Civil War Medicine and the Battle of Cold Harbor
The Civil War was a seminal event in American history as combatants decided whether or not the United States would ultimately become a great nation. The death and destruction was horrific, a large part of the problem being that very few physicians had any surgical training at the beginning of the war. The Union had only 30 surgeons and 83 assistant surgeons, and when the war started, 3 surgeons and 21 assistants resigned to join the South.
Carte-de-visite (CDV) of a Union formal dress (ca. 1865)
This is the typical dress of a Union Civil War surgeon.
elements of a Union Civil War medical officer's uniform
(from left) belt, medical green sash, and dress sword by the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts
Civil War bullet removers
(top to bottom) 2 canister shot, unfired .58-caliber Minie ball, deformed Minie ball after impact, porcelain tipped Nelaton bullet probe by Tiemann, bullet forceps with .69-caliber musket ball, Coexter bullet remover with Colt’s army pistol bullet, bullet screw with sheath (ca. 1860)
A Morning's Work
This is a Civil War albumin print (CDV) named by Reed
Brockway Bontecou, MD, surgeon in charge of the Harewood United States Army General Hospital in
Washington, DC. It represents the massive trauma that attended many ferocious battles that took place during the Civil War.
Private John D. Parmenter, 67th Pennsylvania Volunteers prior to an amputation of his gangrenous left foot on June 21, 1865
This and the following CDV clearly demonstrate the traumatic circumstanes endured by soldiers undergoing amputation during the Civil War.
Private Parmenter after his surgery
amputation performed by Dr. James Calhoon on Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles in Camp Letterman, Gettysburg, July 2, 1863
General Sickles presented his amputated leg to the newly established Army Medical Museum in Washington, DC, where he later visited it and where it now resides.
Major General Daniel Sickles after his amputation
Before the war on February 27, 1859, Sickles
had shot and killed the son of Francis Scott Key, Philip Barton Key, because Key had been having an affair with his wife. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity. He was the first person to successfully use that defense for murder in a US court.
General Sickles' leg as it now is on display at the Walter Reed Army Medical Museum
CDV of Private L. Coombs, 4th US Infantry seated with his prosthesis (ca. 1865)
Seventy-five percent of all operations in the Civil War were amputations as surgeons soon discovered that the quick removal of a traumatized limb was the most effective way to save lives. Civil War survivors
with limb prostheses became a common sight throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Bone-excision procedure performed on Pvt. Porubsky from the Reed Bontecou Civil War surgical album (ca. 1865)
An excision was a specialized procedure employed during the Civil War in order to save limbs by removing only affected joints or parts of bone, thereby avoiding amputation to retain at least some function.
an excision performed on Capt. Tracey
Capt. Tracey was wounded at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863 by musket-ball to the right humerus. Surgeon HE
Goodman excised the joint, removing 4 1/2 inches.
The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870–1888)
Private Milton E. Wallen, age 41, of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry was hospitalized Aug. 3, 1863 and while a prisoner in Richmond, was shot by guards. He developed “hospital gangrene,” and required an
amputation on Aug. 24.
The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870–1888)
Cpt. “S” of the 29th New York volunteers was wounded by a musket ball on May 2, 1863 at Chancellorsville. With his lung collapsed, he walked 1 1/2 miles to a field hospital where physicians unsuccessfully attempted to reduce the hernea, which contained lung and “some portion of the alimentary canal.” The following day, hostilities forced Cpt S to be evacuated and he subsequently had to walk
another 1 1/2 miles. The musket ball passed in his stool on May 7th, and the wound, which contained lung and stomach, eventually granulated in.
The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870–1888)
Private Charles Betts of the 26th New Jersey Volunteers was wounded by a three ounce grapeshot in 1863 as he charged Fredericksburg. At one point, his aortic arch was outwardly visible, though Betts
eventually recovered.
ambulance train at Harewood Hospital, Washington,DC, ca. 1863
Jonathan Letterman, while medical director of the Army of the Potomac, developed the Letterman Ambulance Plan in which the ambulances of a division moved together with two stretcher-bearers and one driver per ambulance to move wounded from the field to dressing stations, and then on to the field hospital. This plan was implemented in August 1862 when McClellan issued General Orders No. 147 creating the Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac.
Armory Square Hospital, Washington, DC, ca. 1863
color print by Kurz and Allison of Chicago (1888) showing Grant “triumphantly” advancing on Lee at Cold Harbor, Virginia
The Battle of Cold Harbor was a devistating defeat for Grant and the North with about 7,000 soldiers slaughtered in the first 20 minutes of an ill-fated charge of Southern embankments. By reviewing this one battle in detail, one can get an understanding of trauma surgery during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
depiction of the Battle of Cold Harbor by Currier and Ives, 1864
Burial Party (June 1864) at Cold Harbor, Virginia, by John Reekie
skull of a Union soldier with Minie ball lodged under the right orbit, Cold Harbor, June 1864
Diary kept by Sgt. Joseph Hume of Massachusetts, expired June 3, 1964
This diary was kept by Sgt. Joseph Hume of Massachusetts, killed on the bloodiest day of the battle on June 3, 1864. He was a twenty-year-old mill hand who was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and entered the “A Company”—MA 36th infantry—as a private on July 28, 1862. Hume was promoted to
sergeant major as he traveled south to fight at the Battle of Cold Harbor. A compatriot completed his diary on June 3 with the words, “Joseph received his death wound,” and the following day “Died in consequence of the above.” The diary was apparently on Hume’s person at the time of his death in light of the bloody stain in the corner.
wedding ring recovered at the battlefield of Cold Horbor
letter from Merari Bunajah Stevens
Merari was an eighteen year old farmer who participated in the fateful charge by Union forces at Cold Harbor. In a moving letter, he recounted the death of his father in his arms the following morning after he had removed the bullet from his side.
Merari Bunajah Stevens
This is a CDV of Merari and the bullet he removed from his father before his death.
Merari Bunajah Stevens and his five sons
Merari subsequently became a surgeon in Ohio, and two of his sons became physicians
Harper's Weekly magazine, October 20, 1866
National Cemetary at Cold Harbor, Virginia