Commentary>>Civil War medicine and military heritage

By Col. Donald Wilhite
314th Maintenance Group commander

Last weekend while on leave in Frederick, Md., I visited the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. I enjoy learning about Civil War history. I'm fascinated by the soldiers, battles, incredibly fierce fighting, bravery, courage and leadership. I'm also amazed by the many things we learned, such as armored ships, submarines, aerial reconnaissance and improvements in medical treatment.

When you study the Civil War you gain an understanding of our military heritage. You also learn the basis of many of our actions today.

All Civil War recruits were supposed to receive a physical exam, but sometimes the exam was superficial, allowing recruits to enter the Army with disease and physical defects that would affect their performance as a soldier.

New recruits went to large camps to learn to become soldiers, and their first enemy was disease. Many healthy recruits became severely ill due to the large, cramped camps, unsanitary conditions and poor diet. Measles, diarrhea and dysentery devastated regiments.

Nearly 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War, and two-thirds died of disease, not bullets or bayonets.

When the war began, there was no system to transport wounded soldiers from the front lines to the field hospitals in the rear. In August 1862, Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, created an organized system of field ambulances and trained stretcher bearers to evacuate the wounded as quickly as possible. The Letterman Plan remains the basis for present military evacuation systems.

Army surgeons were frequently referred to as butchers due to the large number of amputations they performed. But amputations saved lives, and the surgeons knew it. The massive amount of amputations were the result of severe, untreatable wounds caused by the Minie ball, the number of wounded needing immediate treatment and the often poor condition of the soldiers.

Prior to the Civil War there was no system of hospitals. As the war progressed, with a large number of wounded and sick needing long-term care, a network of general hospitals was created.

Civil War medical treatment is a profound part of our military heritage, and had an impact from the battlefield to the city, and from the 1860's to today.