Beaumont’s account of treating the wounded during the Battle of York, April 27, 1813.

Beaumont writes of the scene in the hospital: “ – nothing but the Groans, of the wounded & agonies of the Dying are to be heard – The Surgeons wading in blood cutting [off ] arms, legs & trepanning heads to rescue their fellow creatures from untimely deaths – to hear the poor creatures, crying-Oh, Dear! Oh Dear! Oh my God! My God! Do, Doctor, Doctor! Do cut off my leg! My arm! My Head! To relieve me from misery! I can’t live! I can’t live!”

Source: Beaumont W. Notebook kept by Beaumont during the War of 1812. Series 2, Box 21, Folder 2. William Beaumont Papers. Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives. Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri.