Thousands of Union wounded from the Battle of the Wilderness begin to arrive in Philadelphia hospitals
Soon after the news of the great confrontation in Virginia filtered into the city, the first trainloads of wounded began to arrive in the city. Five hundred were received this day, and four days later, on the 15th, more than a thousand arrived, followed by another nine-hundred and seventy-eight on May 18, 1864. More than 2,100 others arrived in the last week in May, making a grand total for less than three weeks of more than five thousand. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Thomas Scharf and Thompson Wescott, History of Philadelphia 1609-1884, in three volumes (Philadelphia, PA: L.H. Everts & Co., 1884), I:814.