Diarrhea Treated with Silver Nitrate

Source text: The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion., Part 2, Volume 1 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1879), 49. Case entered in the book is signed by Assistant Surgeon A. Hartsuff, U. S. A., temporarily acting as surgeon in charge,⃰ by whom it is understood the majority if not all the cases were treated. To the account of each case as recorded in the case-book the subsequent history of the patient, whenever it has been possible to obtain it, is appended. ⃰In the absence of Assistant Surgeon E. J. Marsh, U. S. A. CASE 11.—Private David Watson, company D, 16th Massachusetts volunteers; admitted June 17,...

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Journalism in Washington: The Value of Hospital Newspapers

By Elizabeth Lorang and Kenneth M. Price Newspapers published in the District of Columbia during the Civil War provide essential information about the war and life in the city during a time of crisis. In Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, nearly 30 daily and weekly newspapers chronicled the war.(1) These papers included English-language dailies and weeklies and several German-language weeklies. The papers were published out of standard newspaper offices as well as out of impromptu and makeshift offices in hospitals and military camps. Three issues of the Camp Kettle, for example, were published by the field and staff of the Roundhead...

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Civil War Cigars and Medicinal Tobacco

By Kyle Wichtendahl, 2-19-13      [Since 2012 I have been responsible for the garden at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Antietam National Battlefield. The Pry House garden began as a 19th century style medicinal and kitchen garden, including medicinal plants, herbs, and vegetables. As close as possible, these plants mirrored those available to the Pry Family in the 1860s, meaning heirloom varieties. Since then, the garden has transformed to focus exclusively on medicinal plants, becoming an exhibit of the flora that was employed by military and civilian caregivers in the Civil War Era.       I am strictly...

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Civil War Herbs at the Pharmacy

By Kyle Wichtendahl, 2-12-13  [Since 2012 I have been responsible for the garden at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Antietam National Battlefield. The Pry House garden began as a 19th century style medicinal and kitchen garden, including medicinal plants, herbs, and vegetables. As close as possible, these plants mirrored those available to the Pry Family in the 1860s, meaning heirloom varieties. Since then, the garden has transformed to focus exclusively on medicinal plants, becoming an exhibit of the flora that was employed by military and civilian caregivers in the Civil War Era.      I am strictly an amateur,...

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A Historical Glimpse of Suturing

From: theapprenticedoctor.com Suturing is commonly used today as a means by which wounds are closed in order to prevent infection and hasten healing. Stitches are used by surgeons, doctors, nurses, podiatrists, dentists, first aid workers, veterinarians and survivalists. However, where did the concept for suturing wounds begin? Archeologists have discovered primitive needles of bone and later metal that were thought to be used for surgical suturing thousands of years ago. It is suggested that the original versions of suture threads were coarse and made from plant fibers before progressing to animal parts much later in history. The first obvious...

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Suture Pins

By Dr. Michael Echols, 2-4-12 Pins used to approximate the sides of a soft tissue incision, from an 1864 Tiemann surgery set.  The pins are round with a round, not a flat head.  These needles were found in the paper holder and would have been supplied this way. In the diagram, the pins are shown with suture material wrapped  in a criss-cross on either side of the incision and tied to close the incision, rather than being passed through the tissue. An image of a Buck's suture pin director is shown, which would have been used to guide the placement of a pin. From: medicalantiques.c...

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“Captain Sally”

By Reed Alvord of Hamilton, New York, October 1998 NAME: Sally Louisa Tompkins DATES: 1833 to 1916 ALLEGIANCE: Confederate HIGHEST RANK: Captain UNIT: N/A SERVICE RECORD: Opened Robertson Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, on August 1, 1861. Commissioned captain of cavalry on September 9, 1861. Ceased operating the hospital on June 13, 1865. Born into a wealthy and altruistic family in coastal Mathews County, Virginia, in 1833, Sally Louisa Tompkins was destined for a life of philanthropy. After moving to Richmond, Tompkins spent much of her time and a considerable portion of her fortune assisting causes she considered worthy. With the onset...

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Antietam's National Cemetery

By Kim O'Connell 12-9-15 Divided No More: The creation of a battlefield park at Antietam was contentious and uncertain, much like the battle itself. ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1867, a large cadre of dignitaries and interested parties descended on Sharpsburg, Md., a province of rolling hills just east of a bend in the Potomac River. Having lost its bid to become the county seat of Washington County a century before—a distinction that went to Hagerstown to the north—Sharpsburg had retained its sleepy quality well into the 19th century. Therefore, a crowd of such stature was certainly unusual—but not unprecedented. It was exactly five years before, after...

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Civil War Era Recipe for a “Wash for Teeth”

From: civilianwartime.wordpress.com "Dissolve two ounces of borax in three pints of boiling water and, before it is cold, add one teaspoonful of spirit of camphor and bottle for use. A teaspoonful of this mixture mixed with an equal quantity of tepid water and applied daily with a soft brush preserves and beautifies the teeth, arrests decay, induces a healthy action of the gums, and makes them look pearly white. The best time to wash teeth is at night before sleeping." Source: John Hammond Moore, ed., The Confederate Housewife (Columbia, SC: Summerhouse Press, 1997...

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Shaping the Medical Practice through the Civil War and Future Generations

Written by Tim Talbott. By Julia Butz, Sunrise Elementary School, Rancho Cordova, CA, and Joseph Moneymaker, South Livingston Elementary, Smithland, KY For some Civil War soldiers the surgical case of Confederate Doctor Orville Yager (catalog number 1999.43.15 in the Kentucky Historical Society digital objects collections) symbolized either “the angel of mercy” or “the angel of death” depending on one’s perspective.  During the Civil War, seventy-five percent of surgeries performed by doctors were amputations.  Taking into consideration both Union and Confederate, this totaled nearly 50,000 amputations.  The average time to...

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"Opium-the Poor Child's Nurse"

By Rob Kennedy This Harper's Weekly cartoon dramatizes the widespread use of opium in the 19th century, emphasizing its application as teething medicine or a soporific to the children of the poor. Opium use dates back to antiquity, and existed in many cultures, although it was particularly associated with China and India. It was considered to be a medical cure-all until other painkillers and therapeutics began to be developed in the 19th century. In England and the United States in the mid-19th century, physicians prescribed opium readily, yet it could be purchased without a prescription. It was often an ingredient in pills, tablets, cough...

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Clara Barton

From: historynet.com Born: December 25, 1821, North Oxford, Massachusetts Died: April 12, 1912 (aged 90), Glen Echo, Maryland Accomplishments: Teacher First female clerk at U.S. Patent Office Nurse Humanitarian Founder of the American Red Cross Founder of the National First Aid Association of America Clara Barton summary: Clara Barton is best known as one of the founders of the American Red Cross and as a pioneer in the field of nursing. She was also a supporter of the women’s suffrage movement and dedicated her life to helping people. Clarissa "Clara" Harlowe Barton was born December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, to Captain...

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President Abraham Lincoln’s Security & Assassination

From: abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org Abraham Lincoln had a fatalistic notion of many things – especially concerning his own security. Journalist William A. Croffut recalled that President Lincoln “was always exposed to personal attack. There were at least two doorkeepers to pass before getting to this room, but they did not consider it necessary to be vigilant after office hours, and I often walked into the While House unchallenged and went straight up to the private secretary’s room adjoining his own, without seeing any person whatever. And it was no uncommon thing for him to go alone out of the house at almost any hour of the day or night,...

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