Field Organization of the Medical
Department, 1862
In 1861 there
were already in the army 2,109 regimental surgeons 3,652
assistant surgeons and in the hospitals scattered through
the country 5,500 acting assistant surgeons by degrees
things took shape.
(The
Medical Department in the Civil War,
by
Silas Weir Mitchell)
The Union
medical services were organized into seven categories:
1. Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons of the United States
Army. This was the regular Medical Corps and consisted of
men in the service when the war began. The War began with
only 90 medical officers.
2. Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons of Volunteers. These
were former "brigade surgeons" created by Congress to
supplement the work of the regular staff surgeons. A total
of 547 commissions were issued.
3. Regimental Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons, commissioned
by state governors rather than congress or the President.
There were 2,109 Surgeons and 3,882 Assistant Surgeons.
(Note: these are the best documented surgeons and a list of
their names is found in the "List of Battles and Roster
of Regimental Surgeons")
4. Acting Assistant Surgeons, United States Army. These
physicians were known as the 'contract' surgeons. They held
no commission but received pay as first lieutenants. There
were a total of 5,532 Acting Assistant Surgeons; most of
which worked in the general hospitals in the North. They
also continued their civilian practice at the same time.
(Note: of all the so called "Civil War" surgeons, this group
is the most difficult to identify. Without personal
correspondence or other documents, it is very difficult to
pinpoint any contract surgeon as being a 'Civil War'
surgeon. Ownership of a given surgery set can help by
dating that set via the makers address during the War.)
5. Medical officers of the Veterans Corps.
6. Acting Staff Surgeons.
7. Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons of the Colored Troops,
who received presidential commissions. They were assigned
to the Black troops
Field Organization of the
Union Medical Department in 1862
O.R.-- SERIES
I--VOLUME XIX/1 [S# 27]
Operations in Northern Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and
Pennsylvania.--September 3-November 14, 1862.
No. 4.--Report
of Surg. Jonathan Letterman, U. S. A., Medical Director
CIRCULAR. ] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
Medical Director's Office, October 30, 1862.
SIR: In order that the wounded may receive the most prompt
and efficient attention during and after an engagement, and
that the necessary
operations may
be performed by the most skillful and responsible surgeons
at the earliest moment,
the following instructions are issued for the guidance of
the medical staff of this army, and medical directors of
corps will see that they are promptly carried into effect:
Previous to an engagement there will be established in each
corps a hospital for each division, the position of which
will he selected by the medical director of the corps.
The organization
of the hospital will be as follows:
1st. A surgeon in charge; one assistant surgeon to provide
food and shelter; one assistant surgeon to keep the records.
2d. Three medical officers to perform operations; three
medical officers as assistants to each of these officers.
3d. Additional medical officers, hospital stewards, nurses
of the division.
The surgeon in charge will have general superintendence and
be responsible to the surgeon-in-chief of the division for
the proper administration of the hospital. The
surgeon-in-chief of a division will detail one assistant
surgeon, who will report to and be under the immediate
orders of the surgeon in charge, whose duties shall be to
pitch the hospital tents and provide straw, fuel, water,
blankets, &c., and, when houses are used, put them in proper
order for the reception of wounded. This assistant surgeon
will, when the foregoing shall have been accomplished, at
once organize a kitchen, using for this purpose the hospital
mess chests and the kettles, tins, in the ambulances. The
supplies of beef stock and bread in the ambulances, and of
arrowroot, tea, in the hospital wagon, will enable him to
prepare quickly a sufficient quantity of palatable and
nourishing food. All the cooks, and such of the hospital
stewards and nurses as may be necessary, will be placed
under his orders for these purposes.
He will detail
another assistant surgeon, whose duty it shall be to keep a
complete record of every case brought to the hospital,
giving the name, rank, company, and regiment; the seat and
character of injury; the treatment; the operation, if any be
performed, and the result, which will be transmitted to the
medical director of the corps and by him sent to this
office.
This officer will also see to the proper interment of those
who die, and that the grave is marked with a head-beard with
the name, rank, company, and regiment legibly inscribed upon
it.
He will make out two tabular statements of wounded, which
the surgeon-in-chief of division will transmit within
thirty-six hours after a battle, one to this office (by a
special messenger, if necessary) and the other to the
medical director of the corps to which the hospital belongs.
There
will be selected from the division by the surgeon-in-chief,
under the direction of the medical director of the corps,
three medical officers, who will be the operating staff of
the hospital, upon whom will rest the immediate
responsibility of the performance of all important
operations. In all doubtful cases they will consult
together, and a majority of them shall decide upon the
expediency and character of the operation. These officers
will be selected from the division without regard to rank,
but solely on account of their known prudence, judgment, and
skill. The surgeon-in-chief of the division is enjoined to
be especially careful in the selection of these officers,
choosing only those who have distinguished themselves for
surgical skill, sound judgment, and conscientious regard for
the highest interests of the wounded.
There
will be detailed three medical officers to act as assistants
to each one of these officers, who will report to him and
act entirely under his direction. It is suggested that one
of the assistants be selected to administer the anaesthetic.
Each operating surgeon will be provided with an excellent
table from the hospital wagon, and, with the present
organization for field hospitals, it is hoped that the
confusion and the delay in performing the necessary
operations so often existing after a battle will be avoided,
and all operations hereafter be primary.
The remaining
medical officers of the division, except one to each
regiment, will be ordered to the hospitals to act as
dressers and assistants generally. Those who follow the
regiments to the field will establish themselves, each one
at a temporary depot, at such a distance or situation in the
rear of his regiment as will insure safety to the wound, d,
where they will give such aid as is immediately required;
and they are here reminded that, whilst no personal
consideration should interfere with their duty to the
wounded, the grave responsibilities resting upon them render
any unnecessary exposure improper.
The surgeon-in-chief of the division will exercise general
supervision, under the medical director of the corps, over
the medical affairs in his division. He will see that the
officers are faithful in the performance of their duties in
the hospital and upon the field, and that by the ambulance
corps, which has heretofore been so efficient, the wounded
are removed from the field carefully and with dispatch.
Whenever his duties permit, he will give his professional
services at the hospital, will order to the hospital as soon
as located all the hospital wagons of the brigades, the
hospital tents and furniture, and all the hospital stewards
and nurses. He will notify the captain commanding the
ambulance corps, or, if this be impracticable, the first
lieutenant commanding the division ambulances, of the
location of the hospital.
No medical officer will leave the position to which he shall
have been assigned without permission, and any officer so
doing will be reported to the medical director of the corps,
who will report the facts to this office.
The medical directors of corps will apply to their
commanders on the eve of a battle for the necessary guard
and men for fatigue duty. This guard will be particularly
careful that no stragglers be allowed about the hospital,
using the food and comforts prepared for the wounded.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JONA. LETTERMAN, Surgeon