Marrow of Tragedy: The Health Crisis of the American Civil War

by Margaret Humphreys

Soldiers lay wounded or sick as both sides struggled to get them fit to return to battle. Winner, George Rosen Prize, American Association for the History of Medicine The Civil War was the greatest health disaster the United States has ever experienced, killing more than a million Americans and leaving many others invalided or grieving. Poorly prepared to care for wounded and sick soldiers as the war began, Union and Confederate governments scrambled to provide doctoring and nursing, supplies, and shelter for those felled by warfare or disease. During the war soldiers suffered from measles, dysentery, and pneumonia and needed both preventive and curative food and medicine. Family members―especially women―and governments mounted organized support efforts, while army doctors learned to standardize medical thought and practice. Resources in the north helped return soldiers to battle, while Confederate soldiers suffered hunger and other privations and healed more slowly, when they healed at all. In telling the stories of soldiers, families, physicians, nurses, and administrators, historian Margaret Humphreys concludes that medical science was not as limited at the beginning of the war as has been portrayed. Medicine and public health clearly advanced during the war―and continued to do so after military hostilities ceased.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, History Of Medicine, Civil War, American Civil War, Science

400 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2013

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The American Civil War has been described as taking place just at the close of the medical 'Dark Ages', the age of what is often referred to as 'heroic medicine'. Purgatives and bleeding were widespread, serving in most cases only to weaken the patient in question. The majority of doctors practised alone, without any kind of oversight, referral system or formalised ongoing education. Medical care took place in the home, by female relatives - hospitals were largely for the poor, indigent or travellers. There was simply no notion of nationwide or even state-wide public health care.

The Civil War served as a revolution in the provision of medical care in the United States, but until recently most of the attention has been on the men who performed the operations in the field, under incredibly primitive conditions. This wide-ranging study by Margaret Humphreys expands that viewpoint, focusing on the role of women in the provision of medical care, as both doctors and nurses; the role of the United States Sanitary Commission in funnelling the benevolence of the Northern people to their soldiers in the field; the increased opportunities for research and advancement of medical knowledge that came from having so much doctors working in close contact with such a wide variety of patients; the creation of new hospitals following the standards laid down by Florence Nightingale after the Crimean War; the provision of medical care in prison camps both North and South; and the impact the War had on medical thought and action in the post-war years.

This book does focus more heavily on the Union than the Confederacy, but this is absolutely no fault of the author - the fire that resulted during the evacuation of Richmond in the closing days of the war destroyed a huge amount of potentially useful information, and in so many cases the kind of data, records and statistics that survived in the North simply do not exist. But this fact notwithstanding, it's a fascinating read, on a topic I've had little exposure to, and I could quite happily have read twice as much and not been bored. The United States Sanitary Commission especially I found intriguing, with its split between its male hierarchy and the overwhelming female grass-roots base it relied upon. I could read an entire book on that.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction to medicine during the Civil War. Humphreys' book is both approachable and incredibly well-researched. She covers a number of topics, including hospital design, the US Sanitary Commission, infectious disease, and nursing care. I particularly appreciated the extent to which she framed her study around gender and 19th century assumptions about the healing environment. This would be a great text to teach as well as providing a helpful reference to a student, Civil War enthusiast, or scholar.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echoing the other reviews, this is a fantastic overview of medical procedures and theories developed during the Civil War - some made all the more necessary from the vast number of wounded. Humphreys attempts to take a gendered approach (focusing on the role of women during the war), but doesn’t follow this thread all the way through. I believe her general point is that the transition from home to military left a gap in the care of the wounded, and for the wounded to have a shot at actually recouping that the methods of women would have to be adopted. There are tantalizing glimpses of how the war impacted the impoverished and slaves - but doesn’t dwell too long on them. But kudos for even mentioning them to begin with!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An foundational text on civil war medical history. The chapters themselves cover a broad range of topics that are important in the field but for some reason in the introduction and conclusion Humphreys makes it sound like her thesis mainly involves women, which it doesn't after reading the whole book.

[Jonathan Schneiderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really my thing, but interesting, important, and superbly written.

[Emily Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh look into the history of Civil War medicine, focusing on hospitals, the aid of women, and how medicine changed throughout the war. I have read some Civil War medical histories and most usually repeated some information I had read before; this book did not. A warning: this is not the book to read for Civil War surgery, though it does touch on it some, but that is in no way a condemnation. I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Dave Borasky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well-written work on an interesting topic, but in some chapters gets well into the weeds for the casual Civil War reader.