Author: Robert Huitrado

Robert Huitrado

Prof Shrout

Hist 571

12/16/16

Jonathan Letterman: Civil War Doctor.

In the middle of the 1800s, the United States struggled through the most devastating conflict in American history, the American Civil War.[1] This war consumed more American lives than all American conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the Korean War combined. The actual number of dead is still unknown; however, approximates range from 620,000 to 752,000.[2] These casualty figures are shocking considering the national population in 1860 was 31,443,321. Overall, between 1860 and 1865, nearly 2.1 million Northerners and 880,000 Southerners entered the war.[3] As a stark comparison, the total of 620,000 dead equaled about two percent of the 1860 population. Two percent fatalities of our population today would equal nearly six million deaths.[4] This war forced the United States into a new and horrendous relationship with death: from battlefield destruction and carnage, to wounded and dying, to debilitating outbreaks of disease.[5]  From July, 1862 to January, 1864, the man tasked to counter these overwhelming effects of war for the Army of the Potomac was Medical Director, Jonathan Letterman.[6]  His new position allowed him to reinvent military medicine by creating the first ambulance corps, and reorganize the field hospital system among other renovations. In addition, he was instrumental in improving the health, hygiene, and dietary standards of the Army. This reorganization became known as The Letterman System.[7] Despite The Letterman System and the advancements and procedures it introduced, many of the Civil War scholars who were sourced for this report disregarded Letterman’s and Scott McGaugh’s claims that The Letterman System improved the lot of soldier.  Many of these scholars leave Letterman and The Letterman System out of their works. They do not give him credit, they attribute parts of The Letterman System to other parties, and claim his System did not change the medical conditions on the frontlines; as such, are these disputes valid?[8]

Susan-Mary Grant, author of The War for a Nation: The American Civil War discussed a wide range of topics in her book: the founding of Jamestown and the United States, the buildup of tensions in the early 1800s, the divisions that developed between the North and the South, the settlements or compromises that were agreed upon to ease tensions, the beginning of the war, the war itself, and the legacy of the war. A surprising feature of The War for a Nation is that Jonathan Letterman is not mentioned by name anywhere in her book, nor is The Letterman System, his autobiography, or his biography, Surgeon in Blue, by Scott McGaugh.[9] Medical references were also sparse. Grant did reference the medical field midway through her book with a couple quotes, “The death rate from wounds in the Civil War should be borne in mind when looking at casualty figures, especially the number of wounded. In this conflict, disease – some of it derived from wounds or from the treatment of same – accounted for two-thirds of total deaths…”[10] She continued, “Civil War-era medical care was, at best, primitive; surviving the battlefield wounded all too often meant a slower death in unhygienic and disorganized hospitals.”[11] Grant continued the medical references, but this time about contraband camps, “The contraband camps that sprung up in the vicinity of the Union army at various points across the South were, in effect, refugee centers, comparable with the worse examples of these in our own day in their unhealthy, unsanitary, and generally inadequate conditions.”[12] To further these thoughts, the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, was a futile attempt by Union General Ambrose Burnside “to implement a feinting maneuver.. and then make a rapid movement upon Richmond.”[13] By December 14, Burnside was convinced the battle was lost, “Union losses were simply too appalling, the dead too numerous, the wounded too damaged, the living too disillusioned – and the Confederates too secure.”[14] After another debacle called the “Mud March” in early January, Burnside knew he had lost the support of his officers and men, and on January 25^th Burnside offered his resignation. In his place, General Joseph Hooker was appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac.[15]

An interesting caveat was found on page 152, where Grant seems to ascribe parts of The Letterman System to General Hooker and gave him full credit for them. In early February 1863, Grant states that Hooker “[began improving the Army of the Potomac’s] physical health, providing better medical treatment, food, and sanitation.”[16] However, on July 18, 1862, a year earlier, Letterman recommended “food with abundance of fresh vegetables, shelter, rest with a moderate amount of exercise, be given all the troops… that the troops be provided with tents to protect them from the sun and rain… [that the army be] struck once a week and placed upon new ground… that all troops be compelled to bathe once a week… and that refuse matter, including that from stables and wagon yards, be buried two feet below the surface, or burned…”[17] In addition to these recommendations, Letterman would also later create the first ambulance corps, August 1862, and reorganize the field hospital system in October 1862.[18]

There is nothing wrong with Grant implying that Hooker went about improving the army’s physical health, especially after Fredericksburg. However, Grant does not give details on how the physical health of the army was improved or what was improved upon, what the medical treatments were lacking before Hooker began improving them, what the diet was before and after Fredericksburg, nor how Hooker’s improved them, and what the sanitation was like before and after Hooker’s enhancements. It is assumed on the part of the reader that if the conditions needed improvement, it must have been bad. She writes this sentence and moves on with the war. Grant does not acknowledge that Letterman’s System was well established by this time and much of Hooker’s improvements should not have been necessary, minus improving the army’s physical health.

Letters of a Civil War Nurse: Cornelia Handcock, 1863-1865 was authored by Miss Hancock, but compiled and edited by Henrietta Stratton Jaquette and published in 1937. Hancock was a volunteer nurse from 1863 to 1865. Although not part of the nursing corps officially, she was determined to help those in need. She arrived in Gettysburg three days after the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.[19] Letters of a Civil War Nurse like The War for a Nation did not mention Jonathan Letterman, The Letterman System, Surgeon in Blue, or Medical Recollections. However, these oversights can be over looked because Surgeon in Blue was written after her death, and Medical Recollections was published after her time as a nurse. When it comes to Letterman and his System, The Letterman System was everywhere she went as a nurse. Hancock inadvertently witnessed an aspect of The Letterman System when she traveled to a frontline field hospital after arriving in Gettysburg to volunteer as a nurse, “the few surgeons who were left in charge of the battlefield after the Union army had started its pursuit of Lee had begun their paralyzing task by sorting the dead from the dying, and the dying from the those whose lives might be saved; hence the groups of prostrate, bleeding men laid together according to their wounds.”’[20] Although untrained, she heard soldiers in a local field hospital were from her state, New Jersey, so she decided to start her volunteer work there.[21] Later in July, Hancock was transferred to the newly built Camp Letterman Hospital in Gettysburg, although she did not know its name- stake.[22]

In August 1863, “we had the medical director around yesterday, had a big inspection; he was a real alive man, went with the surgeon in charge of this hospital, went into every tent, pointed to every man, asked him the pointblank question “Do you get enough to eat?”’ The men, of course, answered in the negative.[23] The medical director then said, “The first thing to set yourself about is feeding these men; there is nothing better, feed them, I say, feed them.”[24] Interesting though, Hancock does not mention if this medical director was Letterman, but as a nurse, she would not be privy to this type of information unless told. She did not know the surgeon in charge of this hospital either.

Margaret Humphreys, author of Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War, discussed a wide variety of themes including: the enlistment statistics of Black troops, the deformity some recruits were said to have, diseases Black troops were most susceptible to including malaria, yellow fever, tuberculosis and pneumonia, the medical care Black troops received versus White troops, the number of Black surgeons and assistants during the war, the quality of care given to Black soldiers, and how specific regions of the South where Black troops were deployed were more deadly than others, especially when concerning disease.[25]

Following suit with Letters of a Civil War Nurse and The War for a Nation, Humphreys did not mention Jonathan Letterman, The Letterman System, Surgeon in Blue or Medical Recollections. This is quite surprising considering Humphreys dedicated chapter four to medical care, and included issues such as mediocre White physicians assigned to Black regiments, the refusal of White officers to promote Black stewards to the rank of surgeon in their regiments,  some Black units receiving medical students or recently graduated surgeons with no battlefield experience, pharmacy or hospital stewards were sometimes ordered to fill in as surgeons but had no medical training, and White doctors believed Black bodies were different than White bodies especially when it came to illness.[26] Humphreys references The Letterman System in chapter four, and insinuates that the procedures Letterman established are in effect, especially concerning medical care; however, due to blatant racism and lack of qualified doctors, Black troops suffered.[27]

Humphreys references The Letterman System by stating, “In the best of circumstances, physicians served as vocal patient advocates, protesting inadequate supplies, granting sick leave to weakened men, calling on the U.S. Sanitary Commission for extra food, and clothing, and rigidly enforcing contemporary standards of hospital cleanliness and wound care.”[28] In addition, “Official policy dictated that each regiment should have one surgeon and two assistant surgeons.”[29] However, Humphreys argues that, “Even by the standards of the time, African-American regiments received decidedly second-class medical care… [and few] black regiments ever had their full complement of medical attendants.”[30] Humphreys continues by stating, “Toward the end of 1864 it had become so routine to promote [White] hospital stewards to surgical rank that when a capable [Black] steward failed to receive such promotion, the only apparent explanation was the commanding officer’s racism.”[31] In addition, Humphreys states, “the indifference to formal educational qualifications was probably typical among officers appointing surgeons to black regiments by the summer of 1864.”[32] and “Other black physicians did not receive commissions at all but were hired to be contract surgeons and appointed to hospitals that served black soldiers or refugees. Contract surgeons threatened no one’s rank, and could be dismissed without a court-marshal.”[33] Humphreys’ critiques of the medical treatment of Black soldiers, doctors, and stewards are valid, especially with the examples she put forth.

The time and place of some of Humphreys’ examples need to be investigated further. Intensely Human is a highly detailed and thorough book; however, when some examples are given in chapter four, the medical care section, Humphreys does not explain where her example took place, be it, military theater, state, or region; sometimes dates are not mentioned at all, or at other times a month and year are mentioned but with no background context in the paragraph to back up the date. At times her examples are great in substance and further her purpose, but the exclusion of dates, locations, and war theater leaves the reader in limbo. If, in chapter four, her focus was to present, with detail and examples, how badly Black troops suffered under official medical policies, and indicates these policies were in place, she should have stated where these policies came from, and explained how they were ignored. Many of her examples would have had an even greater impact if she had done that. It is unclear if any of the examples or regiments she references belonged to the Army of the Potomac.  If they did, and it was between July 1862 through January 1864, the treatment she claims Black troops suffered should not have occurred due to The Letterman System. Under that system, all soldiers, no matter what regiment they belonged to, were to receive medical treatment at the local aid station, field divisional hospital or general hospital.[34]

Andrew McIlwaine Bell author of Mosquito Soldiers: Malaria, Yellow Fever, and the course of The American Civil War, discussed a wide variety of themes including: the diseases that plagued Union and Confederate troops in the South, i.e., Malaria and Yellow Fever, statistics that document where the outbreaks and cases occurred, the most common diseases and number of cases that occurred with each disease, how these diseases spread and why they spread. As epidemics occurred the medical personal were as much at risk as the patients. Bell also included in his works a summary of the four kinds of Malaria strains, the mosquito that spread them and the most “potent weapon Civil War surgeons had in their fight against Malaria…quinine.”[35] In addition, Bell documents that Malaria outbreaks could occur anywhere, as well as along the water ways, and stagnant pools of the South and border states. He contrasts Malaria with Yellow Fever outbreaks which mainly occurred along the coasts, from the eastern seaboard down to Florida, and along the Gulf of Mexico to Texas.[36]

Mosquito Soldiers breaks with our current scholarly tradition, and mentions Jonathan Letterman and Medical Recollections; however, Letterman is only cited twice, and only briefly in this book. Medical Recollections is cited in Bell’s Notes and bibliography and is referenced throughout the book. The Letterman System is hinted at too, but not specifically cited, and Scott McGaugh’s book Surgeon in Blue is not referenced either.  Bell first referenced Letterman when he officially assumed his post from outgoing medical director, Charles Tripler.[37] The second mention is slightly longer, detailing that after the Peninsula Campaign, “The sick list was initially between 20 and 40 percent, but Letterman, the army’s newly appointed medical director, thought the health of the troops was improving as the summer wore on.”[38] Letterman’s assumption that the health of the troops was improving, was indeed true, as is seen in a quote from Scott McGaugh’s book, Surgeon in Blue, “By August, the Army of the Potomac disease rate declined by one-third in Letterman’s first month of medical command.”[39] Only a month into establishing The Letterman System, Letterman was already seeing results due to his changes in the diet and sanitation of the Army of the Potomac.[40] Bell’s very slight reference to The Letterman System, or what it was one month after he became medical director, was Bell’s only credit to Letterman and his System in his book.

Bell makes a claim toward the end of his book where it appears he is giving credit for much of The Letterman System to Surgeon General Hammond, Letterman’s immediate superior. “Hammond had secured [his] position…[because] the U.S. Sanitary Commission…[wanted] the Lincoln administration to appoint a younger man to the run the army’s Medical Department, [and] who would enact sweeping changes… in medicine and disease prevention.”[41] And that “His reforms were one reason the North’s early “improvised war” became a more organized one by 1863.”[42] These statements are partially true, Hammond “placed the health of the Union army’s highest profile command in the hands of a man he had grown to trust, despite Letterman’s lack of battlefield experience.”[43] As such, Letterman was given the authority by Hammond, “to call directly upon the Medical Purveyors at New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, for all that [he] consider[ed] necessary…[so] the Medical Department…[is] fully supplied [to treat] the sick and wounded.”[44] So, authorization was approved and given by Hammond, but the mind behind the “sweeping changes …in medicine and disease prevention”[45] came from Jonathan Letterman.

The book, Clara Barton, by Leni Hamilton is a biography about a remarkable woman who was a nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. She collected medical and other supplies for the frontlines in Washington D.C. and finally contacted the army quartermaster to locate a warehouse so she could store them.[46] “Throughout 1862 Barton’s stock of provisions never averaged less than five tons.”[47] After the First Battle of Bull Run, she nursed wounded on the docks of the Potomac River.[48] When the Second Battle of Bull Run was fought on August 31, 1862, Barton was in a boxcar with three other nurses bringing supplies to the front.[49] At Antietam, Barton brought supplies to the front in a mule-drawn wagon “as part of a 10-mile-long Union army caravan,” with soldiers as assistants. [50] However, her supplies were at the rear of the caravan so she and her driver drove the wagon all night. She reached the cannon in the caravan by daybreak. By nightfall, she reached General Ambrose Burnside’s corps.[51] For the Battle of Fredericksburg, the army quartermaster gave her “six wagonloads of supplies and an ambulance, each drawn by a team of six mules.”[52] When the mule drivers chafed under her command, she fixed them a good dinner and told them she would share in their fortunes. They apologized and had no more complaints.[53] Toward the end of the war, she was placed as the superintendent of nurses for the Army of the James under General Benjamin F. Butler in Petersburg, Virginia.[54]  After the war, she created the “Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the U.S. Army,” an organization in Annapolis, Maryland to help find men who went missing in action during the war.[55] She was successful in locating the whereabouts of 22,000 men for their families during the four years at this post, 13,000 of which died at Andersonville, the South’s most infamous prison.[56] It was while on a sabbatical trip to Europe that Miss Barton was approached by Dr. Appia, the head of the International Red Cross, seeking her assistance in having the United States join that relief organization.[57] Barton promised she would help, but in the meantime, she brought Red Cross relief efforts to the cities of Karlsruhe, Germany and Strasbourg, France.[58] Having participated in relief work of the Red Cross in Europe, she returned to the United States where she began the American Red Cross on May 21, 1881. In order to prove its effectiveness in time of emergencies, her local Red Cross chapters assisted with a large fire in northern Michigan and a flood on the Ohio River. After that, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Geneva Treaty on March 16, 1882, making the United States the 32^nd member of the International Red Cross.[59]

Although this book does not mention Jonathan Letterman or The Letterman System, the author did mention that Clara Barton received direct permission from Surgeon General, William Hammond, Letterman’s superior,  “to go upon the sick transports in any direction – for the purpose of distributing comforts for the sick and wounded – of nursing them, always subject to the direction of the surgeon in charge.”[60] Barton first brought supplies to the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Virginia several weeks before the Second Battle of Bull Run at the end of August 1862.[61] These two battles were not under the medical authority of Jonathan Letterman; however, Letterman resumed medical command of the Army of the Potomac on September 2, 1862.[62] Once he returned, he found “it in a deplorable condition.”[63] Under Hammond’s authority, Clara Barton was permitted to bring medical and food supplies to the front, and nurse the sick and wounded, but always under the supervision of the surgeon she worked with. She worked alone, and was not part of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, whose nurses did not go to the front, she was also not part of the nursing corps or the medical corps; she was just a volunteer.[64] When bringing supplies to the front during the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, the overall medical regulations that she worked under were Letterman’s, adopted October 30, 1862.[65]  Since she was just a nurse, though, she would not have known anything about Letterman’s medical policies. Her orders were to follow the instructions of the surgeon she worked under. Medical Recollections and Surgeon in Blue were also not mentioned in Clara Barton. However, that is understandable for Surgeon in Blue since it was published in 2013 and Clara Barton was published in 1988. Leni Hamilton should have at least referenced Medical Recollections because it was published in 1866, but it is assumed that she did not because Letterman and his System really did not have anything to do with Clara Barton’s story, minus that it was officially established after Antietam and that she only became part of it once she worked a doctor.

Helle Mathiasen, author of the article, Bugs and Battles during the American Civil War, recounts the ways mosquitos spread Malaria and Yellow Fever thought out the South before, during and after the Civil War. Like Andrew Bell’s book, Mosquito Soldiers: Malaria, Yellow Fever, and the course of The American Civil War, Mathiasen, discussed the specific breeds of mosquitos that transmitted these diseases. She adds, that “blacks, West Africans in particular, whose slaved in cotton, rice, and tobacco fields, were thought to have some immunity to malaria, but by the time of the Civil War, West African slaves had mixed with other Blacks, Whites, and Indians, making them more susceptible to malaria.[66] Mathiasen states that the Yellow Fever mosquito “killed thousands in New Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston; however, Texas saw more Yellow Fever cases than any other Confederate state.”[67] Similar, to West African situation, Union troops who were in Confederate prison camps all fell victim to Yellow Fever.[68] Quinine and whiskey were thought to have been cures for Malaria, so the Union Army would issue them sometimes daily.[69] However, due the Union naval blockade of the South, the Southern army ran shot of quinine and was unable to issue it in large quantiles.[70] It was not until the turn of the century, that a army surgeon named Walter Reed discover that a mosquito transmitted Yellow Fever.[71]

Jonathan Letterman, The Letterman System, Medical Recollections and Surgeon in Blue are not mentioned in the article. Not surprising, Andrew Bell is mentioned because they wrote very similar works. However, Mathiasen does mention that “the Union army administered quinine and whisky together to their soldiers, practiced hygiene, and used nets around hospital beds.”[72]  Parts of which are discussed in Surgeon in Blue, such as hygiene and the use of nets, but outside of that very slight reference, Mathiasen is mute on The Letterman System.

Jim Downs author of Emancipation, sickness, and death in the American Civil War discusses how the diseases of Pneumonia, Typhoid Fever, Dysentery, Yellow Fever, Cholera and Smallpox not only plagued the American South prior to the Civil War, but also ravaged slaves, masters, Union and Confederate soldiers, and civilians on both sides.[73] In addition, this article takes into account how the agent of slavery pre-and-post war created an atmosphere for former slaves to die of these diseases.[74] Civil War doctors and medical knowledge were hampered by many factors which included unsanitary Army camps, polluted waterways, unburied bodies and animals, overcrowded cities and camps, and the uncertainty of doctors about how to respond to such massive outbreaks of disease.[75]

Surprisingly, Jonathan Letterman nor his System are mentioned or referenced. This is strange considering Downs states, “The high rates of illness and mortality during the war resulted from a range of factors, including the unsanitary conditions of army camps, polluted waterways, unburied bodies of animals and soldiers, overcrowded populations, dislocation, and the medical profession’s uncertainty about how to respond to the many outbreaks of disease.”[76]  In addition, Downs comments, that the U.S. Sanitary Commission “attempted to prevent the further spread of disease by preaching a gospel of cleanliness… [but] their efforts proved ineffective in response to the smallpox and cholera epidemics the broke out during the war.”[77] As with Margaret Humphreys book Intensely Human, these points are possibly valid, however, Downs, like Humphreys, did not specify when and where these outbreaks, unsanitary conditions, polluted waterways, unburied bodies of animals and soldiers, overcrowded populations, and dislocation occurred. The reader is not told if they happened in the South, North, or West, nor if they occurred within the area of the Army of the Potomac. If they did occur in proximity if the Army of the Potomac, The Letterman System, which was established in July 1862 with additions added in August and October of 1862 should have improved these conditions.[78]

Outside of not referencing Letterman and The Letterman System, he also did not reference Medical Recollections or Surgeon in Blue, which may have given more depth and medical detail to his article. Medical Recollections would have added an extra layer of medical knowledge to his thesis and content that was lacking in the final product. Surgeon in Blue again was not cited because it had not been published yet.

Susan Sheehy, author of the article US Military Nurses in Wartime: Reluctant Heroes, Always There, details nursing throughout American history. Sheely states, “Throughout the history of the United States, whenever and wherever our country has been at war, nurses have been there to care for the wounded and the ill, often working in less than ideal and sometimes deplorable conditions and at great risk to their own lives.”[79] In both the North and the South, there were many women who served as official and unofficial nurses during the war.[80] Sheely covers four nurses, two for the North and two for the South. In addition, Sheely recounted an interesting story that nineteen hospitals were run by Catholic nuns and staffed by four hundred nursing nuns who cared for soldiers from both sides of the war.

Jonathan Letterman, The Letterman System, Medical Recollections and Surgeon in Blue are not mentioned in this article. However, Sheely does mention Annie Etheridge, a nurse who served with the Army of the Potomac and cared for wounded at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.[81] Etheridge no doubt fell under The Letterman System as her tenure fell within the years Letterman was medical director. Considering Sheely’s article covers nursing, and the Civil War, Letterman, his System and/or his Medical Recollections should have been mentioned within her article. Considering the United States did not have an official medical system until Letterman organized one in 1862. His contribution should not be overlooked.

Robert Reilly author of Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1860-1865 discusses a multitude topics including, the advances made in medical and surgical care, why did so many people die, the organization of battlefield medical care, surgical procedures, combat related injuries, and non-combat related deaths and illness.[82] Every topic is researched from a medical standpoint. He gives many details on such subtopics as how many died of Yellow Fever, how many became ill due to Malaria, how diarrhea and dysentery effected armies on the march, what was the hygiene and diet of the armies, what advances were made during the war, i.e., the use of quarantine to help eliminate Yellow Fever, and the performance of the first plastic surgery.[83]

Surprisingly, Jonathan Letterman in mentioned by name in Reilly’s article, but his System is not specifically named, although it is referenced. Reilly writes about the establishment of the ambulance corps, who could remove wounded from the field, who could use the ambulances, the establishment of large general hospitals, and that soldiers could be transported to these hospitals by train or ship. [84] Reilly continues with that “Only the most senior and experienced surgeons preformed amputations” because there was a public outcry that amputations were being done to regularly.[85]  However, Scott McGaugh author of Surgeon in Blue, states, “Surgeons chosen to preform operations were to be selected “solely on account of their known prudence, judgment, and skill.”’[86] Medical Recollections and Surgeon in Blue are not mentioned, which is very odd considering this article was written in 2016, and they should have been cited.

Our major source for this paper was Scott McGaugh. author of Surgeon in Blue. In his book McGaugh thoroughly researches the life and contributions of Jonathan Letterman. Letterman reorganized and established the Union army’s ambulance corps, established policies for the diet, sanitation, and hygiene of the soldiers, and reorganized the medical supply system. “Again with McClellan’s endorsement, on October 30, 1862, Letterman issued a directive that recast the military hospital system as completely as his ambulance and medical supply orders had done in the preceding months.”[87] Due to his contributions, it is amazing that most scholars referenced in this paper do not mention him, his System, or give him credit for what his system accomplished, and the legacy that his System established and is still being used today.[88] It is hoped that further scholarship would lead to Jonathan Letterman receiving the accolades due him for his innovative and far-reaching contributions to the military medical field.

Scholarship on Civil War medicine is very thorough with a multitude of avenues, topics, resources, and museums that aid in the furthering of medical scholarship. The National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland tries to further medical scholarship daily. It is a public museum, which hosts a wide variety of medical books, artifacts, manuscripts, dioramas, and medical posters. The Museum also hosts a teaching institution called the Letterman Institute. “Under the leadership of Executive Director George Wunderlich and the museum founder, Gordon Dammann, the museum’s Letterman Institute has taught more than 4,500 medical professionals from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Veteran’s Administration.”[89] The Letterman Institute teaches the “value of linking battlefield medicine with military field command”[90] In addition, “the institute imparts the golden lesson that integrated decision-making processes save lives and contribute to accomplishing command missions.”[91] The Letterman Institute’s curriculum for teaching these modern day medical professionals is accredited to Jonathan Letterman’s legacy as medical director of the Army of the Potomac and his work during the Civil War.[92]

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine and The Letterman Institute further the medical scholarship on an academic level, from an researching and writing level, Jonathan Letterman’s autobiography, Medical Recollections, should be a must read and requited source for citation. He goes into detail about his reorganization, recommendations and restructuring of the Union Army’s medical corps and the Army of the Potomac. Although dry at times, and written in the vernacular of the nineteenth century, it is a truly remarkable work that shed new light on the segmented scholarship of Civil War medicine. Segmented because, scholars at times focus only on their thesis and forget to have a holistic view on the topic. It is perfectly acceptable to research surgery tools, hospitals, diseases, wounded and death, but it should be grounded in a place, time or region. As such, the scholarship that can be furthered from Medical Recollections could cover, the 1861 to July 1862, year not mentioned in Medical Recollections? What if any medical polices or protocols were enforced during that year? Was The Letterman System kept together after Letterman left his post and after the war? Was The Letterman System ever adopted in the Western theater of war? How was this System adopted in Europe and did it change? All of these use Medical Recollections to more and new questions and research.

Biography

Bell, Andrew McIlwaine. Mosquito Soldiers: Malaria, Yellow Fever, and the course of The American Civil War. Louisiana State University Press, 2010.

Downs, Jim, PhD. “Emancipation, sickness, and death in the American Civil War.” The Lancet 380, no. 9854 (2012): 1640-1641.

Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York: Vintage Books, 2008.

Grant, Susan-Mary. The War for a Nation: The American Civil War. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Hamilton, Leni. Clara Barton. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Hancock, Cornelia. Letters of a Civil War Nurse: Cornelia Hancock, 1863-1865. Edited by  Henrietts Stratton Jaquette. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Humphreys, Margaret. Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2008.

Letterman, Johnathan. Medical Recollections of the Army of the Potomac. London: Forgotten Books, 2015.

Mathiasen, Helle, PhD. “Bugs and Battles during the American Civil War.” The American Journal of Medicine 125, no. 1 (2012): 111.

McGaugh, Scott. Surgeon in Blue: Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2013.

Reilly, Robert F, MD. “Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1860-1865.” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 29, no. 2 (2016): 138-142.

Sheehy, Susan, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAEN. “US Military Nurses in Wartime: Reluctant Heroes, Always There.” Journal of Emergency Nursing 33, no. 6 (2007): 555-563.

Citation

[1] Susan-Mary Grant, The War for a Nation: The American Civil War (New York: Routledge, 2006), ix.

[2] Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (New York: Vintage Books, 2008) xi. and Robert F Reilly, MD., “Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1860-1865.” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 29, no. 2 (2016): 138.

[3] Faust, This Republic of Suffering, 3.

[4] Ibid. xi.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Scott McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue: Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2013) 73.

[7] McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 153, 218, 268-271.

[8] Ibid., 273, 276.

[9] Johnathan Letterman, Medical Recollections of the Army of the Potomac. (London: Forgotten Books, 2015).

[10] Grant, The War for a Nation, 90.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid., 110.

[13] Ibid., 146, 149-150.

[14] Ibid., 150.

[15] Ibid., 151.

[16] Ibid., 152.

[17] Letterman, Medical Recollections, 11-14.

[18] McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 270-271.

[19] Cornelia Hancock, Letters of a Civil War Nurse: Cornelia Hancock, 1863-1865 ed.,Henrietts Stratton Jaquette (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998) 2-4.

[20] Hancock, Letters of a Civil War Nurse, 5.

[21] Ibid., 4.

[22] McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 194-195.

[23] Hancock Letters of a Civil War Nurse, 24.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Margaret Humphreys, Intensely Human: The Health of the Black Soldier in the American Civil War (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2008) 54.

[26] Ibid., 57–67.

[27] Ibid., 58, 59, 60, 61.

[28] Ibid., 57.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid., 61.

[32] Ibid., 62.

[33] Ibid., 64.

[34] Jonathan Letterman’s tenure as Medical Director lasted from July 1862 through January 1864. and McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 132-133.

[35] Andrew McIlwaine Bell, Mosquito Soldiers: Malaria, Yellow Fever, and the course of The American Civil War (Louisiana State University Press, 2010) 6.

[36] Ibid., 122-128.

[37] Ibid., 73.

[38] Ibid., 75.

[39] McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 84.

[40] McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 80.

[41] Bell, Mosquito Soldiers, 86.

[42] Ibid., 86.

[43] Ibid., 77.

[44] Letterman, Medical Recollections, 17.

[45] Bell, Mosquito Soldiers, 86.

[46] Leni Hamilton, Clara Barton (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988) 35.

[47] Ibid., 34-35.

[48] Ibid., 36.

[49] Ibid., 39.

[50] Ibid., 47.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Ibid., 55.

[53] Ibid., 56-57.

[54] Ibid., 63.

[55] Ibid., 65.

[56] Ibid., 66- 67.

[57] Ibid., 69.

[58] Ibid., 73.

[59] Ibid., 85-90.

[60] Ibid., 37.

[61] Ibid., 39.

[62] Scott, Surgeon in Blue, 96.

[63] Ibid.

[64] Hamilton, Clara Barton, 37, 39.

[65] Scott, Surgeon in Blue, 131.

[66] Helle Mathiasen, PhD, “Bugs and Battles during the American Civil War.” The American Journal of Medicine 125, no. 1 (2012): 111.

[67] Ibid.

[68] Ibid.

[69] Ibid.

[70] Ibid.

[71] Ibid.

[72] Ibid.

[73] Jim Downs, PhD., “Emancipation, sickness, and death in the American Civil War.” The Lancet 380, no. 9854 (2012): 1640-1641.

[74] Ibid., 1640.

[75] Ibid.

[76] Ibid.

[77] Ibid.

[78] Letterman, Medical Recollections, 11-14 and McGaugh, Surgeon in Blue, 270-271.

[79] Susan Sheehy, PhD., “US Military Nurses in Wartime: Reluctant Heroes, Always There.” Journal of Emergency Nursing 33, no. 6 (2007): 555.

[80] Ibid., 556.

[81] Ibid.

[82] Reilly, Medical and surgical care, 138-142.

[83] Ibid., 138, 141, 142.

[84] Ibid., 139.

[85] Ibid., 141.

[86] Scott, Surgeon in Blue, 131.

[87] Ibid.

[88] Scott, Surgeon in Blue, 278-279.

[89] Ibid., 279.

[90] Ibid.

[91] Ibid.

[92] Ibid.

•Whitman, Walt. The Sacrificial Years: A Chronicle of Walt Whitman’s Experiences in the Civil War. Edited by John Harmon McElroy. Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc., 1999.

Walt Whitman, a northerner living in the south prior and during the early years of the Civil War, traveled north in 1862 to find his wounded brother in Virginia. What he found and saw in Virginia shocked and astonished him; rows of unburied dead, piles of amputated limbs, thousands of wounded men lying on the ground without protection from the elements and hospital staff overworked and undermanned. Due to these sights, Whitman decided to volunteer and soon became a trusted nurse. He tended the sick and wounded, and consoled the dying. At great personal and professional sacrifice, Whitman continued to nurse men in and around Washington, D.C. until the war’s end four years later. Although he never kept a personal diary of his experiences, he wrote hundreds of letters and newspaper articles on his time in the nursing corps.

•Twichell, Joseph. The Civil War Letters of Joseph Hopkins Twichell: A Chaplain’s Story. Edited by Peter Messent and Steve Courtney. University of Georgia Press, 2006.

Books on the Civil War are full of battles, generals and tactics, but not many of them focus on the non-combatants in the armies, the chaplains. Joseph Twichell left his studies to become a Chaplin in New York’s Excelsior Brigade, a Protestant Chaplin in a Brigade made up of mostly poor Irish-American Catholics. Twichell’s letters to his family speaks of life on campaign, in camp, being a Protestant among Catholics, of battle, and of the aftermath of battle. He was involved in seven major battles, from the Wilderness to Fredericksburg to Gettysburg. In addition to writing about “army” life, Twichell writes on politics, slavery, blessing the dead and dying and on the end of the war.

•Eggleston, Larry G. Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003.

Women in the Civil War looks at women in the Civil War from a unique perspective, not only as non-combatants, but as spies, soldiers, nurses and doctors. While other books portray women only as keepers of the home while the men went to war, Women in the Civil War shows that women North and South saw it as a civic duty to do more. Some went so far as to dress like men and enlist, 400-700 women did this, and 60 or more were killed or wounded during the war. In addition to soldering, women also engaged in spying, nursing, guerrilla raids, and as combat doctors on the frontlines. Women played a larger role in the Civil War than many realized.

•Hancock, Cornelia. Letters of a Civil War Nurse: Cornelia Hancock, 1863-1865. Edited by Henrietta Stratton Jaquette. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Often called the “Florence Nightingale of America,” Cornelia Hancock worked tirelessly in field and evacuating hospitals, and on the battlefield. She was a constant companion to those wounded and dying, from Gettysburg to Appomattox. She was one of the great heroines of not only the nursing corps, but of the entire medical field. She wrote to her family of the neglect of wounded soldiers, black refugees and of those in contraband camps.

•McGaugh, Scott. Surgeon in Blue: Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2013.

Jonathan Letterman was a medical doctor before the Civil War and was stationed in the Western territories including Indian country. Soon after the Civil War started, he was withdrawn to Washington, D.C., where he was appointed Chief Medical Officer of the Union Army. This new position allowed him to reinvent combat medicine by creating the first ambulance corps, and reorganize the field hospital system. In addition, he was instrumental in improving the health, hygiene and dietary standards of the army.

•Hamilton, Leni. Clara Barton. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Clara Barton was a remarkable women, she was not only schooled formally but also in the finer details of farm life including horseback riding thanks to her brother. Clara Barton by Leni Hamilton incorporates quotes and passages from her letters and journals. Not only was she well educated, but she also volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War, a passion had since childhood.   Clara is best know for establishing the American Red Cross and her dedication to the Nursing Corps. She nursed hundreds of soldiers and civilians from the battlefields of the American Civil War to battlefields of France and Germany during the Franco-Prussian War in the early 1870s. Clara Barton was a central figure in the Nursing Corps for the Union Army, and continued to be until her death in 1912.

The American Civil War was four of the darkest years in American history. Family fought family, brother fought brother, and the American people fought each other over the right to own and sell slaves, an institution established long before the combatants were ever born. Yet, this war would change the way the United States saw itself and how it was seen worldwide. However, this new view would come at the cost of approximately 620,000 to 752,000 men, women and children. [1] That is a staggering number considering the population of the United States in 1860 was 31 million.

Despite the violence and brutality of the battles during the Civil War, the darkest specter of the soldiers and civilians on either side was unseen, that of disease. Dysentery, malaria, yellow fever, typhus, typhoid fever and pneumonia were constant companions and killers in cities, towns and military camps. My annotated sources discuss three questions/debates frequently: 1) Which disease killed the most people, soldiers and civilians, during the Civil War? 2) How did hospital sanitation and care contribute to Civil War deaths? and 3) Why did the care of Black soldiers and Black civilians differ from the care given to the White population?

Question number one is unique because every source has its own opinion on which disease was the deadliest. Andrew Bell, author of Mosquito Soldiers, chose Malaria and Yellow Fever. Dr. Drew Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering, discussed Typhoid Fever and Scarlet Fever primarily, but she also mentioned outbreaks of Smallpox, Malaria and Yellow Fever. Dr. Margaret Humphreys, author of Intensely Human, mentions Malaria and Pneumonia as primary killers; yet, she says Yellow Fever was not a primary agent of death. Robert Reilly MD in his article Medical and surgical care, mentions Dysentery, Malaria, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid Fever as the top killers, with Measles and Smallpox as secondary. Dr. Jim Downs author of article The Art of Medicine, says Dysentery, Typhus, and Pneumonia were the top killers, with Yellow Fever, Typhoid Fever and Smallpox coming in right behind. Dr. Helle Mathiasen author of the article Bugs and Battles, focuses his short article on Malaria and Yellow Fever and how they were spread by mosquitos in the South.

For question #2, Dr. Drew Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering, also covers hospital sanitation and care, and that doctors and nurses frequently contracted illnesses from the patients they were treating which included: Typhus, Typhoid Fever and Smallpox. Dr. Megan Nelson, author of Ruin Nation, wrote on death, hospitals and hospital care. She documented how easy it was kill, how there were so many ways to do it during the war, and how hospital staff, especially after large engagements, were overwhelmed by the wounds they saw and how to care for so many. Robert Reilly MD, in his article Medical and surgical care, spoke not only of the diseases that ravaged the armies, but on the medical advancements the war helped to create. He wrote extensively on the advancements in both the medical and surgical fields.

To answer question #3, Susan Grant, author of The War for a Nation, focused her book on the African-American plight in contraband camps, military hospitals, and the treatment of Black POWs. Dr. Margaret Humphreys, author of Intensely Human, focused her book on African-American care in hospitals which were separate from White facilities, Black doctors/surgeons, and the regions in the South where Black troops were known to become ill more frequently. Dr. Jim Downs, author of the article The Art of Medicine, wrote on how emancipated slaves and runaways in contraband camps became sick due to the proximity of these camps to Union army camps and the lack of food and clean water available to them.

Ari Kelman’s book, A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek re-told the “massacre” of Sand Creek from three different points of view: 1) From Colonel John Chivington, 2) Captain Silas Soule, and 3) George Bent. Each man experienced or saw the events of Sand Creek differently. Colonel Chivington viewed his involvement as a glorious victory over hostile native tribes; Captain Soule considered Sand Creek for what it was… a “massacre of peaceful Indians” (12), and Mr. Bent, who was living in the native village when Chivington attacked, saw the attack as a unlawful assault on peaceful natives who were unjustly targeted and who endured untold atrocities by Chivington’s troops and Colorado Militia volunteers. In addition to these view points and discussions surrounding the “truth” of what happened at Sand Creek,  A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek also covers two other topics, those of establishing Sand Creek as a National Park, and of returning the bodies of Native Americans to the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations for proper burial. I found each chapter intriguing and captivating.  I had always assumed that the Sand Creek Massacre/battlefield location was known, until a massive NPS (National Park Service) investigation took place which included NPS representatives, Congressional researchers, and Native American representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations to find the official site.  From an historical perspective, I enjoyed Chapter Three the most because it went hand-and-hand with historic research techniques. We as historians follow many of the same procedures mentioned in the text, especially focusing on primary sources like participant testimony, and secondary sources, while placing “hearsay” and such works at the bottom of the totem pole unless they can be authenticated. Despite our modern fast-paced lifestyle, “That the descendants [of those who survived the attack] set aside a cemetery within the historic site to house the remains [of those taken following the massacre], which they buried following strict tribal protocols, spoke volumes about the persistence of the Cheyennes and Arapahos as well as their ongoing respect for a traditional way of life.” (267) It was interesting that no matter who was involved in the research and search for the official site of the massacre, political, tribal, and cultural tensions still played an integral part in the creation of The Sand Creek Massacre National Park, and continue to this day in some way, shape or form. Interpretations may differ as to the purpose and meaning of the National Park, but hopefully someday, “the massacre will no longer be misplaced in the landscape of national memory.” (279)

Like mark_t_garcia, I found the discussion surrounding the terms “Massacre” and “Battle” interesting. It was fascinating to read and understand the federal government’s argument of why Sand Creek should be called a “Battle” and not a “Massacre.” I can understand, especially at that time, why “Battle” would be preferred. The very minute the Native Americans fought back and defended themselves against the cavalry and militia, it became a “Battle” and not a “Massacre”. However, the federal government of the 21st century should have known better than to press the “Battle” issue considering Captain Soule’s known disapproval of Colonel Chivington’s recounting of the “battle”. Captain Soule disproved of any attack on the Native Americans at Sand Creek, and he spoke publicly on the topic pre-and post-battle, and in his letters to his mother, sister, and former commander, Edward Wynkoop. [1] In addition, there were Mr. Bent’s Frontier articles and letters written to historian, George E. Hyde,  which spoke of the “battle” from the Native perspective in which he saw it not as a “Battle” but a “Massacre.” Although labelled as a Confederate, which he was, and thus forced to live with his mother’s people the Cheyenne for protection, his words were no less  true, especially when added to the oral histories collected by Ari Kelman and other transcribers. To read the interactions between the federal government, anthropologists, archaeologists, researchers/investigators, and  Native Americans was intriguing. I can see why the NPS and the federal government wanted to protect themselves from the blemish of Sand Creek, but reading Chivington’s multiple-altered accounts should have told them something; i.e. his accounts could not be trusted and should not be seen as factual. Despite what some might say, the Civil War did play a part in Sand Creek, but only in that many of the cavalry officers involved in Sand Creek and George Bent himself fought in that War. To go beyond that connection is to stretch the truth and history.

I have read a lot on Native Americans, especially in my Anthropology classes, but even then, this book is unique, for it focuses on one event and thoroughly investigates it from multiple angles. I found Professor Kelman’s use of multiple angles out of the ordinary. Normally, historic books focus on an event, and information surrounding that “event” is straight forward. Sand Creek however, from the start was never going to be straight forward, just based on the history of the massacre. A Misplaced Massacre covers five narratives, three from Colonel Chivington, and the last two from Captain Soule and Mr. Bent; in addition, the topics of establishing Sand Creek as a National Park, and returning Native remains to their rightful nations is also discussed. What makes this narrative even more unique is Chapter Three, which discusses how the real site of Sand Creek was found. As I was reading Chapter One: A Perfect Mob, I kept shaking my head in disgust and in anger because the reasons Colonel Chivington gives for attacking a peaceful Indian camp are insane and off the wall. However, as a reader and an historian, I had to stop and remember the state of affairs of the Union at the time, what his background was, what he thought and believed in, and what his focus was. If all of these aspects of his personality and life were taken into account, a reader could “somewhat” understand why he did what he did.  That does not mean that what he did was right or necessary. Then to have Chivington change his story three times throughout the years and embellish it more and more with every telling should have sent up red-flags, especially to modern historians and researchers. His narratives and claims should be questioned and their legitimacy investigated. Stepping away from the narrative for a moment, I found Kelman’s chapter titles interesting, for they do not really relate to what the reader is going to be reading about. Take Chapter Three’s title, The Smoking Gun, for example. I would not know from the title that the chapter was going to be discussing the research and investigation of the actual Sand Creek Massacre site. From an historian’s view, we have a feeling it is going to be about the discovery of the site, but the author might have thrown us a curve ball. The chapter could have been talking about an actual “smoking gun” aka murder. Structure and flow wise,  A Misplaced Massacre is very well structured; each chapter follows the previous and continues the narrative in a very interesting  way without becoming stale.  The author’s  Notes were extensive and the seventy-four pages of them illustrate how extensively this book was researched. Further investigation/research could focus on: How the Civil War, specifically the Western Theater where Chivington fought, affected his mindset and philosophy of life, specifically with regard to his attitudes towards the Confederacy and later the Native Americans? Did the battles he was involved in during the Civil War mentally affect how he viewed non-Unionist (Confederates) and “non-Americans” (Native Americans)? Could his Methodist upbringing and pastor-ship affect his views and treatments of Confederates and Native Americans? What were the attitudes and mindsets of Civil War veterans when transferred to the West/Indian territory, where they all like Chivington, anti-Indian, or was he unique in his approach?

The American Civil War has been covered by historians across the board, from military historians, to economic and political analysts, to fiction and non-fiction writers and many others. However, Dr. Faust found a niche that not many persons nor historians have focused on, that of Death, and how Death during the Civil War fundamentally changed the United States, North and South. Republic of Suffering is a superb example of how to write an historical narrative and not follow the same-o bland narrative of “this battle or that battle” or “this general did this and this general did that.” Instead, Republic stands as an island of uniqueness in a sea of normality. Dr. Faust organized her book into chapters that drew on a person’s sense of understanding, compassion and sadness, with such chapter titles as Dying, Killing, Burying, Naming, Realizing, Believing and Doubting, Accounting and Numbering, all of which seemed to flow in good sequential order. Dr. Faust pulls on emotions as she begins to unfold her story and Death becomes the primary factor in the lives of soldiers, civilians and families. Although Republic is an outstanding literary work, it is missing information on the medical field, i.e., doctors, nursing, hospitals, medical knowledge and medical advances. Dr. Faust only briefly mentions these topics in her work, but in my opinion they go hand-and-hand with Death.

Dr. Faust’s book, Republic of Suffering, is almost a perfect book. I mean, it won the Bancroft prize and was a Pulitzer finalist; not many writers can say that. If anything, I would say Republic is only lacking in a few areas: 1) the medical field, and 2) the Western theater of war. Let me take #2 first, Dr. Faust does mention the Western theater but only in passing. She cites soldiers under Grant and other generals who fought in the West, and Death statistics from those campaigns, but those statistics are most of the time combined with the Eastern theater to give a complete picture. There is nothing wrong with combining statistics, but a chapter or a few paragraphs about Death in the West would have been appreciated. As for #1, there is an unofficial thought or perception among undergrads and those who are not history majors, I was one of these before I began my higher learning, that the medical knowledge of the era was antiquated, outdated, unsophisticated, and backwards. In one sense it was for modern germ theory had not yet been discovered; it was “officially” discovered and accepted in the 1890s. Yet, doctors at the time were treating the wounded and dying with the best medical knowledge available, be it under inhospitable conditions and without the proper supplies or help most of the time. Republic, despite its two faults, is a must buy for Civil War and/or military historians. Dr. Faust wrote such a fantastic book that any study on Death pertaining to the Civil War should cite her book. As I was reading Republic, I could not but be amazed at the number of sources, citations and quotes Dr. Faust incorporated into her book; every paragraph contained at least ten or more examples of these primary sources. She interwove these “sources” perfectly into her narrative. Her chapter notes in the back of the book contained page after page of prime examples to further her thesis and connect a twenty-first century reader to the lives of those who witnessed the carnage and Death of the American Civil War first hand. Dr. Faust did not waste her sources and use them as filler for a lackluster book; instead, she handpicked every source to further the chapter arch and paragraphs under discussion.

The book for this week, Fugitive Landscapes – the Forgotten History of the U.S. – Mexico Borderlands by Samuel Truett was a fascinating chronicle of lower Arizona and the Mexican province of Sonora. The author traced the history of this area from the earliest Jesuit missions of the 1500s, to the influx of miners, merchants and ranchers in the 1600s and 1700s, the advent of the railroads in the 1800s and the border separation of nations, cultures, and peoples during the 1900s. Isolation; lack of supplies and distance from established markets; epidemics of smallpox, typhoid, measles and yellow fever; constant attacks from Apache raiders and other native Mexican tribes; the fugitive nature of the laborers in the mines; and the on and off tensions and distrust during the 1800s in the borderlands all contributed to the roller coaster ride of boom and then desolate bust of the towns and mines in this area. The Mexican politics of the 1900s, revolution, nationalization of lands and mines in northern Mexico, and tighter border control completed the separation of cultures and nations. On the positive side, U.S. and European investors flocked to this region during the 1800s, investing millions of dollars to further enhance the mining centers of Cananea and Nacozari in Sonora, and appropriating land grants for ranches, only to see their investments crumble when the Mexican political tide turned in the early 1900s.

I agree with higbeejonathan that most Americans have long forgotten the history of this area or have no interest in it. To drive through lower Arizona today, a person would never know that Tombstone was once a very thriving center of silver mining and trade, other than just the site of Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral, and that the towns of Bisbee and Douglas were even on the map. It appears now to be mostly desert with nothing of value except a few scattered farms. Who would even guess that millions of dollars-worth of minerals came from those desolate hills!  I also thoroughly agree with Alyssa Foster that the way Truett sectioned the book helped with the reading and understanding of the story. The author presented an overwhelming amount of information, as sourced from the long list of references in his bibliography, and thoroughly covered his topic by using specialized sections to cover specific topics.

The author covered many points in his book, specifically the history of the area, and the development of the mines, but most importantly the human factor: the mine workers, the farmers and ranchers, the merchants, the Chinese servants, and the investors. When he referenced a quote by someone, he made sure to mention that person’s name and his or her title. His in-depth research of all sources produced a book describing the transient historiography of this area with great attention to detail and illustrations. The sources Truett was able to amass, consolidate, and use was nothing but astounding, among which were archival collections, papers, bibliographies, corporate archives, and library documents; periodicals; corporate annual reports; government documents; published articles, dissertations, and theses. To amass such an enormous amount of historical wealth and to be able to organize that and write a finished book using page after page of documents is an immense feat considering many of these documents were found in two different countries, and written in two different languages. To me, this book is scholarly important because it focuses on unknown border relations between the United States and Mexico, and puts front and center a history of the American Southwest and frontier that not many Americans know about. Arizona history to most Americans can be summed up in one town – Tombstone. This book not only mentions Tombstone but also Bisbee and the surrounding towns on, near, or across the Mexican border, and the interconnecting history this region played in the prosperity or bust of these towns based on their proximity to railroads, the money invested, the materials mined, the labor involved, and the politics.

Civil War Medicine: Life Saver or Death Sentence.

The American Civil War was horrific on many levels: from the battlefield to the medical station, and thousands of men lay dead or wounded. It was in this place, the medical station, that my report will ascertain whether the medical treatments, the doctors, and the knowledge of the era caused more harm than good. The Civil War took place in a Golden Age of weapon creation and innovation. From Europe to the United States, weapon makers created some of the deadliest weapons of the age. The French- invented Minie Ball, in conjunction with the newly invented American Springfield Model 1861 Minie-type rifled musket, produced between 1861-1872; the American Henry Repeating Rifle, 1860-1866; the American Spencer repeating rifle/carbine, 1860-1869; and the American Gatling gun, 1862-1911, were all created during this era, and although all of them except for the Springfield saw only sporadic use during the war, they left a trail of death or wounded whenever used. The reason why these weapons were so devastating on the battlefield was because the military tactics at the time were still following traditions from the Napoleonic Wars earlier in the century, yet the weapons had become deadlier due to being rifled which increased bullet accuracy and range.

The war years, 1861 to 1865, not only saw new inventions in weaponry, but also saw new advances in the medical field as a whole. Medically, advances were made in the “[u]se of quinie for prevention of malaria,” “[u]se of quarantine, which virtually eliminated yellow fever,” “[s]uccessful treatment of hospital gangrene with bromine and isolation,” “[d]evelopment of an ambulance system for evacuation of the wounded,” “[u]se of trains and boats to transport patients,” “[e]stablishment of large general hospitals,” and the “[c]reation of specialty hospitals.” Surgical wise, advances included the “[s]afe use of anesthetics,” “[p]erformance of rudimentary neurosurgery,” “[d]evelopment of techniques for arterial ligation,” and the first performance of plastic surgery.[1] As these advances were being pioneered, doctors and nurses had to contend with diseases, such as malaria, dysentery, and yellow fever, in addition ignorance, poor climate and sanitation conditions, bad nutrition and hygiene and lack of proper medicine.[2]

• How could doctors and nurses on both sides treat their patients competently while dealing with changing climates, various sanitary conditions and possibly lack of medical supplies?
• How did the weapons of the age affect the types of injuries soldiers received?
• Were doctors and nurses trained the same, no matter what side they were on?
• How did medical treatment improve from the beginning of the war to the end of the war?

I am hoping to find sources that help to answer the questions above and other questions that may come up while investigations and writing my paper. In addition, I currently have three articles written by two doctors and one MD discussing my area of focus. I also have seven books in mind that should help me in answering my thesis: Were the medical treatments, medical stations, doctors and nurses, and medical knowledge of the era causing more harm than good?

[1] Reilly, Robert F, MD. “Medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, 1860-1865.” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 29, no. 2 (2016): 138-142.

[2] Mathiasen, Helle, PhD. “Bugs and Battles during the American Civil War.” The American Journal of Medicine 125, no. 1 (2012): 111.

The reading for this week, Closer to Freedom, Enslaved Women & Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South by Stephanie M. H. Camp, was very interesting and enlightening. Outside of books and articles I have read about slavery, my slavery knowledge comes from television shows such as North & South, The Blue & the Gray, and Roots. Many of the topics and discussion points those books, articles and shows presented mirrored what Camp wrote about in her book. However, there were portions and topics that Ms. Camp discussed that I truly had no knowledge of. One of the bigger topics that was new to me was the amended 1694 statute on fences. This South Carolinian statute was amended in 1827 to “enclose and protect the crops of property holders, including crops grown for market by larger farmers.” (pg.5) Although this specific amendment focused around fences, land and crops, it was understood by most Southerners, especially slave holders, that the “property” also included slaves.  Slave holders understood that if they could curtail slave movements, institute time regulations, and control the lives of their slaves, they would have complete control over them. So in essence, the slave holders actually twisted this law to suit their own needs and purposes. The containment of slaves had begun, and soon spread to other states. “the 1827 law initiated a “slow and steady” erosion of common rights…”, especially when pertaining to slaves. (pg. 5) The Fence Law not only established the boundaries around plantations, smaller farms, and neighboring residences, but it also had the damaging effect of “slowly erod[ing] common access to land, waterways, and roads.” (pg. 5) This public closure of roads in some cases led to large plantations adopting or creating official leave of absence passes or certificates for slaves. This, in addition to other effects of The Fence Law, severely limited the movement of slaves.

These plantation adoptions increased the slave owner’s control to such a degree that all aspects of a slave’s life were at the whim of their owner(s). Women’s lives, in particular, were extremely difficult for they not only had to work in the fields, or in the owner’s house during the day, but they also had to “cook supper…to clean the cabin; to produce household goods, such as soap and candles; and to wash and mend their own and their family’s clothing. They also had to make that clothing, as well as any bed linens, bonnets…and produce textiles for general plantation use.” (pg. 33) For some women these continual double shifts were too much to take, so to escape this unrelenting drudgery, some women became short-term runaways, wherein they left the planation without notice and authorization for up to weeks at a time, but returned and were punished. Another way, although less frequented by slave women, was to actually run away and become a fugitive and try to find a way North. Family duty, honor, and respectability within and on the plantation kept many slave women from pursuing this option.

Morgan and Taylor make an interesting point: Ms. Camp’s book re-imagines slave life from the women’s perspective, a viewpoint that makes for an interesting point of view. I have read a lot on slavery through my school years and the background of Ms. Camp’s book I have read before, but her use of personal narratives after emancipation brought the plight of slave men and women into a new light. Such narratives allowed her book to feel more grounded and personal than other slave oriented books. As such, she presented female slaves at times as the foundation of the home and family; yet, at other times they were abused the same or worse than their male counterparts. They were rarely allowed to leave the plantation because it was felt they had no official reason to go except under special circumstances, i.e., visiting their husband on a neighboring plantation. As stated above, plantation female slaves worked under horrendous conditions and endured abuse from not only their male and female owners, but also the overseers, the drivers, and at times their own male counterparts.

These laws, limitations and abuses bound the slaves to the land, and this bondage was carried forward after the Civil War and emancipation in the form of Southern sharecropping and the Jim Crow laws of segregation. (pg.140) Only recently have these laws and practices of visible and invisible bondage been abolished.

1. Commodore Matthew Perry’s forced entry into Japan: Americas first overseas expansion/expedition? Part of Manifest Destiny? or was Perry’s expedition official beginning of Manifest Destiny?
2. Was Andrew Jackson’s expansion/expedition/excursion into Florida, the catalyst for Western expansion and what will become Manifest Destiny?
3. Andrew Jackson and Manifest Destiny: United States in Florida, the beginning of Manifest Destiny?
4. Manifest Destiny: East, West, and Beyond: Japan, Cuba, the Philippines, and what they meant to the American people?
5. How Civil War battlefield  and hospital carnage effect the moral and minds of the men who fought and lived during this period?