Injured soldiers passed through here from the battlefield in blankets and carts, and at the flying hospital next to General Gates' headquarters, surgeons and nurses treated their wounds. Private Ezra Tilden of the Massachusetts militia wrote on October 9, 1777, of seeing many American and enemy dead at General Gates' headquarters, others badly wounded and dying, and men shot almost through the body crying to God and to Jesus to take away their lives. Dr. Potts, Director General for the Northern Department's hospitals, and his team worked tirelessly here to care for the American army's sick and wounded. Shock, pain, and blood loss could be overwhelming during amputations, where speed was crucial because there were no anesthetics, and infection was the worst enemy though its causes were unknown. Military chaplains also comforted the sick, wounded, and dying, but this army's pastors were Congregationalist and Baptist, while Catholics, Judaists, and people of other Protestant faiths were not provided clergy.