11/23/07

Gen. Alfred Vaughn CSA

An account of how the South deals with medical emergencies:


General Alfred J Vaughn (CSA) Entered war as a Capt of the Dixie Rifles, made general in 1962. At Vinings Station on July 4, 1864, Vaughan was about 150 to 200 yards in the rear of his line behind a battery when he was wounded. After he had finished eating, he was lighting his pipe with a sun glass under a small opening in the trees when a Federal shell exploded just as it hit his left foot and the ground. The explosion left a hole big enough to bury him in. In addition to the injury to his foot, he had a wound on his right leg: a laceration below the knee about 4 inches long and down to the bone, as if he had been cut with a sharp knife. Although his shock was severe, there was no blood or pain. The surgeon bound the leg, and after giving him whiskey and morphine, sent him in an ambulance on the way to a hospital in Macon. On the way, he was stopped by General Cheatham, who gave him a drink of whiskey because he looked pale. Later, Gen. Hardee stopped him and gave him a drink, followed by Gen Johnston, who gave him a brandy – as both men thought Vaughan looked pale... Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, by Jack Welsh 1995 p. 195