporting myself to Gen. Curtis, introduced by your letters.  I found him in an ordinary tent, without furniture, except a stool and a small crosslegged pine table.  The floor was covered with straw, and a roll of blankets constituted his bedding.  Being invited, I dined with him upon plain army fare.  I then proceeded to Gen. Davis' position, within one and a half miles of Elk Horn Tavern, where the heaviest fighting was done.  I visited the battle-ground, and was filled with astonishment when I saw the strength of the positions out of which our gallant little army had driven the great force opposed to it.  Meeting two rebel surgeons one of them said:  'We are Texans; our army has treated us shamefully; they stampeded, and left us here with our sick and wounded men, and, I will tell you, sir, that for two days we had nothing to give our poor fellows but parched corn and water.  Every federal officer and man has treated us like gentlemen, and Gen. Curtis told me that so long as he had a loaf of bread, we should have half it.'  This was the field where McCulloch and McIntosh were killed while endeavoring to flank the Peoria battery.

"I visited with these surgeons the hospitals at Pineville.  No provision whatever had been made by Price, and our scanty supplies had been shared with them.  For twenty-five miles around every house was a rebel hospital.  We also had three federal hospitals at Pineville, but not to exceed forty patients.  At this point there was a total absence of stimulants, and men were dying for want of them.  In one place are forty graves of the Iowa Third Cavalry.  All the dead of both armies were buried.

"On my return I called on Gen. Curtis at Keitsville, and promised to urge forward the remaining supplies, which would be sufficient to meet all immediate wants.  They were duly forwarded, and reached the command in good time.  At Cassville I found that Dr. McGugin, of Iowa, who had been working very faithfully among our suffering men, was completely exhausted.  At Springfield I found additional supplies, which had been forwarded by your commission.  I was assured that they would go forward on the following morning, and they were rolled out to load up before I left.  I am fully convinced that no army was (so far as provision for the wounded was concerned,) ever sent into the field in such destitute condition as ours, except the one that it fought and conquered. Our preparations were wholly inadequate; the enemy had, apparently, made none at all."

SOURCE:  The Western Sanitary Commission; A Sketch of its Origin, History, Labors for the Sick and Wounded of the Western Armies, And Aid Given to Freedmen and Union Refugees, With Incidents of Hospital Life (1864), pages 28-32.

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