Privately Printed 1892 Copyright, 1892, By CHARLES H. DALTON. All rights reserved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. These pages are the beginning of a narrative of the personal military experience of John Call Dalton, M. D., Surgeon U. S. V., written during the last year of his life, at the request of his family, and now printed for the instruction of its younger generation. March, 1892....

On the evening of Saturday, April 13th, 1861, the intelligence reached New York that Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, had yielded to the rebel authorities, after undergoing a bombardment of thirty-six hours. It was felt by all that this act of violence closed the door of reconciliation, and dissipated every hope of a peaceful solution for our political difficulties. Two days afterward President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling upon the states for seventy-five thousand troops to reassert

After my return from Washington in 1861, I resigned my commission in the Seventh regiment, and looked for an opportunity of more permanent connection with the service. The most attractive position which offered was that of surgeon of brigade, recently established by act of Congress; and, a medical board having been convened for the examination of candidates, I appeared before it, passed the examination, and in due time received my commission as Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers. At that time each vo

The sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia are grouped in a nearly continuous chain along the coast, between the mainland and the sea. They are flat, with only a few slight elevations here and there; and there is not, over their whole area, a single boulder, pebble, or gravel bed, nor any spot where the ledge rock comes to the surface. The soil at first seems to be sandy; but you soon discover that it has mingled with it a fine black loam and is extremely productive. It yields the "sea-island

LATE SURGEON U. S. VOLS., As shown by the records on file in the Office of the Surgeon General U. S. Army, War Department, Washington, D. C. August 3, 1861: Appointed Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers from New York. September 22, 1861: Reports from New York as awaiting orders. September 23, 1861: Assigned to General McClellan's command, Headquarters Army of Potomac, S. O. 257, A. G. O. September 23, 1861. September 30, 1861: Reports awaiting further orders. [Had asked to be assigned to General Viele