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Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs
Bollett presents a history of how medical personnel on both sides of the Civil War met the challenges presented them. He contends that while standards were abysmal during the first year of the war, healthcare professionals quickly improved and were able to deliver excellent medical care. Coverage includes U.S. medical education in the 1860s; the establishment of an ambulance corps, a field hospital system and huge military hospitals; surgical innovations; epidemic diseases; and nuns as nurses.
475 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 1, 2023
Research for my 2025 novel. Enjoyed it immensely and learned a great deal. But still not ready to amputate a limb.
October 5, 2023
Well researched, accessible, and broad in its scope, the perfect text for interested individuals unfamiliar with 19th century medicine.
November 26, 2013
Bollet has written a first rate book on the practice of military medicine in the Civil War. "Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs" is well-organized, approachable to the non-Civil War History buff or those lacking in a medical background, addresses both Confederate as well as Union history (a standard failing in many Civil War works), and dispells many myths about the standards of Civil War medical practices.
At the onset of the War, the American medical community faced a problem no less difficult than that of their military counterparts: mobilizing to handle the vast numbers of diseased and injured men that a major war would confront them with. They confronted many of the same difficulties as well: political meddling, hidebound regular Army leadership, and having to learn by doing. Bollet does an excellent job of describing how the combatants (the Union in particular) produced excellent military medical establishments, but only after learning from their own numerous mistakes.
He also examines the state of medical practice at the time, with an eye towards dispelling the many myths that have grown up around Civil War surgery (and continue to be espoused by historians today - historians who ought to know better). After laying down the facts (and the state of medicine at the time makes a fascinating study), he takes the very necessary next step of comparing American medical practice during the war to the two next best yardsticks: the Crimean War preceeding the conflict, and the Franco-German War which followed it. With those comparisons in mind, even at some of their absolute worst moments, American military medicine was doing far better than their European counterparts in saving lives.
It is a good book and will be an engaging read for any Civil War buff.
At the onset of the War, the American medical community faced a problem no less difficult than that of their military counterparts: mobilizing to handle the vast numbers of diseased and injured men that a major war would confront them with. They confronted many of the same difficulties as well: political meddling, hidebound regular Army leadership, and having to learn by doing. Bollet does an excellent job of describing how the combatants (the Union in particular) produced excellent military medical establishments, but only after learning from their own numerous mistakes.
He also examines the state of medical practice at the time, with an eye towards dispelling the many myths that have grown up around Civil War surgery (and continue to be espoused by historians today - historians who ought to know better). After laying down the facts (and the state of medicine at the time makes a fascinating study), he takes the very necessary next step of comparing American medical practice during the war to the two next best yardsticks: the Crimean War preceeding the conflict, and the Franco-German War which followed it. With those comparisons in mind, even at some of their absolute worst moments, American military medicine was doing far better than their European counterparts in saving lives.
It is a good book and will be an engaging read for any Civil War buff.
April 21, 2016
When you write about post-Civil War America it’s impossible not to bump up against war wounds. John Weldon in The House on Tenafly Road is addicted to morphine, given his first dose in a Civil War hospital by well-meaning doctors trying to keep him comfortable before his eventual death–which never happens. He escapes in his best friend’s new boots with a stash of morphine, laudanum and some new British-made syringes.
Only one man, Doctor Graham Crenshaw with some hidden mental war wounds of his own (his family blames him for the deaths of his brothers) recognizes Weldon’s problems, but he’s a quiet man. I thought after so much medical research he’d eventually get a good medical novel of his own but it’s in his character to work quietly in the background, allowing others to form their misconceptions about him and the bloody work he did during the war as a brilliant young surgeon.
With a name like Graham Crenshaw he deserved fame but instead served a higher purpose–he had piles of children with his wife, one of them being Buck Crenshaw. I think I’ll still get more medical one day (most of the Civil War medicine was cut from the first two novels) and I look forward to it because blood and guts and misplaced emotions are what I’m about as a writer.
By the way, Civil War Medicine by Alfred Jay Bollet, MD is fantastic even if you don’t like blood and guts.
Only one man, Doctor Graham Crenshaw with some hidden mental war wounds of his own (his family blames him for the deaths of his brothers) recognizes Weldon’s problems, but he’s a quiet man. I thought after so much medical research he’d eventually get a good medical novel of his own but it’s in his character to work quietly in the background, allowing others to form their misconceptions about him and the bloody work he did during the war as a brilliant young surgeon.
With a name like Graham Crenshaw he deserved fame but instead served a higher purpose–he had piles of children with his wife, one of them being Buck Crenshaw. I think I’ll still get more medical one day (most of the Civil War medicine was cut from the first two novels) and I look forward to it because blood and guts and misplaced emotions are what I’m about as a writer.
By the way, Civil War Medicine by Alfred Jay Bollet, MD is fantastic even if you don’t like blood and guts.
February 24, 2012
Aptly titled Civil War Medicine, this book gives an excellent overview of medical treatment during the Civil War. It is an excellent read for genealogists and historians when trying to understand the medical treatment faced by ill and injured soldiers on both sides. As other reviewers have noted, this is not an indepth technical medical treatise. This book also provides definitions of outdated medical terms often seen in death records. I highly recommend it for anyone with a Civil War ancestor!
November 7, 2009
Might be good for those unfamiliar with medicine or the Civil War. It was a bore for me...the details weren't there and I gotta say I was not impressed with the writing. Many of the same points were made far too repeatedly.
March 30, 2012
Great resource for those interested in Civil War Medicine
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews