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The Virginia Gazette Foreign News September 19, 1745
Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
What is this article about?
A British army surgeon captured after Fontenoy describes being stripped with about 1,000 prisoners, left three days without instruments or dressings, then jolted in wagons to Lille and Valenciennes; he later showed the Duke of Cumberland extracted balls and debris, prompting a sharp letter to Marshal Saxe.
Quality green show the numbers
Measured from the scan
— how cleanly the OCR engine read the characters
- Mean ink quality
- 98.0% The length-weighted average confidence across the OCR lines — the mean of exactly the per-line scores whose tails the two figures below report. Typical is 99%.
- Illegible ink
- 0.0% Text sitting in OCR-detected lines that scored below 80% confidence — very shaky reads. Weighted by line length, so one long bad line counts for more than a short one.
- Uncertain ink
- 0.0% Text in lines that scored 80–90% — somewhat shaky reads.
- Matches source
- 96.13% How closely the served text matches the raw OCR of the same boxes, letter by letter, after collapsing spacing and case. This measures agreement, not correctness: the OCR is often wrong and the extractor corrects it, so 100% does not mean perfect, and a low figure usually means poor scan text was rewritten rather than that text was lost (length vs source shows loss).
- Length vs source
- 100.09% Below 100% means text was dropped from the OCR; above means text was added to make it read.
Assembled by the extraction model
— whether the stitched-together text holds up; catches layout and segmentation errors, which the scores above cannot see
- Transcription confidence
- 97.0% (typical 96%) How cleanly the extractor could assemble what it was given. Low here with clean ink scores points at layout analysis — the characters were read correctly but grouped or ordered wrongly.
- Comprehension
- 90.0% Whether the piece reads coherently start to finish. Can stay high while transcription confidence drops, when only part of the component is affected.
Clipping
Full Text
The following is writ with such an Air of Truth, that we think proper to give it our Readers.
Extract of a Letter from a Surgeon in the British Army abroad, who was made a Prisoner by the French after the Battle of Fontenoy.
"We Surgeons, sent to take Care of the Wounded, when carried from the Field of Battle, were made Prisoners of War and treated in a very merciless Way; for not only we, but about 1000 more, were stripped of every Thing valuable we had, viz. Watches, Swords, Money, and Cloaths; and not only so, but our very Instruments were taken from us, although the Barbarians saw Hundreds continually imploring our Assistance. In this unprecedented Way we remain'd three Days, Numbers dying every Hour, because we had nothing to dress them with, when they were flung in Waggons, and drove along the Causeway to Lisle, Valenciennes, &c. In this jolting Journey, you may easily conceive the Misery of these poor Wretches, most with their Legs, Arms, &c. shattered to Pieces.
I assure you, the Impression is so strong in my Mind, that no Time will efface the Remembrance: I saw their Wounds, and heard their Groans. At last, we Surgeons were allowed to pass to our Regiments, and when we arrived at the Camp, we waited on his Royal Highness, laid before him the Manner of our Treatment, and presented him with a Bag of chew'd Balls, Points of Swords, Pieces of Flint, Glass, Iron, &c. we had extracted from the Wounds. This we did, with a View that his Highness might know what Enemies he had to deal with. The Duke was much irritated, and wrote immediately to Saxe, That if he intended to make War like a Turk, and not like a Christian, he would learn for the future how to receive them. This may be the Cause of much Bloodshed on the Part of the French, our Army all swearing, that, for the future, they would never give them Quarter. At present the Army is in top Spirits, long for a second Brush with the Dogs, being by our Reinforcements very near as strong as ever; and if our 8000 Austrians from the Duchy of Luxemburg, and 1000 Hussars arrive soon, we shall be able to beat them from their Batteries, and triple Intrenchments."
Extract of a Letter from a Surgeon in the British Army abroad, who was made a Prisoner by the French after the Battle of Fontenoy.
"We Surgeons, sent to take Care of the Wounded, when carried from the Field of Battle, were made Prisoners of War and treated in a very merciless Way; for not only we, but about 1000 more, were stripped of every Thing valuable we had, viz. Watches, Swords, Money, and Cloaths; and not only so, but our very Instruments were taken from us, although the Barbarians saw Hundreds continually imploring our Assistance. In this unprecedented Way we remain'd three Days, Numbers dying every Hour, because we had nothing to dress them with, when they were flung in Waggons, and drove along the Causeway to Lisle, Valenciennes, &c. In this jolting Journey, you may easily conceive the Misery of these poor Wretches, most with their Legs, Arms, &c. shattered to Pieces.
I assure you, the Impression is so strong in my Mind, that no Time will efface the Remembrance: I saw their Wounds, and heard their Groans. At last, we Surgeons were allowed to pass to our Regiments, and when we arrived at the Camp, we waited on his Royal Highness, laid before him the Manner of our Treatment, and presented him with a Bag of chew'd Balls, Points of Swords, Pieces of Flint, Glass, Iron, &c. we had extracted from the Wounds. This we did, with a View that his Highness might know what Enemies he had to deal with. The Duke was much irritated, and wrote immediately to Saxe, That if he intended to make War like a Turk, and not like a Christian, he would learn for the future how to receive them. This may be the Cause of much Bloodshed on the Part of the French, our Army all swearing, that, for the future, they would never give them Quarter. At present the Army is in top Spirits, long for a second Brush with the Dogs, being by our Reinforcements very near as strong as ever; and if our 8000 Austrians from the Duchy of Luxemburg, and 1000 Hussars arrive soon, we shall be able to beat them from their Batteries, and triple Intrenchments."
What sub-type of article is it?
War Report
Military Campaign
What keywords are associated?
Fontenoy Prisoners
Surgeon Letter
Prisoner Treatment
Duke Of Cumberland
What entities or persons were involved?
Duke Of Cumberland
Marshal Saxe
Where did it happen?
France (Fontenoy, Lille, Valenciennes)
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
France (Fontenoy, Lille, Valenciennes)
Event Date
After The Battle Of Fontenoy
Key Persons
Duke Of Cumberland
Marshal Saxe
Outcome
about 1,000 prisoners stripped; many wounded died for lack of dressings; duke of cumberland wrote to saxe; british army swore no quarter.