The Tale of a Field Hospital

The Tale of a Field Hospital is by Sir Frederick Treves, described as Late Consulting Surgeon with H.M. Troops in South Africa. The preface to the new edition says that the South African War, of which this Tale is told, is already near to be forgotten, although there are many to whom it still remains the most tragic memory of their lives. The text says it was from Frere Camp that the army under General Buller started for the Tugela River, and that the Hospital pitched its tents in that camp on the evening of Monday, December 11th, 1899.

The text says practically all the wounded in the Natal campaign, from the battle of Colenso to the relief of Ladysmith, passed through No. 4 Stationary Field Hospital. The text says Frere is merely a station on the line of rail which traverses Natal, and, consisting only of some three or four houses and a few trees, can hardly be dignified by the name of hamlet. Under the heading A Straggler, the text says that sitting in the sun on a pile of timbers, which the engineers have left, is a typical straggler.