Hospital Train

FEBRUARY 27, 1864.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

133

HOSPITAL TRAIN FROM CHATTANOOGA TO NASHVILLE.—[SKETCHED BY MR. THEODORE R. DAVIS.]

HOSPITAL TRAINS.

ONE of our special artists sends us from Chattanooga a sketch, which we here reproduce, representing A HOSPITAL TRAIN ON ITS WAY FROM THAT PLACE TO NASHVILLE, under the care of Dr. MYERS. Until very recently the transportation of our sick

and wounded soldiers by rail has been attended with very severe suffering from the jostling motion of the car. It first occurred to a surgeon, while witnessing the intense agony of these poor fellows, that the difficulty might be obviated by mechanical means. Directly and upon the spot he sketched the model of a car, in the contrivance of which the problem was

satisfactorily solved. The plan was immediately adopted by Government, and now constitutes the prominent feature of the hospital train. Food of the most nourishing kind is furnished the wounded men, who, when they have arrived at their journey's end, are taken directly to the hospital upon the same stretchers which answer as couches upon

the car. These beds are suspended from India-rubber bands attached to the frame-work of car, and, yielding to the slightest motion of the ear, are as comfortable as the beds of the hospital. Our artist has given not only an exterior view of the train, but also an interior of one of the cars, disclosing the arrangements by which the soldier's comfort is secured.

THE INTERIOR OF A HOSPITAL CAR.—[SKETCHED BY MR. THEODORE R. DAVIS.]