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拍品专文
Lincoln seeks an exchange of a rebel prisoner for Union surgeon Dr. John McGregor, one of the earliest Union heroes of the Civil War.
McGregor nobly volunteered for military service shortly after learning of the bombing of Fort Sumter. Assigned to the 3rd Connecticut Volunteers, the doctor established a field hospital in a house near the Battle of Bull Run, where he tended to the wounded. According to a letter addressed to McGregor's father, "When the retreat was ordered, I rode up to the hospital. The doctor came to the door, all besmeared with blood. I told him that a retreat was ordered, and, for his own safety, he had better leave at once. He asked me if there was any preparation for removing the wounded men. I told him there was not. He then turned and went into the hospital. As he turned, he said, 'Major, I cannot leave the wounded men, and I shall stay with them, and let the result follow.' That was the last time I saw him...." (The Life and Deeds of Dr. John McGregor, pp. 39-40).
The surgeon was taken prisoner only after the hospital was surrounded, and he provides a detailed account of his brutal imprisonment in The Life and Deeds, published by his father. Shortly after his capture, MacArthur met with General Beauregard, who assured the surgeon that he would be transferred to Richmond to care for the wounded, assuring his transfer home once their treatment was no longer needed. He never met or heard from Beauregard again. Lincoln's attempt to rescue McGregor here was either unreceived or ignored by Confederate forces, as the doctor witnessed the rampant harrassment and horrific conditions faced by the prisoners. Sent to the prison in Salisbury, McGregor details scarce food, rampant disease, and men stashed in open pens, exposed to all sorts of weather; all the while, the prisoners were "guarded by men of the lowest type of humanity" though they "were so feeble and emaciated they could not have escaped if they could have had a chance". After long periods of hopelessness, McGregor was left upon the banks of the James River, destitute, short on food and clothes, and surely left to die. It was due to the mercy of an African-American man, who sneakily left a basket of hoe cakes after seeing the doctor's condition, that McGregor gained the strength to return back behind Union lines. Not published in Basler, Collected Works.
McGregor nobly volunteered for military service shortly after learning of the bombing of Fort Sumter. Assigned to the 3rd Connecticut Volunteers, the doctor established a field hospital in a house near the Battle of Bull Run, where he tended to the wounded. According to a letter addressed to McGregor's father, "When the retreat was ordered, I rode up to the hospital. The doctor came to the door, all besmeared with blood. I told him that a retreat was ordered, and, for his own safety, he had better leave at once. He asked me if there was any preparation for removing the wounded men. I told him there was not. He then turned and went into the hospital. As he turned, he said, 'Major, I cannot leave the wounded men, and I shall stay with them, and let the result follow.' That was the last time I saw him...." (The Life and Deeds of Dr. John McGregor, pp. 39-40).
The surgeon was taken prisoner only after the hospital was surrounded, and he provides a detailed account of his brutal imprisonment in The Life and Deeds, published by his father. Shortly after his capture, MacArthur met with General Beauregard, who assured the surgeon that he would be transferred to Richmond to care for the wounded, assuring his transfer home once their treatment was no longer needed. He never met or heard from Beauregard again. Lincoln's attempt to rescue McGregor here was either unreceived or ignored by Confederate forces, as the doctor witnessed the rampant harrassment and horrific conditions faced by the prisoners. Sent to the prison in Salisbury, McGregor details scarce food, rampant disease, and men stashed in open pens, exposed to all sorts of weather; all the while, the prisoners were "guarded by men of the lowest type of humanity" though they "were so feeble and emaciated they could not have escaped if they could have had a chance". After long periods of hopelessness, McGregor was left upon the banks of the James River, destitute, short on food and clothes, and surely left to die. It was due to the mercy of an African-American man, who sneakily left a basket of hoe cakes after seeing the doctor's condition, that McGregor gained the strength to return back behind Union lines. Not published in Basler, Collected Works.