On May 24, 1864, Andrew Boyd wrote his father from the General Hospital Ward 3 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Andrew was recovering from a serious wound he had received in the Wilderness. He described his wound as such, “The ball went in close to my back bone an came out just above my hip bone.” Andrew then minimized it by saying that it was a flesh wound, because it did not hit any vital organs. In this letter Andrew told of all their local people also wounded or killed in the fight. He said he had not seen his brother Daniel since the day after his wounding. He told his father that he is healing and expects to be sent home on furlough when the board meets next.

Lynchburg — a major rail stop — had become a large center for hospitals at this point in the war, having 30 hospitals in the town. Records indicate that Andrew was in the College Hospital located on the corner of Wise Street and Twelfth Street. Dr. Edward A Craighill was the physician assigned as surgeon in the ward. Dr. Craighill had the distinction of being the youngest doctor in the Confederate medical service having entered the army at the age of seventeen.

Boys of Diamond Hill

The Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal for History 2012.

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