Larkin Bell Apple Orchard -- Shiloh NMP, nr Pittsburg TN - Field Hospitals on Waymarking.com

As the fighting raged at Shiloh, the sock and wounded of BOTH sides had to go somewhere.

Asst. Army surgeon Bernard J. D. Erwin established a field hospital in this apple orchard which belonged to Larkin Bell.

A nearby National Park Service explanatory sign tells the story:

"FIELD HOSPITAL

After the Batrle of Shiloh, Federal soldiers buried the dead, medical officers faced the enormous task of caring for the 16,400 wounded. Many were crowded onto steamboats for transport to Northern cities, while others were taken to nearby homes. Some of the wounded received professional medical treatment here.

On this high ground surrounding the farmhouse Noah Cantrell, medical officers of the Union army of the Ohio set up a large field hospital under canvas. Tents, bedding, and supplies were secured from the infantry camps to accommodate some 2500 sick and wounded.

Ordinarily regiments took care of their own wounded. Here was the first consolidated tent hospital -- a forerunner of modern military field hospitals.

[drawing of the field hospital after the battle]

On the night after the battle, surgeons labored to save the victims of Shiloh. An Ohio soldier who walked by here heard “groans and cries that would've melted a heart of stone.

[photograph of Bernard J. D. Erwin]

Assistant surgeon Bernard J. D. Erwin established and organized the hospital. Union and Confederate soldiers alike were given excellent treatment, considering the lack of supplies, the horrible nature of the wounds, and the great number of patients.

[drawing of the layout of the field hospital at Shiloh]"

Address: Shiloh National Military Park Name of War: US Civil War Type of Documentation: Historic Marker/Interpretive

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Date Logged Log   03/09/2015 Benchmark Blasterz visited it