"The organization of the Confederate Medical
Department was identical with that of the United States army at the breaking
out of hostilities, and the army regulations under which rank and discipline
were maintained were those of the United States, the only copies which came
under the writer's observation being those printed prior to the war.
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Confederate Surgeon's Coat |
The medical staff of the armies
of the Confederacy embraced only three grades of rank, viz.: one
surgeon-general with rank, emoluments, and allowances of a brigadier-general
of cavalry; about one thousand surgeons with rank, allowances, and emoluments
of a major of cavalry; and about two thousand assistant surgeons, with the
rank of a captain of cavalry; among the latter, or possibly in addition
thereto, were a number
of contract surgeons or acting assistant surgeons, with the pay of a second
lieutenant of infantry, who were temporarily employed; nearly all of these,
however, at some period subsequent to their employment as contract surgeons
were examined by an army board of medical examiners and were commissioned as
surgeons or assistant surgeons, or dropped from the army rolls."
Source for the following: "The Photographic History of the Civil
War" Volume IV, article by Deering
J. Roberts, M.D., Surgeon, Confederate States Army
Confederate Medical Department
The following statement is quoted
from an address by S. P. Moore, M.D., surgeon-general of the Confederate
States army, delivered at Richmond, Virginia, October- 19, 1875:
" Congressional Legislation.-To make
the corps still more effective, to hold out rewards to distinguished medical
officers, to offer incentives (if needed) to faithful and efficient
performance of duties, and to confer additional and commensurate authority
on those in most important positions, a bill was prepared creating the
offices of two assistant surgeon-generals, one to exercise authority west of
the Mississippi, the other to be on duty in the surgeon-general's office;
medical directors, medical inspectors, medical purveyors, all with rank of
colonel. This bill passed both Houses of Congress (they appearing willing
always to aid the department in its effort toward a more perfect
organization), but was vetoed by the President. It seemed useless to make
further efforts in this direction."
To each regiment of infantry or cavalry was
assigned a surgeon and an assistant surgeon; to a battalion of either, and
sometimes to a company of artillery, an assistant surgeon. Whenever regiments
and battalions were combined into brigades, the surgeon whose commission bore
the oldest date became the senior surgeon of brigade, and although a member of
the staff of the brigade commander, was not relieved of his regimental duties;
sometimes, however, he was allowed an additional assistant surgeon, who was
carried as a supernumerary on the brigade roster. To the senior surgeon of
brigade, the regimental and battalion medical officers made their daily
morning, weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports, and reports of killed and
wounded after engagements, which by him were consolidated and forwarded to the
chief surgeon of the division to which the brigade was attached; regiments and
brigades acting in an independent capacity forwarded their reports to the
medical director of the army or department, or to the surgeon general direct.
Requisitions for regimental and battalion medical, surgical, and hospital
supplies, as well as applications for furlough or leave of absence, discharge,
resignation, or assignment to post duty, on account of disability, were first
approved by the regimental or battalion medical officer, after giving his
reasons for approval and the nature of the disability in the latter instances,
and forwarded by him to the senior surgeon of brigade, and by him to the chief
surgeon of division and the other ranking officers in the corps and army for
their approval. Independent commands reported to the medical director of the
department or army, or the surgeon-general direct. Medical purveyors nearest
to the army, as promptly as possible, forwarded all needed medical, surgical
and hospital supplies, on approved requisitions.
Note: (According to the
Southern Historical Society, Medical History of the Confederate
States)
The number of surgeons, and
assistant surgeons for both the infantry and navy of the
Confederate States Army were determined to be:
If one surgeon and two
assistant-surgeons be allowed to each separate command actively
engaged in the field during the civil war, 1861-1865, the
numbers would be as follows:
Surgeons....................................... 834
Assistant-surgeons....................1,668
Total............................................ 2,502
The medical officers of the Confederate Navy numbered:
Surgeons....................................22
Assistant-surgeons...................10
Passed assistant-surgeons.....41
Total medical officers C. S. N: 73
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Assignments to the position of chief surgeon of
division were sometimes made in accordance with seniority of rank of the
senior surgeons of brigades, in other instances on application of the general
commanding the division. His duties, in addition to approving reports coming
from the senior surgeons of brigades, were to advise with the division
commander in all matters pertaining to the medical care and hygiene of his
command, and to have personal care of the attaches of the division staff and
headquarters, and to advise and consult with his medical subordinates.
To each corps was assigned a medical director, a
commissioned surgeon, his permanent assignment being made on personal
application of the lieutenant-general commanding the corps; temporarily and
when emergency demanded, his duties, which were similar to those of the chief
surgeon of division as pertaining to the corps, devolved upon the chief
surgeon of division whose commission bore priority of date; he, in turn, being
succeeded by the ranking senior surgeon of brigade.
A medical director was assigned to the staff of
each general commanding a department, or an army in a department, his
selection usually being in deference to the general on whose staff he served
and to whom was submitted for approval all reports and papers, from the
various army corps, independent divisions, brigades, or smaller detachments.
He also bad charge of the staff and attaches of the department or army
headquarters.
The non-commissioned medical staff consisted of a
hospital steward for each regiment or battalion, with the rank and emoluments
of an orderly sergeant, his selection as a rule being made by the ranking
medical officer of the command, usually a graduate or undergraduate in
medicine, or one having had previous experience in handling drugs; and his
duties were to have charge of the medical, surgical, and hospital supplies
under direction of the regimental or battalion medical officer, caring for and
dispensing the same, seeing that the directions of his superior as to diet and
medicines were carried out, or reporting their neglect or failure. The
regimental band constituted the infirmary detail to aid in caring for the sick
in camp and to carry the wounded from the field of battle, and when so
occupied were under the surgeon or assistant surgeon. When necessary,
additional detail was made from the enlisted men to serve temporarily or
permanently on the infirmary corps. In some instances, an enlisted man was
detailed as hospital clerk, and with the hospital steward was required to be
present at sick-call each morning; these soldiers, with the infirmary detail,
were relieved from all other regimental duty, such as guard duty and police
detail.
The duties of the assistant surgeon were to assist
or relieve the surgeon in caring for the sick and wounded in camp or on the
march. On the field of battle he was expected to be close up in the immediate
rear of the center of his regiment, accompanied by the infirmary detail, and
to give primary attention, first aid to the wounded-this consisting in
temporary control of hemorrhage by ligature, tourniquet, or bandage and
compress, adjusting and temporarily fixing fractured limbs, administering
water, anodynes, or stimulants, if needed, and seeing that the wounded were
promptly carried to the field-hospital in the rear by the infirmary detail or
ambulance.
See these articles for much more on the
Confederate Navy Office of Medicine and Surgery
See
examples
of the written exam questions and answers for Union Navy applicant, Dr.
George Snow including his biography and links to Army exams during the Civil
War.
The duties of the surgeons, in addition to caring
for the sick in camp and on the march, were to establish a field-hospital, as
soon as they could learn that the command to which they were attached was
going under fire, at some convenient and, if possible, sheltered spot behind a
bill or in a ravine, about one-half to one mile in rear of the line of battle,
which was done under direction of a brigade or division surgeon. Here the
combined medical staff of a brigade or division aided one another in the
performance of such operations as were deemed necessary, as the wounded were
brought from the front by the infirmary detail on stretchers or in the
ambulance. Amputations, resections of bone, ligatures of arteries, removals of
foreign bodies, adjusting and permanently fixing fractures, and all minor and
major operations and dressings were made when deemed best for the comfort and
welfare of the wounded men. As soon as possible after the permanent dressings
were made at the field-hospital, and even in some instances while the troops
were still engaged, the wounded were carried to the railroad and transported
to the more permanent hospitals in the villages, towns, and cities, some miles
distant.
The uniform worn by the medical corps was similar
to that of the rank and file with only a slight difference. While the cloth
and cut were the same, the facings of the coat collar and cuffs and the stripe
down the sides of the trousers were black, while those of the infantry were
light blue, the artillery, scarlet, and cavalry, buff; on the front of the cap
or hat were the letters " M. S." embroidered in gold, embraced in two olive
branches. On the coat sleeve of the assistant surgeon were two rows of gold
braid, with three gold bars on the ends of the coat collar extending back
about one and a half inches; while the surgeon had three rows of braid on the
coat sleeves, and a single star on each side of the coat collar about an inch
and a half from the end. The chevrons on the coat sleeves and the stripe down
the trousers of the hospital steward were similar to those worn by an orderly
or first sergeant, but were black in color.
The statement is sometimes made that many
Confederate surgeons were inefficient, and in support of this contention a
statement attributed to President Davis, in Surgeon Craven's "Prison Life of
Jefferson Davis " is produced, in which he is reported to have said in
conversation with the author, that " they had been obliged to accept as
surgeons in the Southern army many lads who had only half finished their
education in Northern colleges."
This statement would seem to indicate a scarcity
of capable medical men who were willing to serve as such in the Confederate
army, while the facts are that many of the infantry and cavalry battalions and
regiments, as well as artillery companies, in addition to their usual
complement of medical officers, bore on their rolls, either in field and
staff, the commissioned officers of the line, or even in rank and file,
capable and eminently well qualified medical men, many of whom were
subsequently transferred to the medical corps. The reports from Northern
prisons where line officers or enlisted men often assisted the Federal
surgeons in the care of the sick, confirm this statement.
It can be said, in all sincerity and confidence in
the statement, that the students of the South who graduated from Northern and
Southern medical colleges prior to the war between the States, were superior
in scholastic attainments and mental qualifications to those of subsequent
years. Not only is this the personal observation of the writer, but
corroborative thereof are the following quotations from an address by Samuel
H. Stout, M.D., late medical director of hospitals of the Department and Army
of Tennessee.
"When I attended lectures in Philadelphia more
than half a century ago, the number of students in the two schools there (the
University, and the Jefferson) was a little more than one thousand, more than
half of whom were from the Southern States. Of these latter, a majority were
bachelors of arts, or had received a classical education. The Southern States
in the slaveholding sections were, therefore, prior to the war well supplied
with educated and chivalrously honorable surgeons and physicians. Such were
the men who served at the bedside and in responsible positions in the medical
corps of the armies and navy of the Confederacy."
Finally, Samuel P. Moore, M.D., in an address
delivered at Richmond, Virginia, October 19, 1865, published in the city
papers of the following day, said, "The Confederate medical officers were
inferior to none in any army"; and in another paragraph: "Although there were
many capital medical men in the medical corps, yet, from the easy manner by
which commissions were obtained for medical officers appointed to regiments,
many were supposed not to be properly qualified. It was therefore deemed
advisable to establish army medical boards for the examination of medical
officers already in service, as well as applicants for commission into the
medical corps. These boards were to hold plain, practical examinations. The
result was highly satisfactory."
In Tennessee, more than one instance can be
mentioned where a good and well-qualified practitioner, on application to
Governor Harris for a position in the medical corps, was by him urgently and
earnestly advised and entreated to remain at home, as be would be needed
there, because, as quite a number of his colleagues were to be found in the
rank and file of the assembling soldiery, in addition to a full complement in
the medical corps, the old men, the women and children, and the slaves at home
must be cared for as well as the "boys" in the army. This measure prevailed in
other States, and in only a few instances of rare emergency, that could not by
any means have been avoided, and then only for a brief period, was there any
dearth or scarcity of medical officers in the Confederate army, in the field
or hospital.
Some States began organizing their troops before
affiliating with the Confederacy, as in Tennessee. The medical officers
received their commissions from the secretary of state, after examinations,
both oral and written, by an army medical examining board appointed by the
governor of the State. The medical examining board at Nashville was headed by
Dr. Paul F. Eve, a teacher of surgery of wide experience, and a surgeon of
both national and international reputation. His colleagues were Dr. Joseph
Newman, who bad served with the Tennessee troops in the war with Mexico, and
enjoyed the confidence and esteem of a large clientele in Nashville during the
intervening years, and Dr. J. D. Winston, also one of the leading
practitioners of the capital city of the State. Boards of like character were
serving the western division of the State at Memphis, and at Knoxville, in the
eastern. When the State troops, then organized, were transferred to the
Confederate States, they were recommissioned by the Secretary of War of the
Confederacy, on recommendation of the surgeon-general, after examination and
approval by the army medical examining boards of the Confederate army. As
other troops were subsequently organized, they were supplied with medical
officers who. had passed a satisfactory examination before a Confederate army
medical examining board and commissioned in like manner; the same measure was
followed in the hospital service.
The examinations before State and Confederate army boards were thorough,
complete, and eminently practical. Each applicant was required in a given
number of hours to fill out the answers to a number of written questions,
under supervision of the secretary of the board; and this being done, he was
invited into an adjoining room and submitted to an oral examination to the
satisfaction of the assembled board. The Confederate board of examiners
serving with the Department and Army of Tennessee, as I remember, consisted of
Dr. D. W. Yandell, of Louisville; Dr. J. F. Heustis, of Mobile, and Dr.
Stanford E. Chaille, of New Orleans, all being well-known teachers of medicine
and surgery in their respective States, and at that time, or subsequently, of
national reputation. Other medical examining boards were of like character.
The late Doctor Chaille, the dean of the medical
department of Tulane University, in a private letter, speaks of the work of
the examining boards appointed in 1862 to report on the competency of the
medical staff. The Confederate soldiers were almost exclusively volunteers who
had elected their medical as well as other officers. Doctor Chaille reported
that his board caused the dismissal of a number of the surgeons and assistant
surgeons, sometimes incurring the hostility of the officers and men in
consequence, " because of the gross incompetence of laymen then as well as
now to judge of the incompetence of medical men." He goes on to say that
the incompetent were " exceptions to the superior merit of the vast majority
of the members of the Confederate medical staff." This statement goes far to
explain any apparent contradictions in the testimony regarding the competence
of Confederate surgeons, and must be generally accepted.
Source: "The Photographic History of the Civil
War" Volume IV, article by
Deering J.
Roberts, M.D., Surgeon, Confederate States Army
Researching Confederate Surgeon's:
Check on Google 'books' first as many names will show up
there rather than on the normal Google search.
Also
see Researching Civil War Surgeons
Be sure to read this short
article on the Truth about Civil War Surgeons by Dr. Jay Bollet
