The Monitor and the Merrimac: The Medical Aftermath

From: med.navy.mil David goes out to meet Goliath and every man who can walk to the beach sits down there, spectators of the first ironclad battle in the world... The day is calm, the smoke hangs thick on the water. The low vessels are hidden by the smoke. They are so sure of their invulnerability they fight at arm’s length. They fight so near the shore, the flash of their guns is seen and the noise is heard of the heavy shot pounding the armor. -Surgeon Charles Martin, USN on the Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac. What was the medical aftermath of that now legendary combat: On the Union side, three men were injured on Monitor. One...

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The United States Military Railroad

Petersburg National Battlefield From: nps.gov The work of the United States Military Railroad Construction Corps (U.S.M.R.R.C.C.) was instrumental in the reduction and ultimate defeat of the Confederate army defending Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia in the closing days of the American Civil War. In the nine months of the Siege of Petersburg, 21 miles of track would be laid, 25 locomotives and more than 275 pieces of rolling stock would be used, and 2,300,000 miles would be logged on the railroad. Photo of locomotive at Union army supply base at City Point Locomotive "John C. Robinson" at City Point, 1864. Library of Congress From the waterfront...

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Medicine and Medical Practices

Antietam National Battlefield, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park From: nps.gov The story of Civil War medicine is a complex one. Through the dedication, innovation and devotion of surgeons and medical support staff, the foundation for today's modern military medicine was laid. "Humanity teaches us that a wounded and prostrate foe is not then our enemy." Dr. Jonathan Letterman The Traveling Medical Department After the Battle of Antietam, both Medical Departments were faced with the daunting prospect of treating and transporting a large number of wounded men. The newly-organized Union Ambulance Corps...

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5 Pioneering Women Doctors and Nurses of the Civil War

By Jocelyn Green, 3-29-15 The truth is, all women who were doctors and nurses during the Civil War were pioneers in their field. Prior to 1861, nurses--and all but two doctors in the United States--were men. But when social reformer Dorothea Dix pointed out to President Lincoln that he had a scant 28 surgeons in the army's medical department to care for the 75,000 volunteers he'd just called for, he reluctantly conceded that women be allowed to serve as nurses. I want to introduce you to five remarkable women who blazed the trail for women in medicine. 1) Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. An English immigrant, Dr. Blackwell was the first woman to...

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From The Front Lines to the Hospital

Manassas National Battlefield Park For the wounded near the front, their first recourse for care lay at the numerous aid stations scattered across the battlefield. Farmhouses, barns, and outbuildings provided places for the wounded to be gathered until they could be sent to the main hospital in the rear. "The whole region of country between Boonsboro and Sharpsburg is one vast Hospital. Houses and Barns are filled with them, and nearly the whole population is engaged in waiting on and ministering to their wants." Hagerstown Herald-Mail September 24th, 1862 The Stone House, a private home and tavern at the intersection of two major roads,...

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The Reason Medical Practices Changed

From: nps.go At the beginning of the Civil War, the practice of medicine was emerging from an era in which bleeding, cupping and purging were still practiced but were declining. Medical practitioners did not know the exact cause of many diseases or the mechanisms of infection, but they were beginning to understand the benefits of cleanliness and good sanitation in disease prevention and healing. "Unless struck in the head or about the heart, men mortally wounded live some time, often in great pain, and toss about upon the ground." Soldier from the 35th Massachusetts What Medical Practitioners Did Not Know By the 1850s, there were over forty...

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The Father of Gastric Physiology

 From: connecticuthistory.org On November 21, 1785, physician and physiologist William Beaumont, who became the first person to observe and describe the process of digestion in a still-living human, was born in Lebanon.  Beaumont studied medicine by becoming an apprentice to Benjamin Chandler, an established physician in Vermont. At the time, apprenticeships were the most common means of acquiring a medical education. Beaumont went on to gain further surgical experience in the US Army as a surgeon’s mate during the War of 1812. While working as a post surgeon for the Army and as a private physician in Michigan, Beaumont had the...

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HARRIET TUBMAN IS DEAD

“I  GO  TO  PREPARE  A PLACE  FOR  YOU” THE   LAST   WORDS   SHE   UTTERED. _______________ __ From: AUBURN  CITIZEN, TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1913 BORN   IN SLAVERY NEARLY 100 YEARS AGO ________________ She Rendered Wonderful Service To The Cause Of The Abolitionists And Her “Underground Railroad” Had A Record Of Never Running A Train Off The Track or Losing A Single Passenger--Too Feeble To Withstand Pneumonia—A  Sketch  Of  Her Career.            Harriet Tubman Davis, Aunt Harriet, died last night of pneumonia at the home she founded...

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Life of the Civil War Soldier in Camp: Disease, Hunger, Death & Boredom

By Gary Helm, 2013 Only a tiny fraction of any soldier’s time was spent in front line combat. Instead, the vast majority of his existence revolved around the monotonous routines of camp life, which presented its own set of struggles and hardships. Once in the ranks, military life turned out to be far different than what the majority of Civil War soldiers had expected.  Patriotic zeal blinded most of these volunteers to the realities and hardships they were signing up to experience. The passage of several generations had muted the country’s memory of the deprivations of the American Revolution.  Few had participated in the war with...

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New York Hospital and the Civil War

By Elizabeth M. Shepard, 2-1-13 At the dawn of the Civil War, New York Hospital was located at its first site on Broadway between Duane and Worth Streets. From April 1861-February 1862, New York Hospital had an agreement with the New York State Militia to accept sick or wounded officers and privates. From February 1862 until the end of the war, the hospital had an agreement with the U. S. Medical Department to accept non-commissioned officers and privates from the Union Army. The hospital already had a long standing agreement with the U.S. government to treat merchant seamen. The soldiers were treated both before and after being sent to the...

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