Charleston
Daily Courier
December 5, 1864
Page 1
Exemptions
“Carondolet” of the Richmond “Enquirer” says: “Place all ministers of the gospel and doctors
of medicine in the army.” Does he for an
instant consider how essential they are to the soldiers’ families? Does he, quietly ensconced in his cushioned
chair, by his comfortable fireside, ever give one thought to the troubles of a
soldier or the wants of his family? He
says truly, that in a small village there are seven or eight Doctors; but do
they practice? In a village of my
knowledge, there are ten Doctors, and there are but two practitioners, and they
practice over an area of twenty or thirty miles. The others are in hospitals or Confederate
service.
We have given up our husbands, brothers, fathers and
sons, and now they would “rob” us of our Doctors; that I would consider a piece
of flagrant injustice. How do you
suppose the men are to fight knowing that their families at home are suffering
for medical attendance? Or if they have
a Doctor he will be subject to all the ills that flesh is heir to, as he would
not be exempt by the laws of Congress.
It will do for
“Carondolet,” or any other person who knows none of the wants of the
poorer classes of the soldiers’ families, to say put all men in the army; but
for one that knows them, and knows the hardships attendant to country practice,
he would say, for mercy sake leave a Doctor, and an able one, to attend to the
families of our soldiers; for many beside my humble self know that it requires
an able-bodied man for the practice of medicine in the country. A great many physicians have volunteered, and
all the younger ones have been taken by the Acts of Congress, and there are
only a few of the middle class left to attend the sufferings of the people, and
they are needed, for many, (especially in the lower part of South Carolina)
suffer for the want of medical attendance even now, and if they were to take
these and leave only old men, (the non-combatants) the villages and cities
would be taken care of, but the surrounding countries would suffer, for those
that require nursing themselves, could not get up and ride five or ten miles at
night to see a soldier’s wife.
A SOLDIER’S WIFE
[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]
