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 Samuel Preston Moore, M.D., CSA

Civil War medical books by Dr. Moore in this collection

Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Preston Moore, M.D. Samuel Preston Moore was born in Charleston, SC, in 1813 and graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1834. He moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he practiced briefly before being appointed assistant surgeon in the United States Army in 1835. During his time with the US Army, Moore served at posts in Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. While serving in Texas during the Mexican War (1846-1848), Moore met Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy. At the end of the Mexican War Moore returned to Missouri where he was promoted to surgeon with the rank of major in April 1849. Between 1849 and 1860, Moore served in Oregon, Texas, New York Harbor, and West Point. When South Carolina seceded from the Union, Moore resigned his commission as surgeon in the US Army and returned to Little Rock to open a private practice. Soon after returning to Arkansas Moore began receiving requests from Jefferson Davis to join the Confederate army. In his correspondence to Moore, Davis described the deplorable conditions caused by the overwhelming number of casualties and a lack of Southern physicians trained in military medicine. Moore accepted the position of acting surgeon general on July 30, 1861 and was confirmed by the Confederate Senate in November of that same year. Among the more notable achievements of his tenure as surgeon general was the organization of the Confederate Medical Department, the establishment of examining boards for surgeons and assistant surgeons, the construction of military hospital huts, or one-story pavilion hospitals, and the establishment of drug, hospital supplies and surgical instruments factories around the Confederacy to supply the Army's needs. Moore also directed the recruitment of Army surgeons, and commissioned two ground-breaking resources for Confederate military medicine: JJ Chisolm's Manual of Military Surgery and FP Porcher's Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests. After his service in the war, Moore settled in Richmond, Virginia where he died on May 31, 1889.   The Waring Museum, Charleston, S.C. Extensive discussion of his life in a newspaper article: 00001113.PDF (ychistory.org)

This minor surgery set was purchased from a member of a family who claims his family was friends with Samuel P. Moore in the late 1800s.  There is a claim by the same individual that a diary belonging to Moore exists, but it was never found after supposedly having been shipped to Dr. Arbittier in 2021, but never arrived.  No further information is available at the time of this posting as the individual went incommunicado.  Multiple attempts have been made to reconnect with the individual, but to no avail.    Magnified sections of the engraving on the brass name plate Samuel   P.   Moore Above: A minor surgical set by L. V. Helmond, Philadelphia, owned by,and the name plate is engraved for, Samuel Preston Moore.  The location of Helmold as indicated by the maker label of this set was in 1858-1870 : 135 South 10th in Philadelphia, and that is consistent with the period Moore would have been in practice. Louis V. Helmold cutler 1851: 7 Assembly Bldg. 1852: 10th and Walnut 1853-54: 49 S. 10th surgical instrument maker 1855-57: 45 S. 10th 1858-70: 135 S. 10th 1871-1897: 127 S. 10th   The Helmold surgical kit above was obtained from a family associated with Samuel P. Moore in the late 1800s.  Also, supplied by the family member is a Confederate $10 bill which Moore used to offer birthday greetings.   The  Confederate $10 bill is shown below with the inscribed message "Happy Born Day'.   Given Moore was from South Carolina and like many Southerners, he was most likely in close association with many black families and heard their traditional wording while growing up. The ubiquitous birthday song (actually titled “Happy Birthday to You”) wasn’t even published until 1893.  Several references to the term ‘Happy Born Day’ are found via Google search which suggest it is common among "Black people", apparently African-Americans.   Bornday" is a term commonly use in West Africa, especially Nigeria. Even though it's not an accepted English phrase, it's accepted in pidgin English, which would have been common in 19th century South Carolina when and where Moore was 'born' and lived. There is a number or two balloons that look like '99' in the upper left corner to the right of the '10'; drawings of cocktail glasses; and a dedication  to 'Mr. Gilt' for Mr. Gilbert, which was the first name of an ancestor of the family from whom this surgery set and Confederate bill was obtained. Printed name: "Samuel P. Moore"

Extensive Obituary for Samuel P. Moore, 1889

Moore, Samuel Preston (1813-1889).  Samuel P. Moore, surgeon, United States Army, surgeon-general, Confederate States Army, was the son of Stephen West and Eleanor Screven Gilbert Moore, and lineal descendant of Dr. Mordicai Moore who accompanied Lord Baltimore to America as his physician. He was educated at the schools of Charleston and graduated M. D. from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1834, afterwards appointed assistant surgeon in the United States Army, 1835, serving at many frontier posts in Florida, and with high credit in Texas during the Mexican War, and continued service after being created major at various stations in Missouri, Texas and New York. When South Carolina seceded from the Union, he resigned and settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, whence he was called in June, 1861, to the surgeon-generalcy of the Confederate Army. Under the stress of overwhelming difficulties he organized a medical department for the Confederate armies.

In 1863, at Richmond, he organized the Association of Army and Navy Surgeons of the Confederate States and became its first president, and was also active as president in a similar association, established after the close of the war. The useful work was his of finding methods of providing the Confederate troops with medicines from the plants indigenous to the southern states. He inaugurated and directed the publication of "The Confederate States Medical Journal" from 1864 to 1865, and he adopted the one story hospital wards which became so popular in both northern and southern armies. At the close of the Civil War he remained in Richmond, not engaging in active medical practice, but interested in all public affairs, and died May 31, 1889.

Confederate General, medical pioneer.  Surgeon General, Confederate States Army, Dr. Samuel Moore was born and educated in Charleston, South Carolina, receiving his M.D. degree from The Medical College of South Carolina in 1835. After a brief time in Arkansas, he joined the United States Army, where he had a long, distinguished career that included service in the Mexican War. Dr. Moore had a reputation a an excellent physician, and as a "by-the-book" administrator.

After the secession of South Carolina, Dr. Moore resigned from the U. S. Army to seek a position in the Confederacy. On July 31, 1861, he was appointed the second, and last, Surgeon General of the Confederate States Army. During the remainder of the war, Surgeon General Moore oversaw the vast Confederate military establishment under increasingly difficult conditions, with ever decreasing resources. He improved the ambulance corps and the barracks hospital design. One of Surgeon General Moore's most enduring accomplishments was the Matron Law of 1862--this allowed non-physicians, and women at that, administrative control of military hospitals. This law paved the way for the pioneering work of many, such as Phoebe Yates Pember, and anticipated the United States military by over a century. Previously, it was considered improper for a woman to go inside a hospital, much less run one. Many of the women employed as Matrons were free Blacks, a high position for a Black at that time. Unfortunately, the Surgeon General's office burned in the evacuation fire of April 2, 1865 destroying most of the medical department official records.
 

After the war, Dr. Moore stayed in Richmond, where he established a medical practice, and also served on the school board for six years.   (Bio by: Bob Hufford) 

 

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Samuel Preston Moore was trained as a military surgeon in the US Army but resigned his commission and was appointed Surgeon-General of the Confederate States Army Medical Department at the beginning of the American Civil War. He reformed the mediocre medical corps by raising recruiting standards and improving treatment protocols and by placing the most capable surgeons in positions of authority. He improved the ambulance corps and directed the construction of many new hospitals for Confederate casualties. He was directly responsible for the barracks hospital design, which is still used today. He established the Confederate States Medical and Surgical Journal and directed a successful effort to develop substitutes for scarce pharmaceuticals from the indigenous flora of the South. He founded the Association of Army and Navy Surgeons of the Confederate States of America. With skill and dedication, Dr. Moore transformed the medical corps into one of the most effective departments of the Confederate military and was responsible for saving thousands of lives on the battlefield.

American journal of surgery. 01/11/1992; 164(4):361-5

 

 

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Samuel Preston Moore, a native of Charleston, South Carolina graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1834 and quickly became assistant surgeon for the United States Army in 1835. This position required service in several frontier regions of the country, including Missouri, Kansas, Florida, and the Texas-Mexico border. While serving in the Mexican War (1846-48), Moore met the future President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, who was quite impressed with his organizational and disciplinary abilities (Rutkow, Manual of milit. surg., vi). Moore was promoted to surgeon in 1849 and remained in this position through the 1850s. However, like many Southern officers in the United States Army, he was in crisis at the brink of the Civil War. When his home state of South Carolina seceded, he resigned his post in the U.S. army and moved to Arkansas to open a private practice and to avoid fighting against a country he had devoted so much of his life to. However, he began receiving personal requests from Jefferson Davis to join the Confederate army. Davis’ descriptions of the army’s unfortunate military situation and the lack of trained medical men eventually persuaded Moore to become surgeon-general in 1861, a position he would hold for the duration of the war (Rutkow, Manual of milit. surg., vii).

When Moore joined the Confederate army, they were already facing many medical-related difficulties, such as shortages of medicines, supplies, and equipment caused by the Union blockade of Southern ports and a lack of trained surgeons. Moore addressed all of these problems. He introduced a new type of large, one-story pavilion hospital and arranged for their construction throughout the South. He established an effective army hospital and field ambulance corps. Moore is also remembered for his resourcefulness in supplying the army with much-needed drugs by creating laboratories to prepare medications from indigenous Southern plants (Assoc. of the Med. Officers 3; Kelly & Burrage 865). In one issue of the Confederate States medical and surgical Journal (January 1864 – February 1865), a journal Moore started and directed, there is an article by him discussing the medicinal properties of Southern plants and criticizing the American Medical Association for not demanding that the blockade be lifted for medicines (Freemon 98-99). This article, “Indigenous remedies of the South,” is held at the Reynolds Historical Library within a bound volume of the journal from 1864-65. 

Moore also instated measures to improve the quality and education of the Confederate army doctors. He set up an examination system that weeded out untrained doctors. If an examinee failed, he could be redeemed by serving as a hospital attendant and later retaking the exam (Freemon 40).  In this way doctors who needed improvement were identified and trained. Also, Moore worked to increase the professional and technical knowledge of Confederate doctors by forming a professional organization, the Association of Army and Navy Surgeons of the Confederate States, founding the journal mentioned above, and compiling A manual of military surgery (1863). This manual is a collection of papers by surgeons which provides exact instructions (with drawings) for performing operations. It was intended for use by inexperienced surgeons in the army (Freemon 98). 

From: http://www.uab.edu/reynolds/CivilWarMedFigs/Moore.htm

 

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Brig. General Samuel P. Moore (CSA), Surgeon General)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Moore

Samuel Preston Moore (September 16, 1813 – May 31, 1889) was an American physician, who served in the medical corps of the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, and later as the Confederate Surgeon General throughout nearly all of the American Civil War.
Early life and career
Samuel P. Moore was born in 1813 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a son of Stephen West Moore, a prominent banker in Charleston (originally from Virginia), and his wife, Eleanore Screvan Gilbert. His brother, Stephen M. Westmore, also served in the Confederacy. Moore was educated in the local public schools of Charleston, and then attended South Carolina Medical College with the intention of becoming a physician. He graduated in 1834 and relocated to Little Rock, Arkansas, to start his medical practice.
On March 14, 1835, Moore entered the U.S. Army, and was appointed as an assistant surgeon. In this capacity he serviced in the American frontier, including regions of Missouri, Kansas, Florida, as well as along the Texas border with Mexico. Moore married Mary Augusta Brown in 1845.

Moore also served as a surgeon during the Mexican–American War, which lasted from 1846 to 1848. He befriended Col. Jefferson Davis, the future Confederate President, who was greatly impressed with Moore's abilities. Following the war with Mexico, Moore served in several U.S. Army postings, including a short stint at the United States Military Academy at West Point as a surgeon. On March 30, 1849, he was promoted to the rank of major in the army's Medical Corps.
Civil War service

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Moore was still a U.S. Army surgeon. He resigned his commission on February 25, and returned to his medical practice in Little Rock, Arkansas. After the state of Arkansas seceded from the Union, Moore was approached by Jefferson Davis to join the Confederate cause, who cited "the army’s unfortunate military situation and the lack of trained medical men..." to persuade him. On March 16 Moore was assigned to lead the new Confederate Army Medical Department as surgeon general. He replaced Charles H. Smith, who had been the acting surgeon general. Moore assumed his post on July 30; he would hold this position until the end of the war. By 1863 Moore's headquarters were the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. He also would set up a Reserve Surgical Corps.
Facing shortages in medicines, supplies, and equipment due to the ongoing Union blockade of Southern ports, as well as a shortage of few trained surgeons, Moore's job was difficult. He raised the recruiting standards and gave the most capable surgeons positions of authority. Moore designed the barracks-hospital layout, which is still in use today. This single level pavilion-style hospital was ordered built throughout the South. He improved the field ambulance corps, and supplemented the few available medicines with drugs made from the South's indigenous plants, which were produced in laboratories set up by Moore.

To address the quality of surgeons, Moore organized an examination system to identify untrained doctors. If they failed, the doctor would serve as an attendant in a hospital for a time and retake the test. This system allowed semi-trained surgeons to be further educated, and unusable doctors to be dismissed from service. In 1864 Moore established the Confederate States Medical and Surgical Journal, a manual to instruct the surgeons throughout the army; it included both exact descriptions and drawings of operations. During the war Moore also founded the Association of Army and Navy Surgeons of the Confederate States of America. This organization is believed to be the oldest military medical society in the United States. He also added dentists to the hospitals, the first time in American history its soldiers and sailors had access to this service. By the end of the war in 1865, the Medical Department of the Confederacy had about three thousand men under Moore.

Postbellum.

After the war ended in 1865, Moore resumed his life as a civilian doctor. He began a medical practice in Richmond, where he would spend the rest of his life. From 1877 to 1883 Moore also served on the Richmond School Board. He died in Richmond in May 1889, and was buried in the city's Hollywood Cemetery.

Legacy
While Moore's abilities and effectiveness have been disputed, Jefferson Davis approved of his performance. Military historian Bruce Allardice describes his contemporary judgments as positive, citing praises such as "his great work as an organizer, his remarkable executive ability" and his "great brusqueness of manner and his sternness as a disciplinarian." Military historian David J. Eicher disagrees, saying "Surg. Gen. William A. Hammond (U.S.) and Samuel P. Moore (C.S.) were relatively ineffective as administrators..." Another summary also praises Moore's results, stating:

With skill and dedication, Dr. Moore transformed the medical corps into one of the most effective departments of the Confederate military and was responsible for saving thousands of lives on the battlefield.
Moore's rank in the Confederate Army has also been disputed. When the Confederate Army's Medical Department was organized on February 26, 1861, the legislation stated the surgeon general would be a colonel. However, Military historian Bruce Allardice considers Moore to be a brigadier general, as did Confederate Veteran magazine. The Confederate Congress's Act of February 27, 1861, stipulated that the post would be a staff officer only. Moore is also listed as an "unsubstantiated" brigadier general of the South Carolina militia, appointed in 1865. Subsequent legislation to make the surgeon general a brigadier was proposed but never became law.
 

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https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/moore-samuel-preston/

Surgeon general of the Confederacy. Born in Charleston on September 16, 1813, Moore was the sixth of nine children born to Stephen West Moore and Eleanor Screven Gilbert. Following his graduation from the Medical College of South Carolina, Moore was commissioned an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1835. He spent the next twenty-five years at a variety of western and southern military posts. During the Mexican War, Moore’s administration of the American General Hospital at Carmago impressed a young Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederacy. By 1860 Moore was serving as medical purveyor at New Orleans.

In 1861 Moore resigned from the U.S. Army and sought a commission in the Confederate military. Jefferson Davis selected Moore as acting surgeon general of the Confederacy. Moore faced the daunting task of creating Southern medical services from scratch. Known as a stern disciplinarian, he was able to field a medical corps of approximately three thousand officers. This was a major feat considering that only twenty-four officers had served in the U.S. Medical Corps and only twenty-seven of his physicians had surgical experience. One of the more imaginative ways Moore achieved this was to establish a scholarship program so that young Southerners could attend Richmond Medical College. Not only did he have to recruit personnel, he also had to create a system of laboratories to supply medical units. He supplied Confederate women with poppy seeds to cultivate so that the South had a homegrown supply of painkillers. Similarly, he purchased four distilleries to provide six hundred gallons of medical alcohol each day and promoted the appropriation of Union stocks. When a lack of Southern manufacturing facilities led to a shortage of medical equipment, Moore located and acquired instruments from retired or deceased doctors.

Moore promoted research throughout the war. He ordered the surgeon Joseph Jones to search out the causes of unusual infections and diseases affecting soldiers. In 1863 he organized the Association of Army and Navy Surgeons of the Confederate States to gather and disseminate information. This group would outlast the war and merge with the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1914. He also instituted a monthly professional periodical, The Confederate States Medical and Surgical Journal, to better educate those under his command.

Moore oversaw each hospital in the South through personal and military correspondence and established large general hospitals, such as Chimborazo in Richmond. His greatest accomplishment might have been the vaccination of the entire Southern army against smallpox in only six weeks, a controversial decision in 1862. In 1913 the Southern Medical Journal stated, “Looking back upon what he achieved, at what he created absolutely out of nothing, the marvel grows until it impresses one today as an impossibility.”

After taking the oath of amnesty in Richmond on June 22, 1865, Moore retired from the medical practice and focused on managing his financial holdings. He died in Richmond on May 31, 1889, after a violent coughing attack. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.