Famously Fiery First Lady Gets Modern-Day Medical Diagnosis

By Jonathan Lapook, 7-16-16 Mary Todd Lincoln had a lot of tragedy in her life. She lost two young children -- and, of course, was sitting next to President Lincoln when he was assassinated. All of that contributed to years of depression, but now a medical expert believes there was a physical cause for her mental struggles. History has not been kind to the wife of our 16th president. She was known to be a tempestuous, unpredictable force, and her son eventually had her committed. Sally Field's 2012 portrayal of Mary Todd showed a fierce and sharp-tongued first lady. "You think I'm ignorant of what you're up to because you haven't discussed...

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What are Civil War Sinks? (Latrines)

From: civilwartalk.com Some data on sinks in the Civil War that I collected, without doing a precise study. Sinks in the Civil War are what we would call latrines. It probably is more afield than what the normal Civil War student studies, but it sure killed a lot of soldiers. Sometimes the captured prisoner contributed to his own bad health by undisiplined use of sinks, and was not entirely due to the prison system. As a result of both historical documentation and field research, the prison stockade, Fort Johnson, the remains of Fort Hill, and the dock have been located. Archaeological excavations have been carried out in several sinks (latrines)...

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Herbalism

From: mnwelldir.org The use of foods to heal is as old as the human spirit; it is as natural as breathing. Even today, when we get a cold or flu, we also get a bowl of hot chicken soup. However, the chicken soup we get from a can is hardly related to the chicken soup grandma made from scratch. Herbs are food. Our medicines of the early 1800s were mostly herbal. What we did not bring from Europe we learned from the Natives, who were far more sophisticated than many give them credit. While surgeons theorized why some patients died of infections and others did not, our natives were very familiar with the role of pathogens in infection (sepsis)...

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The AMA Is Formed

From: mnwelldir.og Many attempts were made to create medical societies. There is strength in numbers. Most fell by the wayside as competition ate away at their structure, and even forbidding members to consult with, cohort with, purchase from, or even befriend an “irregular” didn’t stop a huge wave of physicians from going over to the other side. The main purpose of a medical society/association is to provide political pressure to adopt laws that would kill the competition. They also provide entertainment, fellowship, and a safe place to whine about the midwife down the block who makes more money in a week than your average physician in two...

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Horace Wells Discovers Pain-free Dentistry

By Emily E. Gifford In the early 19th century Hartford dentists Horace Wells and William Morton played instrumental roles in the development of anesthesia for dental and other medical applications. Horace Wells, born in Hartford, Vermont, and educated in Boston, began his practice in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1836 and quickly rose to prominence. He married Elizabeth Wales in 1838 and continued to write about dentistry and invent various devices, such as a foot-powered shower. Wells Sees Potential in Laughing Gas In 1842, Wells took Morton, first, as his student and then as his partner. Morton, who was born in Massachusetts and trained for...

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Union Soldier Turns Medic at Gettysburg, 1863

A primary source by Elbert Corbin Pvt. Elbert Corbin to his wife, July 6, 1863. (GLC) After three days of fierce fighting on July 1–3, 1863, nearly 40,000 battered soldiers lay scattered across the blood-soaked fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As the torrential summer rain poured down on the wounded, Private Elbert Corbin of the 1st New York Light Artillery was thrust into an unexpected role when he was ordered to remain behind and take care of his fallen comrades. In this rare letter, Corbin detailed the quick training that enabled him to assist his wounded compatriots. He also writes of helping wounded enemies: “dressed our Boys wounds...

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Women and Medicine

From: mnwelldir.org Surgery during this period killed as many as it cured, mostly due to sepsis. It was in Europe, where the surgical arts were being perfected, at this time, specifically France, and new techniques flourished there and were quickly disseminated among European medical schools. However, even in Europe, sepsis [infection] was still a problem. Most surgeries in the US involved the treating of wounds, as well as battle wounds. Amputation was most probably the leading surgical procedure performed. In 1809, Jane Todd Crawford (Lincoln’s wife’s—Mary Todd— cousin) was diagnosed with a very large ovarian cyst which had originally...

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Civil War, U.S.: Death and Dying

From: deathreference.com Between the years 1861 and 1865, the United States engaged in a civil war, one of the most significant military confrontations in the young republic's life. The conflict dramatically altered the course of American society, eradicating the institution of slavery from the land and accelerating a number of social, economic, and political trends originating in other regions of the country. It also made lasting cultural impressions across imaginative and material American landscapes, including the gradual growth of a complex tourist industry built upon memory, patriotism, and consumerism, and the immediate expression of...

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The History of Medicine: 1800 – 1850

From: mnwelldir.org “Nearly all men die of their medicines, not of their diseases.” Moliere The Revolutionary war is ended, a new century is begun, our first president has passed away and we are the freest society in the modern world. So, what are your options if you become ill? If you lived in the cities your first choice is probably conventional medicine, which we will refer to as "regular medicine" in this article. As to physicians practicing this form of medicine, we shall call them "regulars." Regular medicine at that time was based upon the theory of the Four Humors. We’ve touched this theory in our first article on the history of...

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Farmington’s Hospital Rock Dates Back to 18th-Century Smallpox Inoculation

From: connecticuthistory.org Deep within the woods of Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington are the remains of a late-18th-century smallpox inoculation hospital. A long stone ledge known as Hospital Rock is all that is left of the structures that once sheltered those seeking protection from the deadly smallpox virus. Carved into Hospital Rock are names of 66 of the hospital’s patients that testify to the realities of life in 18th-century Connecticut. Evidence suggests the hospital consisted of several wooden structures set back from Settlement Road, which carried travelers from Farmington to New Britain. The hospital was the brainchild of...

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Life In A Civil War Army Camp

From: civilwarhome.com        "If there is any place on God's fair earth where wickedness 'stalketh abroad in daylight' it is in the army," wrote a Confederate soldier in a letter to his family back home. Indeed, life in the army camps of the Civil War was fraught with boredom, mischief, fear, disease, and death.         Army regulations called for the camps to be laid out in a fixed grid pattern, with officers' quarters at the front end of each street and enlisted men's quarters aligned to the rear. The camp was set up roughly along the lines the unit would draw up in a line of battle and each company...

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African American Nurses in the Civil War

By Maggie MacLean, 11-14-14 Nursing was not a woman's job before the Civil War, but by 1865, there were over 3,000 nurses serving the Union and Confederacy. In the North, most women nurses worked in military hospitals. Image: Black nurses with the 13th Massachusetts Infantry The 13th Mass fought in numerous battles, from the Shenandoah Valley to Bull Run to Antietam So many women volunteered as Union nurses that the U.S. government hired Dorothea Dix to serve as the superintendent of women nurses. African American nurses were not included in those numbers, nor were they recognized for their service for decades to come. Some were paid; many...

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