Michigan in the Civil War

Mead, Charles.

He was an assistant surgeon and surgeon in the 112th New York Infantry. The thirty-eight letters-mostly to his sister (1863-1865), explain his duties in the hospital at Suffolk, Va., and Folly Island, S.C.; tell of contrabands and deserters coming into camp; of treason among the inhabitants. He comments on his first battle thus: "the music of the bullets led me to conclude that in a sanitary point of view a battlefield would not rank very high." He talks about the Chaplain, tells of a battle along the railroad from Petersburg to Richmond; has another "darky servant who run the blockade" and the doctor "freed him;" about being on the march where the country was nearly deserted and "darkies" sometimes occupied the mansions. They camped at Taylor Plantation in a wheat field already shocked, so they fed their about 2,000 horses. He comments on news concerning draft riots in the North. He was on picket duty since a medical officer must accompany the pickets in each division. A Negro brigade was added to their division. The men began fixing winter quarters at Folly Island, S.C. He witnessed a military execution for the crime of desertion. He tells of an attempt by the rebels to blow up the Ironside. He mentions the blowing up of the steamer Maple Leaf with nearly all the personal baggage of the officers of his brigade. The men repair a sawmill to manufacture lumber. There are quite a few cases of diphtheria. Some youths from New York smuggled themselves into camp on a lark and to escape the draft. The provost marshal put them to work with wheelbarrows, spades and axes. Mead describes the location of the brigade in the field near Petersburg, tells of desertions and troop movements, of some shelling and panic. He describes a camp at Deep Bottom, Va. In Raleigh, in May, a party is sent out to organize home guards from all loyal citizens, collect fire arms, and to administer the oath of allegiance. He describes the city of Raleigh and its people.

Charles Mead attended the University of Michigan Medical School in 1855-1857.

The collection includes a partial subject index