about 1 mile, and I received an order to bring our wounded as far to the rear as we could reach with our limited transportation. Ambulance, caissons, army wagons, litters, single horses, carts, in short, every conceivable mode of carrying was made use of to secure the large number of our wounded, and with a readiness which deserves high commendation did every one busy himself to execute the order. There was no depression of spirits manifested, and the morale of the command expressed the brave determination in the words," We will give it back to them."

Our troops fell back to Barber's Station under the protection of our cavalry brigade, which, during the battle, was quietly drawn up in the rear of our right and left. While passing Sanderson I sent the following telegrams:

Surgeon in charge of field hospital at Barber's Station:

A large number of wounded. Prepare coffee, tea, and beef soup.

Post Surgeon SMITH,

Jacksonville:

Send immediately a train of cars with bales of hay, lint, bandages, and stimulants. Call on Sanitary Commission.

DR. A. MAJOR.

We reached Barber's Station at 12 midnight, and while, unhappily, some 40 cases of wounded had to be left at the ambulance depot near the battle-field under the charge of Asst. Surg. C. A. Devendorf, Forty-eighth New York Volunteers, and 23 more at Sanderson (badly wounded), two companies of cavalry were dismounted, thus saving an addition of 80 men. We had now to take care of and forward by cars and wagons some 860 wounded, 215 of which were at once delivered to the hospital ship Cosmopolitan, awaiting at the wharf at Jacksonville. A list of this first shipment will be forwarded by the surgeon in charge of that steamer. A list of the wounded admitted to hospital at Jacksonville from the surgeon in charge (William A. Smith, Forty-seventh New York Volunteers), I have the honor to transmit, together with a list* of all the casualties, as gathered from the surgeons in charge of brigades.

I now beg leave to add the following remarks: The expedition into Florida and its occupation we believe to be not a sanguinary one. No one expected, at least, a resistance so bold and stubborn, because no concentration by the enemy of 12,000 or 15,000 men was deemed possible; and our hospital preparations at the post, as well as in the field, had up to the time of the engagement remained a mere consolidated regimental affair in supplies. When under these circumstances the comparatively large number of cases have been well cared for, I feel it to be my duty to be thankful to the aid and assistance of the ever-ready and assiduous agent of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, Mr. A. B. Day, and to the untiring exertions of our worthy colleague, Surg. William A. Smith, in charge of hospital. Under no ordinary circumstances should I have departed from the rule of not making requisition on the commission, and unless such an emergency had arisen in which our wants were urgent and large. Again, the very limited number of ambulance could not, inside the department, have been increased; therefore, transportation on army wagons and caissons could not well have been avoided; yet, in spite of these deficiencies, will any contribution to the surgical history of the

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* Embodied in table, p.298.

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