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“Proper care and the exercise of a little patience” – The Medical Treatment of Private William McCarter

A battle as seen by a reserve – Harper’s Weekly illustration of field hospital scene similar to one McCarter witnessed (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Private William McCarter’s treatment after the battle of Fredericksburg is an excellent case study of Civil War medical care.

A photo of a Union artillery battery with its horses- Civil War Medicine Museum

Learn how hundreds of Civil War veterinarians cared for millions of horses, mules, and camels.

Helping Injured- Civil War Medicine Museum

The battle was over, the dead lay in heaps,
Pat Murphy lay bleeding and gory,
A hole through his head, from rifleman’s shot,
Had finished his passion for glory.

“Ladies! If you’ve got here you’ll get anywhere.”

Clara Barton hung this sign at the Missing Soldiers Office, announcing her work to the world (Courtesy of the General Services Administration)

After the American Civil War, Clara Barton led the search for over 40,000 missing soldiers … including some who didn’t want to be found.

Clara Jones worked aboard the pictured hospital steamer, the State of Maine, in August of 1862. Courtesy of the National Archives

Schoolteacher Clara Jones engaged in full time hospital work in the summer of 1862.

Frederick Law Olmsted’s memoir “Hospital Transports” describes the efforts of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.