Interesting Facts About Northern Nurses

From: emergingcivilwar.com One great misconception many people have regarding nurses in both the Union and Confederacy is that they assisted the surgeons in medical procedures. This was for the most part not the case, except in rare situations in the field. During the Civil War women of both sides confined their duties to fit within the domestic sphere including providing religious counsel, aiding the mortally wounded soldier to face a “good death,” and writing about that death to his family. Here are some interesting facts about Northern Civil war Nurses/Matrons: Women hospital workers were classified into job categories, but usually...

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Medical Treatment During the Civil War

By Sean Rooney The Civil War is often seen as a turning point in the history of warfare. It was the first big industrial war and foreshadowed the type of warfare that would characterize World War I. At the same time, it still had some of the characteristics of older wars. One of these characteristics was medical treatment. Although Civil War soldiers suffered from modern weapons like the repeater riffle, they did not have access to modern medical care. Thus, many soldiers died in spite of, or sometimes because of medical treatment. Without an understanding of the germ theory of medicine, army doctors did not know what caused diseases and...

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The Turpentine Remedy

by Biff Hollingsworth You never know what you’re going to find in our collections. Today, while looking for something totally unrelated, I happened upon a folder with an intriguing title: “Prescription and Diet Book, circa 1800s.” I thought I might have stumbled on some sort of early new age work. So, I started thumbing through. What I found was that it was a record book, apparently from a Civil War hospital near Greensboro, North Carolina, that listed daily treatments that were given to wounded soldiers and others convalescing during the war. In this record book are listings for some run of the mill treatments and remedies that were ordered...

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The War Doctors' Education

by Brooke C. Stoddard and Daniel P. Murphy, Ph.D. One of the biggest medical problems during the Civil War was the inadequate training most doctors received. Just before the war, the majority of physicians served as apprentices rather than attending medical school, which meant that many were woefully unprepared for what they encountered on the battlefield. In Europe, four-year medical schools were fairly common, and students received a great deal of laboratory training. As a result, European physicians had a far better understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and infection. Students in American medical schools trained for less...

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Commission of U.S. Navy's First Hospital Ship

December 26, 1862 The USS Red Rover, the first hospital ship of the U. S. Navy, was commissioned on December 26th, 1862, after a year of service in the Army during the Civil War. An article in the November 1968 issue of Proceedings, written by W. T. Adams, commemorates the Red Rover’s brief but successful career, which ended in 1865. Not only was the Red Rover the first ship of her kind, but she also served a variety of capacities for the Union forces during the War, far beyond the demands of an ordinary hospital ship. To those familiar with modern standards of naval medical care, it may be difficult to visualize the days when treatment of...

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Nurses and Clara Barton

by Brooke C. Stoddard and Daniel P. Murphy, Ph.D. Clara Barton is well known as the founder of the American Red Cross, but it was her remarkable humanitarian efforts during the Civil War that established her reputation as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” She was also an ardent feminist, the first female diplomat, and an important advocate of health and education reform and civil rights. Barton worked as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., where she saw the first casualties of the Civil War. She observed the inadequate medical care and noted that the wounded frequently went without sufficient food or clothing. Working independently...

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How the Civil War Transformed U.S. Medicine

Posted by Circulating Now on September 3, 2013 From: circulatingnow.nim.nih.gov Shauna Devine spoke today at the National Library of Medicine on “The Civil War, the Army Medical Museum, and the Surgeon General’s Library: Medical Practice and the Science of American Medicine.” Dr. Devine also contributed to the NLM’s book Hidden Treasure. Circulating Now interviewed her about her work. Circulating Now: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do? What is your typical workday like? Shauna Devine: I am currently a visiting research fellow and adjunct professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Department of History...

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Insignia of the Medical Corps of the Confederate Army and Navy

Office of Surgeon General United Confederate Veterans New Orleans, LA, April 9, 1890 From: civilwarhome.com INSIGNIA OF THE MEDICAL CORPS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AND NAVY.         In conclusion, comrades, the speaker would urge the adoption of some badge or device which should serve to distinguish the survivors of the Medical Corps of the Southern Confederacy.         The objects of this reunion and of this association are historical, benevolent and social, and the medal or seal which marks its realization should embody within a brief circle these sacred and noble sentiments.        ...

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Montgomery's Confederate Hospitals

From: lat34north.com Situated away from main battlefields and with good rail and river connections, Montgomery was ideal for Confederate hospitals. Two locally operated were Soldiers' and Wayside. The government staffed six during the conflict. Citizens rendered services including food and nursing. Ladies, General, Madison and Concert Hall hospitals were on Commerce and Market streets; Stonewall and Watts, tent units, were west of town near the Alabama and Florida Railroad. After Shiloh and during the Atlanta Campaign, the hospitals were very busy, but throughout the War they tried diligently to heal wounds and diseases, often with limited...

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Juliet Opie Hopkins: Superintendent of Alabama's Hospitals in Virginia

From: Alabama Department of Archives and History One-fourth of the one million Southern men who fought in the Confederate army died of wounds or disease. Inadequate doctors and medical services, and lack of medicines contributed to this number. Also, the Confederate government was slow in setting up a medical service, therefore states authorized hospitals to be set up close to the battlefields. Nursing as a profession had not developed in Alabama before the war, except in Mobile where Catholic sisters operated a hospital. Nevertheless, during the war women provided much of the care for the sick and wounded. "Southern women always nursed family,...

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When Robert E. Lee Began to Die

by Martha M. Boltz In a somewhat different way to look at Robert E. Lee’s life, it is interesting to look at his death and do some reading between the lines in the light of today’s medical knowledge. Throughout the numerous writings about Lee,  the basic stories revolve around his actions in camp and on the field, before and after battles, and what he accomplished. Writers and historians are prone to stick to the subject matter at hand — the battles — and adjunctive aspects such as the health of the leader are given short shrift, bare mentions as they tell the story of the war. And thus it was with Robert E. Lee.  Looking  at...

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Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta, the First African American Faculty Member of an American Medical School

Written by Akosua Lowery Alexander From: theburtonwire.com “I would like to be in a position where I can be of use to my race.” - Letter from Alexander Thomas Augusta to President Abraham Lincoln in African Americans in the Military by Catherine Reef Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta Alexander Thomas Augusta, the first African American faculty member of an American medical school, Howard University, was born free on March 8, 1925. He was a surgeon, professor of medicine, and veteran of the American Civil War. Augusta applied to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania but was refused admission. As he was determined to become a physician,...

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Treatment of Venereal Disease During the Civil War

By Dr. Michael Echols From: medicalantiques.com During the Civil War, as in all wars, venereal disease was a major problem since it disabled the soldier and decreased his effectiveness to fight or be moved from battle to battle. Dr Freeman Bumstead was one of the leading authorities on venereal disease during the Civil War and his treatment of one of the most common diseases is outlined below. A copy of his book on the topic of  "Venereal Disease" is a part of this collection. Preface to the second edition with comments about knowledge of venereal disease during the Civil War From the Medical and Surgical History regarding the incidence...

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Appropriating Allowances for Maimed Confederate Soldiers (No. 48)

OFFICE OF SURGEON GENERAL UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 9, 1890. Appropriating Allowances for Maimed Confederate Soldiers (No. 48)         AN ACT to amend an act, approved October 24, 1887, entitled "An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section 1, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877 and the amendments thereto."         SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Georgia, That the act approved October, 24, 1887, entitled "An act to carry into effect the last clause of article 7, section I, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of 1877, as amended by...

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Nurses in the U.S.Civil War

From: questia.com Civil War nurses were actually not part of the military and did not serve as part of any army. Most of those nurses who tended to the dying and wounded of the Confederate or the Union armies were volunteers and not paid for their work. Even as volunteers they were confronted with difficulties with regard to paternalism and bureaucracy in order to help soldiers both on and off the battlefield. The Civil War is known to have been the impetus and catalyst for many good things. It was the main source for volunteerism which became an integral part of American society. Although battlefield hospitals and medicine were nearly non-existent...

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The Civil War Slowed Medical Malpractice Suits

October 2, 2012 From: theindianalawyer.com Doctors who think people have never been more litigious than they are today can take heart in knowing that people sued their physicians just as much in the 1850s. This is what Terre Haute attorney Michael J. Sacopulos discovered after months of research. Now, he’s going to a conference for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine to talk about his findings. Sacopulos and Dr. David A. Southwick, chief of staff at Union Hospital in Terre Haute, are traveling to Maryland this weekend to present on “Effects of the Civil War upon Medical Malpractice Litigation in the United States.” This year marks...

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Civil War Era Medicine

By Thomas Sweeney, retired physician and long-time avocational Civil War historian From ozarkscivilwar.org The medical establishments within the U.S. Army and the nascent Confederate Army were almost totally unprepared for either the scope or duration of the conflict. The peacetime U.S. Army possessed only 113 physicians to care for more than 16,000 personnel scattered across the country. The Army’s Surgeon General, Dr. Thomas Lawson, was unable to think beyond the needs of small, frontier post hospitals. Fortunately for the Union, the Medical Department entered a new era under a relatively junior physician, Dr. William A. Hammond, on...

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