The National Museum of Civil War Medicine Events

May 19, 2012

Garden Party

Join the staff at the Pry House for a “garden party” to prepare the nineteenth century-style kitchen and medicinal garden.

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Research Materials

Research Help & Bibliographies

Contents:
Civil War Medicine: General Information
Surgeons
Nurses & Women
Soldiers
Diseases & Drugs
Hospitals & Prisons
Medical & Surgical Equipment

Civil War Medicine: General Information
There are numerous books available on the subject of Civil War medicine.  The following books are general overviews of the subject; books on specific subjects are listed in subsequent sections.  Medical Practices in the Civil War is designed for all audiences, including younger students; Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs and Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care During the American Civil War are good general overviews of the subject; the three volumes of Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment contain numerous photographs of medical items; and the books Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray detail the surgeons and medical departments of the Union and the Confederacy. 
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine; Ira M. Rutkow, 2005

Civil War Medicine: 1861-1865; C. Keith Wilbur, M.D., 1998

Civil War Medicine: An Illustrated History; Mark J. Schaadt, M.D., 1998  

Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs; Alfred Jay Bollet, 2002

Death is in the Breeze: Disease during the American Civil War; Bonnie Brice Dorwart, NMCWM Press, 2009

Divided by Conflict United by Compassion: The National Museum of Civil War Medicine; Terry Reimer, NMCWM Press, 2004

Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War; George W. Adams, 1985 (first printing 1952)

Doctors in Gray: The Confederate Medical Service; H. H. Cunningham, 1993 (first printing 1958)

Every Kind of... Wound and Disease: Hospital Life in the Confederate Medical Department; The Museum of the Confederacy Journal, No. 75, Richmond, Virginia, 1997

Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care During the American Civil War; Frank R. Freemon, 1998

Images of Civil War Medicine: A Photographic History; Gordon Dammann and Alfred Jay Bollet, 2008

Medical Practices in the Civil War; Susan Beller, 1992

Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War; Bradley P. Bengtson, 1996

Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment, Volumes I, II, and III; Gordon E. Dammann, D.D.S., 1983, 1988, and 1998

Surgeons
Thousands of men served as surgeons or assistant surgeons on both sides of the struggle.  All were officers; surgeons were equivalent to a major and assistant surgeons were equivalent to a captain.  In addition to the army surgeons, many civilian doctors served in the hospitals or with a regiment on a contract basis.  They were called contract surgeons and were listed as Acting Assistant Surgeons in the official records.  For general information on surgeons and the Medical Departments, the books Doctors in Blue and Doctors in Gray are the best introduction. 
If you are searching for information on a specific surgeon, start with the records of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.  The National Archives has service and pension records for members of the Union Army, plus a special set of records called “Personal Papers of Medical Officers and Physicians” for Union surgeons and contract surgeons.  The “Personal Papers” file contains official papers and correspondence for individual medical officers, not personal letters.  Information on Confederate medical officers is contained in a set of records on microfilm called “Compiled Service Records of Confederate General and Staff Officers and Non-regimental Enlisted Men.”  For information on these records, call the National Archives at 1-866-272-6272 or go to www.nara.gov.
Two books are also helpful in researching individual surgeons.  The Roster of Regimental Surgeons was originally published in 1882 and lists all of the medical officers who served with regiments in the Union Army.  Please note that there were thousands of additional surgeons who were not specifically assigned to a regiment and who are not listed in this book.  The information in the Roster includes a notation of where the doctors lived after the war, since its original purpose was to help soldiers contact the surgeons who treated them so that they could apply for pensions.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War is a multi-volume set originally published after the war detailing surgical cases and diseases.  The names of the surgeons who submitted these case studies are almost always included, so it can be useful in tracking where an individual surgeon was at various times.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War is a very useful resource; check your local libraries for a copy.  The Museum Store also offers a variety of books containing the letters and personal memoirs of individual medical officers.
If you are interested in learning more about surgical procedures and the regulations of the medical departments, there are numerous reprints of Civil War-era manuals available.  A Manual of Military Surgery for the Use of Surgeons in the Confederate States Army and Handbook for the Military Surgeon (Union) are the most comprehensive.  A list of reprints of original manuals is included below.
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

A Surgeon’s Civil War: Letters and Diaries of Daniel M. Holt; edited by James M. Greiner, Janet L. Coryell, and James R. Smither, 1994

An Imperishable Fame: The Civil War Experience of George Fisher McFarland; Michael A. Dreese, 1997

Doctor to the Front: The Recollections of Confederate Surgeon Thomas Fanning Wood; Donald B. Koonce, 2000

Doctors in Blue, The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War; George W. Adams, 1985 (first printing 1952)

Doctors in Gray, The Confederate Medical Service; H. H. Cunningham, 1993 (first printing 1958)

In Hospital and Camp: The Civil War Through the Eyes of its Doctors and Nurses; Harold Elk Straubing, ed., 1993

List of Battles and Roster of Regimental Surgeons, 1990; originally published as Roster of Regimental Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons in the U.S. Army Medical Department During the Civil War, 1882

Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War; prepared by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, 1870 (originally titled Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865)

Medical Department of the United States Army During the Civil War; Capt. Louis C. Duncan, Medical Corps, U.S. Army, c.1900

Personal Memoirs of John H. Brinton, Civil War Surgeon, 1861-1865; Foreword by John Y. Simon, 1996, originally published 1914

Prologue to Change: African Americans in Medicine in the Civil War Era; Robert G. Slawson, The NMCWM Press, 2006

Simon Baruch: Rebel in the Ranks of Medicine, 1840-1921; Patricia Spain Ward, 1994

Tarnished Scalpels: The Court-Martials of Fifty Union Surgeons; Thomas P. Lowry, M.D., and Jack D. Welsh, M.D., 2000

Veterinary Service During the American Civil War; Walter R. Heiss, 2005

Wounded River: the Civil War Letters of John Vance Lauderdale; edited by Peter Joseph, 1993

Original Manuals
A Manual of Military Surgery for the use of Surgeons in the Confederate States Army, with Explanatory Plates of all Useful Operations; J. Julian Chisolm, M.D., 1864; reprinted 1983

A Manual of Minor Surgery; John Hooker Packard, 1863; reprinted 1990

An Epitome of Practical Surgery; Edward Warren, 1863; reprinted 1989

A Practical Treatise on Military Surgery; Frank Hastings Hamilton, 1861; reprinted 1989

Gunshot Wounds and Other Injuries of Nerves; Silas Weir Mitchell, George Read Morehouse, and William Williams Keen, 1864; reprinted 1989 with an introduction by Ira M. Rutkow

Handbook for the Military Surgeon; Charles S. Tripler and George Custis Blackman, 1861; reprinted 1989

Notes and Observations on Army Surgery; F. Formento; bound with A Treatise on Gun-Shot Wounds; Moritz Schuppert, 1863 (Confederate); reprinted 1990

Nurses & Women
Many women served as paid and volunteer nurses during the Civil War, and many others contributed their service through civilian organizations.  There are a large number of books pertaining to the roles of women during the war.  Some are listed below, more can be found online in the Museum Store.  The Museum Store also offers a variety of books containing the letters and personal memoirs of individual women.
If you are searching for information on a specific nurse, start with the records of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.  The National Archives has pension records for many Union nurses, starting after 1898.  Other groups of records also contain information on individual nurses.  For information on these records, call the National Archives at 1-866-272-6272 or go to www.nara.gov.
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

Angels of Mercy: An Eyewitness Account of the Civil War and Yellow Fever; A Primary Source by Sister Ignatius Sumner, R.S.M.; author/ editor Sister Mary Paulinus Oakes, R.S.M., 1998

A Woman of Honor: Dr. Mary E. Walker and the Civil War; Mercedes Graf, 2001

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War; Stephen B. Oates, 1994

Heart’s Work: Civil War Heroine and Champion of the Mentally Ill, Dorothea Lynde Dix; Charles Schlaifer and Lucy Freeman, 1991

Hospital Days: Reminiscence of a Civil War Nurse; Jane Staurt Woolsey, reprinted 1996

Hospital Sketches; Louisa May Alcott, 1988 (first printing 1863)

Journal of Women’s Civil War History, Volume I; edited by Eileen Conklin, 2001

Our Army Nurses: Stories from Women in the Civil War; Mary Gardner Holland, originally published 1895, reprinted 1998

The Other Side of War: On the Hospital Transports with the Army of the Potomac; Katharine Prescott Wormeley, 1899; reprinted 1998

Trials and Triumphs: the Women of the American Civil War; Marilyn Mayer Culpepper, 1991

Valor and Lace: The Roles of Confederate Women 1861-1865; Edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, Journal of Confederate History Series, Volume XV, 1996

White Roses; Rebecca D. Larson, 1997

Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America; Jane E. Schultz, 2004

Soldiers
If you are searching for information on a specific soldier, start with the records of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.  The National Archives has service records for Union and Confederate soldiers, and pension records for Union soldiers only.  These records can be requested by mail using specific forms supplied by the Archives.  There is also a set of records for Union soldiers called “Carded Medical Records” which can be requested by mail.  More information on these records can be found at  www.nara.gov.
A few books can also be helpful in finding information on the wounds and diseases suffered by individual soldiers.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War is a multi-volume set originally published after the war detailing surgical cases and diseases.  Thousands of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, are listed in this set.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War is a very useful resource; check your local libraries for a copy.  The Photographic Atlas of Civil War Injuries contains photographs of surgical cases and specimens from the Otis Historical Archives.  The Museum Store also offers a variety of books containing the letters and personal memoirs of individual soldiers.
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

A Seneca in the Union Army: The Civil War Letters of Sergeant Isaac Newton Parker, 1861-1865; Laurence M. Hauptman, 1995

Bivouacs of the Dead: the Story of those who Died at South Mountain and Antietam; Steven R. Stotelmyer, 1992

Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War; Hondon B. Hargrove, 1988

Civil War Soldier: A Photographic Journey; Ray M. Carson, 2000

Confederate Cherokees: John Drew’s Regiment of Mounted Rifles; W. Craig Gaines, 1989

Dear Eagle: The Civil War Correspondence of Stephen H. Bogardus, Jr.; ed. Joel Craig; The Scuppernong Press, Wake Forest, NC, 2004

Faces of the Civil War: An Album of Union Soldiers and Their Stories; Ronald S. Coddington, 2004

From a True Soldier and Son: The Civil War Letters of William C.H. Reeder; Jack Reeder, Ed., The Brandy Station Foundation, 2008

Hardtack and Coffee: the Unwritten Story of Army Life 1861-1865; John D. Billings, 10th Massachusetts Battery, 1996

 
Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War; prepared by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, 1870 (reprinted 1991; originally titled Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865)

No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion: A Composite Diary of the Last 16 Months of the Confederacy; Jeff Toalson, ed., iUniverse, Inc., 2006

Photographic Atlas of Civil War Injuries; edited by Bradley P. Bengtson, M.D., and Julian E. Kuz, M.D., 1996

Too Young to Die: Boy Soldiers of the Union Army 1861-1865; Dennis M. Keesee, 2001

Writing and Fighting the Civil War: Soldiers Correspondence to the New York Sunday Mercury; ed. William B. Styple, 2000

Diseases & Drugs
For information on the diseases and drugs of the Civil War, the best sources are the books Outlines of the Chief Camp Diseases of the United States Armies and A Primer of Civil War Medicine: Non Surgical Medical Practices During the Civil War.  Outlines of the Chief Camp Diseases is a Civil War-era manual which details the most common diseases encountered by the surgeons.  It is especially helpful in gaining insight into how the diseases were understood at the time of the war.   A Primer of Civil War Medicine explains the types of disease and the drugs used to treat each one.  Other books, including the ones listed below, explain the production and supply of army medicines, the use of herbal medicines, and specific diseases.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War contains case studies for many diseases plus statistical analysis for many of the common diseases.  The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War is a very useful resource; check your local libraries for a copy. 
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

A Primer of Civil War Medicine: Non Surgical Medical Practices During the Civil War; Bruce A. Evans, M.D., 1996

Carson’s Materia Medica of 1851: An Annotation; Bonnie Brice Dorwart, M.D., 2003

Civil War Pharmacy; Michael A. Flannery, 2004

Death is in the Breeze: Disease during the American Civil War; Bonnie Brice Dorwart, NMCWM Press, 2009

Disease in the Civil War: Natural Biological Warfare in 1861-1865; Paul E. Steiner, Ph.D., M.D., 1968

Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War; prepared by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, 1870 (reprinted 1991; originally titled Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865)

Medicines for the Union Army: The United States Army Laboratories During the Civil War; George Winston Smith, 2001

Outlines of the Chief Camp Diseases of the United States Armies; Joseph Janvier Woodward, M.D., U.S. Army Medical Department 1863; reprinted 1992

Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans; Ansley Herring Wegner, 2004

Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica; William Boericke, M.D., 1927

The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War; Thomas P. Lowry, M.D., 1994

Hospitals & Prisons
During the Civil War, hundreds of hospitals were established in cities and towns in both the North and the South.  Some were specifically designed and built for that purpose, but some were in existing buildings taken over for hospital use. One Vast Hospital, published by the NMCWM Press, covers the hospital sites in Frederick, Maryland, after the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.  This book includes a patient list for these hospitals.  The most comprehensive descriptions of individual hospitals is in The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War, a multi-volume set originally published after the war detailing surgical cases and diseases.  Volume VI includes detailed descriptions of many of the larger Union hospitals.  The three volumes of the Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment contain a few photographs and drawings of hospitals, mainly in Washington, DC.  Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War offers a wealth of information on prisons.
The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, has some additional information on hospitals, mainly in the form of patient lists for each hospital.   For information on these records, call the National Archives at 1-866-272-6272 or go to www.nara.gov.
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

Andersonville: The Southern Perspective; ed. J. H. Segars, 2001

Antietam Hospitals; John W. Schildt, 1987, 1996

Cahaba Prison and the Sultana Disaster; William O. Bryant, 1990

Camp Letterman: the Lost Legacy of Gettysburg’s Hospital Woods July-November 1863; 1993

Chimborazo: The Confederacy’s Largest Hospital; Carol C. Green, 2004

Civil War Hospitals: Cumberland - Clarysville, Maryland; Harold L. Scott, Sr., 1995

Confederate Hospitals on the Move: Samuel H. Stout and the Army of Tennessee; Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, 1994

Elmira: Death Camp of the North; Michael Horigan, 2002

Grappling With Death: The Union Second Corps Hospital at Gettysburg; Roland R. Maust, 2001

The Hospital on Seminary Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg; Michael A. Dreese, 2002

Hospital Transports: A Memoir of Embarkation of the Sick and Wounded; Laura L. Behling, ed., 2006

Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War; prepared by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, 1870 (reprinted 1991; originally titled Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion 1861-1865)

One Vast Hospital: The Civil War Hospital Sites in Frederick, Maryland after Antietam; Terry Reimer,  NMCWM Press, 2001

Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment, Volumes I, II, and III; Gordon E. Dammann, D.D.S.,1983, 1988, and 1998

Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War; Lonnie R. Speer, 1997

A Prototype of a Confederate Hospital Center in Lynchburg, Virginia; Peter W. Houck, M.D., 1986

Richmond’s Wartime Hospitals; Rebecca Barbour Calcutt, 2005

So Far from Dixie: Confederates in Yankee Prisons; Philip Burnham, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003

To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-1865; George Levy, 1999

Two Confederate Hospitals and Their Patients: Atlanta to Opelika; Jack D. Welsh, 2005

Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware’s Prison Community in the Civil War; Dale Fetzer and Bruce Mowday, Stackpole Books, 2000

U.S.S. Red Rover: Civil War Hospital Ship; William L. Dike, 2004

A Vast Sea Of Misery: A History and Guide to the Union and Confederate Field Hospitals at Gettysburg; Gregory A. Coco, Gettysburg, PA, 1988

 
Medical & Surgical Equipment
The following books can help in the identification of medical and surgical equipment.  The three volumes of the Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment contain many photographs and descriptions of Civil War medical equipment, including surgical instruments, stretchers, drug kits, prosthetic limbs, medical officers’ uniforms and equipment, and many other items.  American Surgical Instruments covers the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and contains a list of American manufacturers of surgical instruments.
Most of the following books, plus many others, can be purchased online in the NMCWM  Museum Store.

The Ambulance; Katherine Traver Barkley, 1978, reprinted 1990

American Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History of Their Manufacture and Directory of Instrument Makers to 1900; James M. Edmonson, 1997

Farmcarts to Fords: A History of the Military Ambulance 1790-1925; John S. Haller, Jr., 1992

Horse-Drawn Military Civilian Veterinary Ambulances; Carriage Museum of America, 2004

Pictorial Encyclopedia of Civil War Medical Instruments and Equipment, Volumes I, II, and III; Gordon E. Dammann, D.D.S.,1983, 1988, and 1998

Compiled by Terry Reimer, Director of Research, NMCWM, 2010