by George W. Grider* and
Norman H. Franke**
The bloodiest one day battle of the Civil War was fought at Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862. General Don Carols Buell commanded 61,000 Union soldiers and his brother-in-law, General Braxton Bragg, commanded 16,000 Confederate soldiers. During the night before, both Generals had been moving their artillery, cavalry, and infantry into position.
Before the battle started volunteer scouts went to Danville, Harrodsburg and Springfield requesting citizens to convert churches, schools, homes and barns into hospitals to care for the wounded. Women started making dressings and bandages from muslin sheets and fine linens. Wagons were sent to all distilleries in the area for whisky to be used as an anesthetic and to releive pain.
Dr. J. J. Polk was the only physician in Perryville and his Autobiography gives the following information about his medical education;
Fortunately, while I was an Apothecary and Book merchant, I had read law and medicine. My purpose was fixed, I would be a doctor, Except when preaching, I constantly read medicine for tweleve months, and then advertised that I would attend to calls in the neighborhood. The first week after the announcement I had several important cases committed to my care. The symptoms of disease I was familiar with; but the application of remedies--there was the rub! However, I was studious, and generally successful. Bit i plainly saw that in order to comply with old physicians around me, I must undergo a more thorough training. For this purpose I made every arrangement; and in November 1839, matriculated in the Medical College in Lexington. Om my return in the spring (sic), I entered into active practice.
Dr. Polk moved to Perryville, Kentucky, in 1840, where he practiced medicine during the week and preached on Sunday. During the Battle of Perryville, he was a Union Army Surgeon and converted a barn into an emergency hospital. The farmer who owned the barn was Dr. Polk's assistant. He gave the soldier whisky until he was in a drunken stupr, then while Dr. Polk performed the operation, he played his fiddle.
Wallace Green operated the only Drug Store in Perryville, and the day of the battle a Union General rode his horse into the Drug Store and personally supervised from horseback the confiscation of all drugs and medical supplies for the Union Army, then he inducted Doc Green, the local Apothecary, into the Union Army and ordered him to procure all medical supplies in the surrounding towns and take them to the emergency hospitals (2).
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(2) According, in part, to local traditions.
At 1:30 P. M. the Confederate line of battle extended a distance of three and one-half miles, facing a Union line about four miles long. That October day was hot and a strong wind swept the ridges, scattering dust and dry leaves.
At 2:00 P. M. the battle started with Brigadier General John A. Wharton's cavalry charging the Union line raising the terrible rebel cry. The battle raged all afternoon with the roar of cannon, the rapid hoof beats of the cavalry, constant musket firing of the infantry and occasional hand to hand conflict with bayonets until, at last, due to intense darkness, firing gradually ceased. The day's battle was in favor of the Confederates but General Bragg realized the Union reinforcements, several thousand strong, were fast approaching, and at midnight he started the withdrawal of his forces to Harrodsburg. There he joined the army of General Kirby Smith. Accompanied by a hugh train of supplies they retreated southward into Tennessee, by the way of Bryantsville and the Cumberland Gap, leaving Kentucky in control of Union Armies.
The Confederates had 16,000 men and sustained 3,396 casualties: 510 killed; 2635 wounded; 251 missing. The Union Army utilized only 22,000 of their 61,000 troops, had 4,211 casualties; 845 killed; 2851 wounded; 515 captured or missing. Every means of conveyance was used to transport the 5,486 wounded soldiers to emergency hospitals. The Graham Springs Hotel in Harrodsburg was the largest hospital and by ten o'clock that night legs and arms that had been amputated were stacked in a pyramid level with the second floor ball-room balcony. The surgeons were assisted by local matrons with a desire to help the suffering and dying soldiers, because most of them had sons, brothers, or husbands fighting with the Union or Confederate Army. All night long the wounded were taken to hospitals faster than the surgeons could operate on them. They were placed in rows on the ground outside of the buildings and covered with quilts until their time came for surgery. The morning following the battle the people of Perryville saw a horrible scene. West of the town on the hills and in the ravines were hundred of bloodstained, mangled and twisted bodies dotting the countryside.
As the wounded soldiers slowly recovered, they were exchanged as prisoners of war and many of them saw service in other battles in Tennessee and Mississippi. The Court House at Danville was used as a hospital the longest period of time with the last patients being removed more than a year after the battle.
The supply of drugs was very limited, because the Confederacy had to procure their drugs by smuggling them, through the lines from the north. by smuggling through the blockade to Europe, and by capturing supplies from the Northern Armies. The Union Army had been in several battles and when they arrived at Perryville, their supplies were almost exhausted, whisky was given the wounded for pain. All drugs and medical supplies were confiscated from the drug stores and general stores in the surrounding towns and taken to hospitals, where local pharmacists supervised their use and prevented them from being stolen. The drugs being rapidly exhausted, were supplemented by home remedies. Less than a century before the Indians had taught the Pioneer settlers of Harrodsburg to prepare medicine from plants growing in the area.
Although pharmacists had no official standing in the army, they were exempted from military service to care for the civilians, and it may well be said they played a very important role by furnishing drugs and medical supplies to surgeons and physicians, when a battle, such as the Battle of Perryville, was fought in their immediate area.
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+ Presented before the Historical Section of A.PH.A., California, 1960.
* Pharacist and Curator of the McDowell House and Apothecary Shop, Danville, Kentucky.
** Pharmacist and Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky at Lexington
THE KENTUCKY PHARMACIST March, 1962, pp. 12, 23