This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/20318
Description
Title
Medical care during the American Civil War
Author(s)
Freemon, Frank Reed
Issue Date
1992
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Burton, Orville Vernon
Department of Study
History
Discipline
History
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
History, United States
Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery
History of Science
Language
eng
Abstract
This work examines medical care during the American Civil War. The medical departments of the opposing armies had much in common. Both were organized along the same structural lines, that of the old U.S. Army. Northern and Southern doctors possessed the same base of medical knowledge. Both medical services expanded from a small nidus of experienced military physicians to a huge system of general hospitals, caring for thousands of sick and wounded soldiers. Using collated medical statistics, this work compares the results of medical efforts by the North and the South and concludes that the Medical Department of the United States Army was superior to its counterpart of the Confederate States Army.
Northern medical care continued to improve throughout the War. Despite massive efforts at improvisation, Confederate medicine deteriorated after 1863. The North enjoyed an abundance of medical supplies; most important was the anti-malarial drug quinine. This abundance, compared to the relative paucity available to the Confederacy, provides a partial explanation for the superiority of Northern medical care. A more important difference between Northern and Southern medicine involves leadership at the highest levels. The vigorous direction of Union medicine by Surgeon General William A. Hammond helped keep Northern armies healthy. The leadership of Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Preston Moore was dignified but less effective. Ironically, when the War ended, Moore remained as the honored chief of Confederate medicine, while Hammond had been dismissed from the Union army because of a court-martial conviction on trumped up charges.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
