“City Point, Va., vicinity. Medical supply boat, Planter, at General Hospital wharf on the Appomattox”

“The basic principles for organization and support of the battlefield used in the Civil War were designed by Doctor Jonathan Letterman, the Medical Director for the Army of the Potomac. Doctor Letterman’s ambulance system, field hospital system and medical supply system soon became standard throughout the Medical Department….The Letterman system improved the care provided to the soldiers and established a standard for base requirements for personnel, equipment and supplies. The second concept to come out of the Civil War was the use of dedicated vehicles for medical evacuation. By the end of the war, control of selected boats, trains and wagons, was given to the Medical Department for evaluation of patients.”

Colonel Henry O. Tuell, III. “Medical Mobilization Since 1860: From Apathy to Action.” (Fort McNair, Washington, DC: National Defense University, The Industrial College of the Armed Forces, 1992), page 7.