National Museum of Civil War Medicine

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Living History at the Museum

December 14 - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Join us at the Museum for a special living history event featuring the Blue and Gray Hospital Association.

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Christmas and the Civil War

December 21 - 1 p.m. Join us at the Museum as volunteer Brad Stone, portraying a Civil War Santa, discusses the history behind the celebration of Christmas during the Civil War.

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Divided by Conflict.

Three sites, thousands of stories.

National Museum of Civil War Medicine

Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum

Pry House Field Hospital Museum

Upcoming Programs

Living History at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine

December 14 @ 11:00 am

Civil War medical care comes to life with Blue and Gray Hospital Association

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Christmas and the Civil War

December 21 @ 1:00 pm

National Museum of Civil War Medicine

Learn about the surprising connection between the Civil War and our modern Christmas season. Join us at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine on Saturday, December 21st at 1 p.m. as volunteer Brad Stone, portraying a Civil…

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Meet the Author: Stephen Budiansky

January 14, 2025 @ 7:00 pm

Join us for this virtual event LIVE on Facebook, January 14th at 7 p.m. with author Stephen Budiansky and a presentation about his book, “A Day in September: The Battle of Antietam and the World It Left Behind,”…

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Discover History Firsthand

Take a closer look at artifacts that reveal how history was made.

From Our Blog

“Irish Biddy”— Fact or Fiction?

December 2, 2024

Learn about the legend of Bridget Divers–Civil War soldier/nurse

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Breaking Free: The Life of Rebecca Lee Crumpler

November 4, 2024

Learn about the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S.

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Sex for Sale: Prostitution and the Civil War

October 7, 2024

Learn the details about the “Oldest Profession” during the Civil War.

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In the Can: Civil War Food Preservation

September 2, 2024

The Civil War was responsible for popularizing canned goods.

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civilwarmed

HOT OFF THE PRESS! Our newly redesigned member mag

The U.S.S. Cairo was struck by a torpedo and sunk

#HumpDayHistory (Civil War medicine facts to get y $#HumpDayHistory (Civil War medicine facts to get you through the week) While remembered by most as a famed poet, Walt Whitman also served as a nurse and caregiver during the Civil War. In 1862, the 43-year-old poet went in search of his brother, Lieutenant George Whitman of the 51st New York Infantry, who was listed among those wounded in the Battle of Fredericksburg which began #OnThisDay, December 11, 1862. At Fredericksburg’s Chatham Manor, which had been converted to a field hospital, Whitman failed to find his brother, who had suffered only a facial wound, but instead was deeply affected by the horrors of war he witnessed. He began to make regular visits to the hospital to help dress wounds, read to injured soldiers, and help them write letters home. He spent the next three years working at various hospitals in and around Washington, D.C., tending to wounded Union and Confederate soldiers. He recorded his experiences on scraps of paper, often stained with the blood of the wounded, and later published many of them, as well as a book of letters he wrote during that time. In his poem, “The Wound Dresser,” he would later write: “I am faithful, I do not give out, The fractur’d thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen, These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame.)” Photos: Whitman had several portraits taken in the 1860s at the studios of Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner. Whitman became an unpaid "delegate" of the Christian Commission in early 1863 and was authorized to visit the sick and wounded in hospitals and camps to comfort and cheer them and provide for their needs. He said he felt he had an "instinct and faculty" for easing suffering. Photo: Library of Congress Chatham Manor Photo: Melissa A. Winn The still-standing Catalpa tree at Chatham Manor was also witness to the horrors of war and Whitman wrote about both, saying, “Outdoors, at the foot of a tree, within ten yards of the front of the house, I noticed a heap of amputated feet, legs, arms, hands, etc." Photo: Melissa A. Winn$

The Battle of Fredericksburg began #OnThisDay in 1

Civil War medical care comes to life at the Nation

"T. Green, 26th V.R.C." Notation on back: "Amputa $"T. Green, 26th V.R.C." Notation on back: "Amputation of the thigh at the junction of the upper and middle thirds. Recovery. Timothy Green, Pr., Co. G, 36th N.Y. Vols. [...] Residence New York City. Received a grape shot fracture of the left femur for which the thigh was amputated at the junction of the upper and middle thirds. 3/4 of an hour after injury at Malvern Hill, Va., July 1st, 1862. He was left on the field and fell into the hands of the enemy by whom he was taken to Richmond where he remained in a tobacco store house for 2 months; he was then exchanged and taken to Bellevue Hospital, N.Y. Several months (2 to 4) afterwards the stump was cut open and [necrosed?] bone removed it did not however heal until March 1st, 1863. He was discharged July 15th, 1863 and enlisted into the V.R.C. July 28th, 1[8]63 when he has been on duty ever since wearing a Hudson's artificial limb." Photo: Library of Congress$