On the 4th of May we again marched in pursuit of the enemy, leaving forty-three sick in hospital and sending four back next day, mostly cases of remittent fever, some diarrhoea and dysentery.
The 5th we marched nine miles through deep mud and rain to the battlefield in front of Williamsburg, the last four and a half on the double quick and a run. The men, exhausted, in profuse perspiration, and wet to the skin, were obliged to lie on their arms during the night without either blankets or fires. From that hour the sickness of the regiment increased frightfully, six or eight new cases occurring daily. We left twenty-seven men in hospital at Williamsburg, sent six to transports at West Point when opposite that place, sent sixty away at Cumberland Landing, left forty-eight at Baltimore Store, and had sixty-four on the sick list at Bottom's Bridge on the 31st of May.
At the battle of Fair Oaks, on the last day of May, we lost of men and officers eleven killed and forty-nine wounded. Of the last, twenty-three were wounds of the upper extremities, two requiring amputation of the arm, and one exsection of the elbow joints; twelve of the lower extremities, four of thigh, seven of leg, and one of knee joint, eight of trunk (three serious); six of head (one serious), and two of both upper and lower extremities.
While at Fair Oaks from the 1st to the 29th of June, the regiment suffered greatly from fever and dysentery, the first of miastamic origin, which, together with the effect of constant apprehension, rendered the nervous system highly impressible. Hence the marked effect of the malaria upon the nervous centers, especially the spine, as evidenced by the almost constantly present--to a greater or less degree--numbing of the extremities with partial paralysis of the lower, usually severe pain in the hips and lumbar region, with great depression of spirits, etc.
The diarrhoea, as well as all diseases resulting from bad digestion or affections of the digestive organs, were caused mainly, if not entirely, by improper habits of cooking and eating. Each soldier cooked for himself, having no other implements than a small tin pail made from fruit can, a tin cup and a borrowed frying pan. Every leisure moment was devoted to cooking and eating; meat of every description was fried instead of being boiled. All regularity in eating was lost, except that uncertain kind, produced by relief from the routine of duty. Nor can any remedy be suggested short of the entire removal of the cooking business from the hands of the soldier, and placing it in charge of a competent corps organized for that special purpose. Soldiers cannot march and fight each with a complete stock of cooking furniture on his back.