In this little book some account is given of a field hospital which followed for three months the Ladysmith Relief Column, from the time, in fact, that that column left Frere until it entered the long-beleaguered town. The fragmentary record is based upon notes written day by day on the spot. Some of the incidents related have been already recounted in a series of letters published in the _British Medical Journal_, and certain fragments of those letters are reproduced in these pages, or have been amplified under circumstances of greater leisure.
It may be that the story is a little sombre, and possibly on occasions gruesome; but war, as viewed from the standpoint of a field hospital, presents little that is cheery.
It appears that some interest might attach to an account of the manner in which our wounded faced their troubles, and of the way in which they fared, and under the influence of that impression this imperfect sketch has been written.
1. The Field Hospital 2. Frere Camp 3. The Hospital Dog 4. The Morning of Colenso 5. The Hospital under the Ridge 6. Inside an Operation-Tent 7. The Surgeons of the Field Hospitals 8. A Professional Visit by Rail 9. The Hospital Train at Colenso 10. The Nurses at Chieveley 11. Some Traits in the Men 12. The Sign of the Wooden Cross 13. The Men with the Spades 14. The Marching 15. Spearman’s Farm 16. The Hospital at Spearman’s 17. The Two White Lights 18. After Spion Kop 19. The Story of the Restless Man 20. "Did We Win?" 21. The Fighting Spirit 22. The Body-Snatchers 23. Seeing Them Off 24. A Funeral at Spearman’s 25. Absent-Mindedness 26. At Chieveley Again 27. A Journey to Ladysmith 28. A Straggler 29. How a Surgeon Won the Victoria Cross 30. "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI"
The Field Hospital, of which some account is given in these pages, was known as "No. 4 Stationary Field Hospital." The term "stationary" is hardly appropriate, since the Hospital moved with the column, and, until at least the relief of Ladysmith, it followed the Headquarters’ camp. The term, however, serves to distinguish "No. 4" from the smaller field hospitals which were attached to the various brigades, and which were much more mobile and more restless.
At the commencement of the campaign the capacity of the Hospital was comparatively small. The officers in charge were Major Kirkpatrick, Major Mallins, and Lieutenant Simson, all of the Royal Army Medical Corps. These able officers--and none could have been more efficient--were, I regret to say, all invalided as the campaign progressed.