The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 498
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
and hospital care, one might think that the army was better pro-
vided with medical services than was actually the case.34 Execu-
tion of orders did not always happen, and often sufficient fore-
sight was lacking. No surgeon came from the capital."5 The divi-
sion of the army under General Ramirez "had been provided
neither with a surgeon, nor a medicine kit," and he was forced
to contract with an American, "a kind of North American prac-
titioner"8 who called himself Doctor." Such a man's knowledge
could be expected to be no more than meager.37
Such surgeons as were available to serve the army as a whole
were those who had earlier been assigned to the military hospital
at Bexar. They did not all reach B6xar, however, and none of
them was with the army at the time of its major move. The first
surgeon, Faustino Mozo, remained with an assistant at the hos-
pital in Monclova, which held more than one hundred sick.
Another assistant stayed in the provisional hospital established
in Rio Grande presidio. The second surgeon was Mariano Arroyo,
and he and an assistant had remained in B6xar to help the
infirm who were unable to be moved when General C6s withdrew
earlier. An assistant had been sent to Punta de Lampazos. This
left only one medical man, the especie de curandero whom Gen-
eral Ramirez added to his forces as a last resort. Although the
man was better than no one, his meager assistance did not last
long. Ramirez subsequently lost him to fever. The medical situa-
tion was so bad that "it can be said that the army marched confid-
ing only in the favor of the Divine."38
Not a chaplain accompanied the army of operations in Texas.
Although spiritual needs were less pressing than those of a medical
nature, this lack of clergy is worth pointing out as it indicates the
degree to which the army "just grew." Although the soldiers had
access to priests along the way at such stops as Saltillo and B6xar,
the distance between priests was often a long one, and many
34See Santa Anna to Filisola, n. d., in Filizola, Correspondence of Santa Anna
(Master's thesis, University of Texas, 1939), 69.
35Filisola, Memorias, II, 311. See also De la Pefia, La rebelidn de Texas, 32.
s6Filisola used the Spanish word curandero.
s7Filisola, Memorias, II, 3o2.
S81bid., 840-341.498
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/595/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.