Maryland, on September 17, 1862, he later developed chronic bronchitis and dysentery. In 1862, he wrote this to his family from Moore Hospital:
By Craig L. Barry
rivate William Roberts, Co. A, 14th Regiment North Carolina Troops, spent his fair share of time in military hospitals. Wounded in the right hand at Sharpsburg, “Of all the lonesome places on earth it is an evening in a Hospital. There is a deep gloomy melancholy settling down on my mind. I have taken an Opium pill to counteract the influence of depression of spirits. Opium, that sweet restorer
Physicians necessarily attend medical schools, and many learned the trade as apprentices. The lack of knowledge, combined with limited resources, made for very few treatment choices. First, there was opium, either in powdered form as morphine, or diluted in alcohol as laudanum. Laudanum was quinine and opium extract in an alcohol base. Morphine and laudanum were widely used to control post-surgical and any other pain. The of man as he was before the fall, the King of all medicines, the great restorer of ease and peace to both mind and body. Thanks to the great giver of all good things for that great gift.”
