Civil War Wheelchairs

The wheelchair has helped people to move more freely for centuries. The oldest known example is depicted in carved stone on a 6th century Chinese sarcophagus. The 1700’s produced the first wheelchair of a similar design to those used today. A long-lived model known as the “Bath Chair” was offered in 1783 by inventor John Dawson of Bath, England. The chair had two large front wheels and one small rear one. The Bath Chair outsold all others through the early 1800’s. The Civil War is the first recorded instance of wheelchair use in America. The Bath Chair design continued to be popular until 1867 when inventors began to improve upon the somewhat...

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Confederate Hospital Trains

By Alfred Jay Bollet, M.D. The Confederate Medical Department also used trains whenever possible, although the Southern railroad lines were much less developed than those in the North. They did not build special ambulance cars for their trains; the dearth of rolling stock and manufacturing facilities precluded it. Boxcars on trains brought supplies to the troops and returned carrying wounded and sick soldiers, usually with some straw thrown on the floor, water, food, and when possible, some nursing and medical personnel to accompany them. The railroads were most useful to the Confederates in Virginia, where good service existed from Manassas...

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Northern Hospital Trains

By Alfred Jay Bollet, M.D. Before the war, no thought had been given to using trains as ambulances. However, during the war, both sides relied on the recently developed railroad system to move men and material, including their sick and wounded soldiers, whenever possible. Later in the war, hospital cars were specifically designed for use in ambulance trains. The Sanitary Commission's official history describes these improvements: "A very slight description of these hospital cards will give some idea of the increased comfort provided for the patients conveyed in them. The ordinary field and hospital litter or stretcher was used in loading,...

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Hannah Ropes, Civil War Nurse

From the American Association for the History of Nursing, Inc. Hannah Anderson was born in New Gloucester, Maine to a family of early New England settlers. She married educator William H. Ropes at the age of twenty five; they lived in Waltham, Massachusetts and had four children, two of which lived to adulthood. When her husband abandoned her she was left to raise her children and Hannah bloomed in a new found self reliance. When her son was eighteen in 1855, he became a homesteader in the Kansas Territory. Increasingly interested in the abolitionist movement and the westward expansion, she and her daughter also moved to Kansas. But the...

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Stethoscopes and the Civil War

By Dr. A. Jay Bollet The evidence that army physicians during the Civil War knew how to use a stethoscope can be found in numerous reports in the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. They are brief summaries, but with enough detail to know that physicians were skilled at physical examination.   Some examples: "Case 4, Regimental Register, 28th Mass. April 11, 1863...dullness over left nipple; crepitant râles distinct...14th: rubbing sound heard over upper part of left thorax, râles below and dulness overall...17th...no rubbing sound, dullness less marked...26th...Sent to general hospital to-day." "Case...

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"Soldier's Heart"

Heart Disease in Civil War Soldiers By Alfred Jay Bollet, M.D. Heart symptoms often accompany anxiety, but the physical stresses of a soldier's life can also reveal underlying heart abnormalities. Given the limited diagnostic tools available (no electrocardiograms or radiographs) during the Civil War, the true cause of many soldiers' cardiac ailments baffled their physicians. Dr. Jacob DaCosta, who also worked at Turner's Lane Hospital in Philadelphia, is credited with the first description of "soldier's heart" or "stress heart", a form of what i today considered psychogenic heart disease." Of the 300 cases DaCosta studied, most men had...

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Insanity and The 'Secret Vice' (Masturbation)

By Wm. M. Awl, Superintendent of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum This degrading practice is quite a frequent cause of mental imbecility and insanity, and vary few recover either their bodily health or serenity of mind. Upon this subject we have reason to believe our annual reports in the past three or four years by those who appeared to be entirely ignorant of the injurious effects of this habit, until their attention was arrested by reading our remarks. The interest of parents and the guardians of youth has also in some degree been awakened to the fearful influence of this secret indulgence, upon both physical and mental health. FROM: "Recovery...

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Civil War Hospitals

In the 1800s, most people received medical treatment at home. There were few hospitals in the United States, and most of them cared for the very poor or the insane. The numbers and scale of military hospitals during the Civil War, however, changed this situation. Today, hospitals are an accepted feature of everyday life.   New systems developed rapidly to cope with the thousands of battle casualties. Triage sorted the wounded by the severity of their injuries and the treatment needed. Near the battlefield, tents often served as temporary field hospitals. Existing buildings were also used, but these were often dark, dirty and stuffy,...

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Epilepsy

By Wm. M. Awl, Superintendent of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum Of all the forms of insanity the epileptic is certainly the most hopeless and severe. They are a highly excitable, troublesome and dangerous class of mad folks, and very few have been known to recover, either in this or any other institution within our knowledge. In some hospitals we believe they are excluded altogether, on account of their impulsive violence and the very unpleasant effects of their paroxysms upon other patients. We look upon the epileptic with great compassion. Many of them exhibit the best traits of human nature during their lucid intervals, but at other times they...

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Abraham Lincoln's Little Blue Pills

Abraham Lincoln reached over and picked a man up by the coat collar at the back of the neck and shook him "until his teeth chattered." He became so angry "his voice thrilled and his whole frame shook." Lincoln only stopped when someone, "fearing that he would shake Ficklin's head off," broke his grip. A new study suggests that mercury poisoning may explain Lincoln's bizarre behaviour. Lincoln during this 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate is a far cry from our vision of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, sitting patient and thoughtful with the weight of the nation on his shoulders. A study published in the Summer 2001, issue of Perspectives in...

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Major Letterman Designs an Ambulance Corps

  By late 1861, the need for a coordinated ambulance system became apparent to the military, the medical community and the civilian press.   Union Major Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, instituted a plan. Letterman's design was a model of organization for medical support. The elements of his concept are still used in times of war.   Letterman's plan called for transporting the wounded to the hospital in dedicated vehicles, dropping them off with their bedding, picking up new supplies at the hospital and returning to the front.   The ambulances of a division would move together with...

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The Need for an Ambulance Corps

One of the greatest challenges presented by the huge war was the transport of its wounded. The military had no formal ambulance corps.   Men, usually those considered unfit for battle service, were randomly appointed to drive ambulances and carry litters. The wounded who survived these emergency efforts were transported to army hospitals in nearby cities or towns, frequently by two-wheeled carts or four-wheeled wagons.   The crude vehicles that served as ambulances often caused additional injuries secondary to the battle wounds. Unpaved roads jostled the injured troops on their way to the field hospital. If a soldier survived...

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President Lincoln's "Blue Pills"

During the Civil War, the commonly used medication "blue mass", a clay-like compound of mercury and chalk, could lead to serious disfigurement and death.   Calomel, or "mercurous chloride" was the foundation for many Civil War treatments including blue mass and "blue pills". President Lincoln used Blue Mass pills to treat his chronic constipation. The daily recommended dose of these pills contained more than 9,000 times the amount of mercury considered safe by today's standards.  Calomel was dispensed to those with diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid fever, and many patients suffered from mercury poisoning. Writer...

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Did President Lincoln Have Marfan Sydrome?

From Mary Kugler, R.N., President Abraham Lincoln's health has been a topic of debate among scholars and physicians. In addition to known illnesses such as smallpox and constipation, at times it has been argued that he also suffered from depression and cancer. The fascination continues: the U.S. National Museum of Health and Medicine held a Symposium on President Lincoln's Health on April 18-19, 2009. One of the more enduring theories about President Lincoln's health arose in the early 1960s. A physician published a paper in 1964 in the Journal of the American Medical Association which stated that President Abraham Lincoln had...

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The Pain of Gunshot Wounds

Confederate surgeon Dr. Julian Chisholm described the sensation of a gunshot wound:   "The pain which accompanies the reception of gunshot injuries is often so trivial, that the attention of the wounded is only called to the fact by blood streaming down his legs. The majority liken the striking of a ball to a smart blow with a supple walking-cane, whilst with a few the pain is very severe, and simulates the feeling which would be produced by running a red-hot wire through the flesh. McLeod mentions the case of an officer who had both of his legs carried away, and who only became aware of the injury which he had received when he attempted...

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Joseph Janvier Woodward, M.D.

Joseph Janvier Woodward received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1853. He had an intense interest in photographic research on microscopic images. Many of his photomicrographs were later published in the "Medical-Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion".   At the outbreak of the Civil War he offered his services to the government. He served first as an assistant surgeon with the Army of the Potomac, although he spent most of his career in the Surgeon-General's office.   Woodward was put in charge of the Army Medical Museum in Washington. He supervised the collecting of the material that would be presented...

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Nashville Female Academy Hospital (Federal Hospital No. 14)

By Aloysius F. Plaisance and Leo F. Schelver, III The Nashville Female Academy Hospital on Church Street was situated on a six-acre plot of land and was fairly well enclosed by a fence to keep out possible curiosity seekers. Some portions of the fence had been destroyed but this did not affect the grounds which included a lawn with several large shade trees. Porticos, corridors, and covered pavements furnished ample accommodations for exercise in all kinds of weather. The Nashville Female Academy Hospital had 350 iron cots, well furnished with bedding and 191 patients. There were five surgeons in attendance at this hospital; Major Frederick...

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The Dynamics of 'Taking a Hit'

By John Nevins When a large, heavy bullet (like the Civil War era minié ball) hits the head, spine or lower skeletal structures, human beings quite obviously crumple to the ground. However, when shot in other locations in the torso or even limbs, people quite often lose leg function and fall to the ground immediately (within a couple of seconds). When this occurs, they may be unconscious, conscious, or initially unconscious--returning to consciousness in a few seconds.   The Permanent Crush Cavity (PCC) is the area or amount of tissue actually touched, crushed or pulped by the bullet. The severing of blood vessels and rupture of hollow...

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The Pelvic Wound of Union Major Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

By William J. Harmon, M.D. and Charles K. McAllister, M.D. Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is a true American hero. His medical history and war wounds provide a rare snapshot of Civil War era medicine. In particular the most devastating injury was a rifle shot through the pelvis rupturing the bladder and urethra. The prognosis was grim. Civil War surgeons were adept at removing limbs for extremity wounds but "gut wound" soldiers were left to die. Word of the injury reached his brother Tom who was still in the 20th Maine regiment. Tom recruited Drs. A.O.Shaw and M.W.Townsend, and through the night they searched field hospitals until...

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The Autopsy of John Wilkes Booth

By Allen D. Spiegel, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Merrill S. Spiegel, J.D. During April 1863, Dr. John Frederick May, a prominent physician in the District of Columbia, surgically removed a fibroid tumor from the back of John Wilkes Booth's neck and treated him for a short time. An identifiable large, ugly scar resulted when the wound inadvertently tore open and healed by granulation. Shortly after President Lincoln's assassin was killed on April 26, 1865, a formal inquest was held to identify the body. May was summoned to examine the remains and made a positive identification based upon the recognition of the scar made by his scalpel. At 2:00 PM on...

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Onan's Revenge: Death From Masturbation

By Thomas P. Lowry, MD In the 1800s, as America became less of a collection of religious colonies and more of a secular nation, a new prophet arose, who redefined masturbation as a medical problem, rather than a purely religious issue. Sylvester Graham, inventor of the graham cracker, published his magnum opus, Lectures to Young Men, in 1834. In this tome, Graham warned that the solitary vice would lead to physical decay, insanity, and death. In the Civil War era, before any real understanding of physiology and infectious diseases, the medical profession relied on authority and tradition, in the absence of real knowledge. In dozens of court-martials,...

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Charlottesville General Hospital

By Barbara Maling, R.N., M.S.N., A.C.N.P. Overwhelmed with patients, hospitals transferred many debilitated soldiers from Richmond to other cities. The nearby university town of Charlottesville, with its medical school, became a major medical center to which patient over-flow could be sent throughout the war. Several hospital were created in Charlottesville to handle incoming wounded, The largest was the Charlottesville General Hospital. It was actually an amalgamation of rented buildings throughout Charlottesville. In the fist month of its existence, the hospital admitted 2608 patients. Pressed for space the University of Virginia's facilities...

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Horsehair as a Substitute for Wire (in sutures)

By Thomas Smith, Esq., Demonstrator of Anatomy St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital for Sick Children As a material for attaching the margins of the skin, and mucous membrane after circumcision, or other operations for phimosis, I have found horsehair most useful, having employed it both in children and adults. . . In the removal, the advantage of horsehair sutures over the wire is considerable, since, unlike wire, which after remaining a few days in a wound, stiffens into a metallic ring, horsehair, when cut just aside the knot, either retaining its original elasticity, springs open, or if it has been long soaked...

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Civil War Medicine Bottles

Excerpted from "Collectors Weekly"   Most bottles made in the United States before the 1850s, when the snap case tool virtually replaced the pontil rod (also called the punte or punty), have a pontil mark on their bases. The mark is formed when a bottle is transferred from the blowpipe to the pontil rod, which, unlike the blowpipe, is solid. Known as empontilling, this transfer allows the glassblower to form and finish the bottle’s mouth or bore. Though no longer used in glass manufacturing, this technique is still used in art glass today.   Antique medicinal bottles from between 1810 and the Civil War tend to have pontiled ...

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Typhoid Fever

By Alfred Jay Bollet, M.D.   Feared and often fatal, typhoid fever was one of the most terrible epidemic diseases in the 1800s. Typhoid is an intestinal infection that is spread by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacteria called "Salmonella typhi". Such contamination was usually widespread in army camps, and caused huge epidemics. During the Civil War, there were 75,418 cases in white Union soldiers and 27,,058 (36%) of then died. Black troops encountered the disease at a comparable rate, and the Confederate records that exist indicate a similar experience. The disease was at its peak during the first full year of...

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Women Volunteers

By Barbara Maling, R.N., M.S.N., A.C.N.P. . . . Many women volunteers were devoted caretakers and their contributions were significant. Many Civil War histories refer to women visiting hospitals but do not classify them as nursing staff. These women performed limited nursing activities such as feeding soldiers too weak to feed themselves, writing letters for soldiers, and preparing food. . . . Many brave women during the Civil War, including those in Charlottesville, defied initial objections against "refined ladies" taking care of strangrs and nursing in military hospitals. They braved the frowns of those around them to volunteer their nursing...

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Dr. Alpheus William Tucker

African American Acting Assistant Surgeon By Reg Pitts Alpheus William Tucker was born in Detroit sometime in 1844 or the next year; he grew up in Toledo, Ohio and attended Oberlin from 1861 to 1863 (with Charles Burleigh Purvis) before enrolling in the Iowa School of Medicine, from where he graduated, class of 1865. After moving to Washington, D.C., he married Martha Ellen Wood on January 26, 1867; they had a daughter, Sarah Estella, born 1869 (graduated from Miner Normal School [now University of DC] class of 1889). According to the city directories, Dr Tucker practiced medicine in Washington until 1878 when he returned to Detroit; he...

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Dr. Moses Shaw Thomas, CSA

CONFEDERATE PHYSICIAN Dr. Moses Shaw Thomas (1830-1896) By Robert Joseph SonntagDr. Thomas was appointed as a Surgeon on Staff with 2nd Florida Infantry on October 16, 1861 and was paroled at Appomattox, VA on April 9, 1865. He was born in Baltimore, MD on January 3, 1830. After graduating a course of medical study at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, he practiced medicine in the Shenandoah Valley, VA for two years. In 1856 he came to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth.   When the war began, he left the position of surgeon at Fort Leavenworth, went to Richmond, VA and entered the Confederate Army as a surgeon in the Army of...

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Inserting Morphine Directly Into Wounds

by Alfred Jay Bollet, M.D. Medical Director Henry Hewit reported on his order regarding the use of morphine in wounds during the Atlanta campaign: "The insertion of morphine into wounds of the chest, attended by pain and dyspnoea, has been of the utmost advantage. I made the insertion of morphine into all painful wounds standing order of the medical department, and it has acted so admirably as to enlist every surgeon in favor of the practice. Its good effects are especially remarkable in painful wounds of the joints, abdomen, and chest. From one to three grains are inserted on the point of the finger. I desire especially to call the attention...

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Dr. Martin Robison Delany

First African American to Receive a Commission as a Major in a Combat UnitBy Robert Slawson, M.D., F.A.C.R. Martin Delany became interested in medicine later in life. After an apprenticeship, he applied for medical school without acceptance. After an apprenticeship as a dentist and subsequent practice, he applied again to a medical school. This time, at age 38, he was accepted at Harvard Medical School. Because of student objections when a woman was admitted as well, he and two other African American men were allowed to attend for only that one year.He then opened a medical practice. From age 19, Delany had been active in the abolitionist...

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Ann Bradford Stokes, African American Navy Nurse

By Robert Slawson   Ann Bradford, early African American navy nurse, was born a slave in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1830. Few other details of her early life are known.  She was not able to read or write and was taken aboard a Union ship as “contraband” (an escaped slave) in January 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation has just been issued freeing slaves in states that had left the Union including Tennessee.   In January 1863 she volunteered to serve as a nurse on the Union hospital ship, USS Red Rover.  At that time the United States Navy enlisted several young African American women into the Navy.  They...

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Clarissa Jones, Nurse for All

Clarissa Jones: Union or Confederate, Nurse Cared for AllBy Janet D. Terrell Civil War nurse Clarissa Jones of Philadelphia has captured the admiration of nurse historian Chris Foard, RN, MSN, physician liaison, Bayhealth Medical Center, Dover, Del. When war erupted, the 28-year-old Jones was principal of Rittenhouse Grammar School for Girls. She served as a volunteer nurse, using skills she gained caring for her ailing mother. In 1863, just after the Battle of Gettysburg, she was stationed in a field hospital of the Second Division Union Army with 600 patients, 100 of whom were Confederate captives. Foard says Jones aided injured Union soldiers...

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Amputations in the Civil War

Under the Knife By Terry L. Jones On Aug. 28, 1862, Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s Confederate division was fighting desperately in the fields and pine thickets near Groveton, Va., during the Second Bull Run campaign. Heavy fire was coming from unidentified soldiers in a thicket 100 yards in front. To get a better look, Ewell knelt on his left knee to peer under the limbs. Suddenly a 500-grain (about 1.1 ounces) lead Minié ball skimmed the ground and struck him on the left kneecap. Some nearby Alabama soldiers lay down their muskets and hurried over to carry him from the field, but the fiery Ewell barked: “Put me down, and give them hell!...

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