Date Unknown
“Hospital Crowding and Losses”
Monroe D. Halladay, 9th Michigan Infantry
hospital conditions, and the emotional weight of seeing so many men fall ill. He notes that
several men have died since arriving, and reflects on his own health, especially trouble with
his legs. The letter offers a stark look at the cost of disease in Civil War camps.
Exact Transcription
…one of the evening letters from you today and I felt you had not forgotten me.
I felt a little anxious to hear from you.
I want to let you know that there was a great stir here the first part of the week.
The Quarter Master moved from the ship on the north side here.
I don’t know what is going on in the ship as I have not been with them.
I am at a distance off.
I must tell you all and hope you are all right.
You can send it and it will come safe in the Post Office.
Now I get and send Sunday but they are better than nothing.
My health is good with the exception of my legs.
They trouble me from time to time.
The doctor said that he thought I was better.
I expect that I am, but I think I shall have my life out in it.
It is places like this I would not be at the point.
The results of using many thousands of pounds of flour.
Hospital now there is the last house a thing I never saw before.
Point to be landed.
The camp and the sick to be placed.
120 to 130 men go in two days and 2 or 3 days and go through this
and it helps in making me feel how sick we have been.
We have lost 6 men out of the Regiment since we came here.
The same time…
Readable Modern Version
I received one of your letters this evening, and it made me feel that you have not forgotten me.
I was anxious to hear from you. There was a great stir here earlier in the week when the
Quartermaster moved from the ship on the north side. I do not know what is going on aboard
now, as I have not been with them and am some distance away.
I hope you are all well. You can send letters and they will come safely through the Post Office.
I get mine on Sunday, and though they are slow, they are better than nothing.
My health is good except for my legs, which trouble me at times. The doctor says he thinks I am
better, and I suppose I am, but I feel as though I shall spend my life in this place. It is not
a place I would choose to be.
The hospital is now in the last house, something I had never seen before. The sick are being
brought in, and between one hundred twenty and one hundred thirty men go through in two or
three days. Seeing this makes me feel how sick we have been. We have lost six men from the
regiment since we came here.
Provenance
Produced from Civil War Miscellaneous Collection, Monroe D. Halladay — 9th Michigan Infantry,
1861–62. Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
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