MCCWRT Discussion Group: Civil War Technology-- Part 1

On October 22, 2022, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table (Illinois) (MCCWRT) met at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake with the topic being "Civil War Technology."

I had found a list of "Top Ten Innovations of the Civil War" from the May 17, 2017, War History on Line site and we used that to kickoff the discussion with these questions.  Not only did they have to guess the answer, but also tell what innovation it was.

1.  Who was the Father of Battlefield  Medicine?

2.  Who was the first president to be able to communicate effectively during battle?

3.  Who was John Hunt Morgan's code genius?

4.  What was the favorite choice of anesthetic?

5.  Name the Confederate surgeon who perfected a standard anesthetic inhaler.

Answers below.

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1.  Army Ambulance Corps //  Dr. Jonathan Letterman

2.  Portable Telegraph //  Abraham Lincoln  

3.  George A. "Lightning" Ellsworth

4.  Anesthesia Inhaler  //  Ether

5.  Dr. Julian  Chisholm

--Old Secesh

Six Medical Myths That Just Won't Die-- Part 5: Just Whiskey and the Tent

MYTH   #5 

There Were No Effective Drugs/Pharmaceuticals During the Civil War and Whiskey Was the Only Painkiller Available.

Morphine, opiates and other pain relieving  medicines were available.   

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MYTH   #6

The First Tent Hospital Was  Established By Jonathan Letterman After the Battle of Antietam (Also Reported As After the Battle of Gettysburg).

Actually, a fairly large  tent hospital was established  after the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862.

All Sorts of Interesting Stuff in This Civil War talk post.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting Tuesday April 9: Civil War Medicine

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) will be meeting Tuesday, April 9, 2019  (Appomattox Day) at the Woodstock Public Library at 414 W. Judd Street in Woodstock, Illinois at 7 p.m..

This month's topic is Civil War Medicine with speaker Trevor Steinbach.

All are welcome, members and non-members.  If you have an interest in history or the Civil war, where else would you want to be?

Between last month's presentation on Dr. Jonathan Letterman who did so much to organize the Army of the Potomac's hospitals and this one, we are sure becoming somewhat experts in this area.

See You There.  --Old Secesh

Charles Stuart Tripler, U.S. Surgeon-- Part 2: Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac

During the Mexico City Campaign, Tripler  was assigned as medical director of General David E. Twiggs division and afterwards was ordered to organize and command the army's  general hospital in that city.  After the war, he continued serving in New York, Michigan, Kentucky and California.

On an expedition to  to Panama, the soldiers began to get sick from a variety of ailments which alerted Tripler to the inadequate medical procedures being used.

In the Civil War, he was appointed  Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861.  He came under fire by the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and was replaced by Jonathan Letterman.

He was allowed to chose his next post and he chose Chief Surgeon of the Department of the Lakes and stayed at that position for the rest of the war.

Death came to him in 1866.

--Old Secesh

Charles Stuart Tripler, Union Surgeon-- Part 1

As long as I am on the subject of Union surgeons, I will write about this man.  In the last post, I mentioned that he preceded Jonathan Letterman as chief surgeon of the Army of the Potomac.  Another man whom I had never heard of before this month.

From Wikipedia.

CHARLES STUART TRIPLER

(January 19, 1806 - October 20, 1866)

United States brigadier general and surgeon.

Posthumously appointed brigadier general by President Johnson in 1867.  The Tripler Army Medical Center in Oahu, Hawaii, is named for him.

Graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1827, served as a resident at Bellevue Hospital and then became an assistant to the West Point post surgeon and was commissioned an army assistant surgeon in 1830.

He served all over and then in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican War.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 4: Battle of Antietam a Shining Moment In His Career

Charles Stuart Triplet preceded Jonathan Letterman as the head of medicine in the Army of the Potomac.

William A. Hammond was surgeon general of the United States.

The Battle of Antietam was probably the shining moment of Letterman's career.  He scoped out sites for hospitals.  Within 48 hours Letterman had most Union casualties off the battlefield.

Clara Barton began her work at Antietam.  Confederate casualties were treated in Union hospitals as well as Union casualties being treated in Confederate hospitals.  Once you were wounded or hurt on the battlefield, you were no longer the enemy.

Being a registered Antietam tour guide, Mr. Dammann knows there are four witness trees at the battlefield.

After Antietam, Jonathan Letterman was not as involved  with the Army of the Potomac, partly because McClellan, a big supporter, was removed from command.

At Chancellorsville, Letterman and Confederate surgeon Lafayette Guild got together and worked out an exchange of casualties.

After the war, Letterman moved out west and died, but his body was brought back east and buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 3: Advancements in Medicine

Continuing with the presentation of Gordon Dammann at the March 12 meeting of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table.

The first recorded use of anesthesia was 1847.  Chloroform and ether were used during the war.

During the Mexican War, rank was given to surgeons.

Bull Run was a complete mess for casualties.  Some remained on the field of battle for as many as two weeks.  There was no ambulance system at the time.

In 1862, Letterman joined the Army of the Potomac.  He immediately set out on reforms, including triage, evacuation and field hospitals.

During the Seven Days Battles there were 17,000 casualties.  Hospital ships were used and they had them all out in two weeks.

Ambulances got springs and ambulance crews had training.

Improving Chances of Survival--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 2: Based Work on Teachings of Dominique Jean Larrey

His father was a physician and fairly wealthy.  Letterman took a 3-day test to become a federal surgeon and was of a very few to pass it.  His first posting was at Fort Mead, by present-day Tampa where he became friends with Stonewall Jackson who left the service and went to teach at the Virginia Military Institute.

Letterman went on to serve in Minnesota, New Mexico and San Francisco.

Letterman was much influenced by the work of Baron Dominique Jean Larrey (1776-1842) who served with Napoleon in his Grande Armee as a surgeon and is regarded as the world's first modern military surgeon.   The Baron's four adages about hospital work:  1.  Time,  2)  Triage,  3)  Evacuation.  Speed was of the essence, the faster, the more chance of survival.  Triage meant you first work on those needing it the most.  And, get the wounded off the field and to a hospital.

On the battlefield, the main operation performed was amputation.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting 3/12/19: Jonathan Letterman-- Part 1

This past Tuesday, March 12, 2019, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table (Illinois) met at the Woodstock Library for our first meeting of 2019, after our two month layoff during the winter.

Charlie Banks opened the meeting announcing a couple Civil War battlefield tours.  The Kenosha (Wis.) Civil War Museum will have one October 20-23 to Manassas at a cost of $770 double, $95 single.  This includes everything except getting to and from it.

October 11-12 the Northern Illinois Civil War Round Table will have one to northern Missouri with a $175 cost (not including meals and hotel.

Our speaker tonight was Gordon Dammann, a former dentist in both civilian and military life.  He is also a licensed Battle of Antietam , South Mountain and Harpers Ferry.  Mr. Dammann is a huge Antietam backer and is pleased to announce that a lot of acreage has been added to the battlefield and says this is the most intact battlefield that has changed the least since the time of the battle.

And, the medical situation at Antietam was the Letterman Plan.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 3: It Was His Way for the Casualties

After the Seven Days Battles, Letterman essentially lost his job when his supporter, McClellan was dismissed and Pope installed as leader of the Army of the Potomac.  But after Second Bull Run, McClellan was brought back as was Letterman and they hurriedly put things back in order on their way to Antietam.

It was at Antietam that Jonathan Letterman shone in taking care of casualties.  he had a system of first aid stations at the regimental level where principles of triage (who gets treated first) were first instituted.

Basically, Letterman instituted standing operation procedure for the intake and subsequent treatment of war casualties and for the first time applied management principles to battlefield medicine.

He established mobile field hospitals at the division and corps headquarters.  They were all connected by an efficient ambulance corps under control of medical staff instead of the Quartermaster Department.  he also arranged for an efficient  system for the distribution of medical supplies.

His system worked at the Battle of Fredericksburg as well, but was compromised at the Battle of Gettysburg.  But later his ideas were adopted by the Army of the Potomac and all Union armies, officially by an Act of Congress in March 1964.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 2: Organized the Medical Service

He was born in Pennsylvania. and graduated from medical college in 1849 and became am assistant surgeon in the Army.  Served in campaigns against the Seminoles in Florida, then in Minnesota and New Mexico and later California.  In these places he was involved in Indian conflict.

With the start of the Civil War, Letterman was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and  a month later, became a major and placed in overall charge as medical director for that Army.  In this position he immediately set about reorganizing the Medical Service.  Things were still a mess when it came to casualties in the Seven Days Battles in June 1862, but by the time of the Battle of Antietam, things were much better.

There were forward treatment stations at the regimental level where principals of triage were first instituted.  Mobile field hospitals were established at the divisional and corps levels.  They were all connected by an efficient ambulance corps.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 1: The Father of Battlefield Medicine"

In the last post I mentioned that the topic of the presentation at the McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table on Tuesday, March 12, was going to be Jonathan Letterman who had a big impact on the battlefield medical practices during the war.  I've never heard of the man.  So some preliminary research is in order.

Never before in American history was the medical profession faced with the sheer numbers of casualties resulting from the Civil War's battlefields and camps.

And, of course, the first place to look is good ol' Wikipedia.  Always the first place to go when you're looking into something for the first time.

Major Jonathan Letterman  (December 11, 1824 - March 15, 1872)

American surgeon credited as being the originator of the modern methods for medical organization in armies or battlefield management in the United States.  Today he is often called "The Father of Battlefield Medicine."

His system of organization enabled thousands of wounded soldiers to be recovered  and treated during the war.

Right M.A.S.H..   --Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting This Tuesday, Mar. 12: Jonathan Letterman

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table will have their regular meeting this Tuesday, March 12 at the Woodstock (Illinois) Library at 414 West Judd Street starting at 7 pm.

This month's presenter will be Gordon Dammann who will speak about Jonathan Letterman.

Letterman is credited with being the originator of modern methods for medical  organization in armies and medicine in the field.  He is known today as "The Father of Battlefield Medicine."

Should be interesting as I had never heard of him before.

The meeting is open to everyone.

AND<  Today is Bang-Clang Day.  This is the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads.  Today, March 9, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw.  Both were ironclads, hence the bang-clang.

Come On Down.  --Old Secesh

Gettysburg Offers Lessons On Battlefield Medicine-- Part 2

Jonathan Letterman's medical innovations impressed Prussian and English observers who praised the system and much of it was adapted by their countries.  And, Civil War treatment remains relevant even in today's far-flung wars.  Civil War doctors resolved problems with transportation, training and even corruption.

More than 5,500 military and emergency responders have attended programs run by the Museum of Civil War Medicine.  The article didn't say where this place was.

Letterman didn't just inspect hospitals, but would also sit beside generals when they were planning campaigns and battles and use the information to locate ambulances and doctors.

An interesting and less-known aspect of the war.

Old Secesh

Gettysburg Offers Lessons On Battlefield Medicine-- Part 1

From the June 23, 2013, Northwest (Illinois) Herald by Kevin Begos, AP.

Cannon and rifles caused thousands of casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg (as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of it these next two days).  Military doctors had plenty of work to do and they used a method of treatment still in use for combat medicine today.

Union Army Major Dr. Jonathan Letterman is remembered as the "Father of Battlefield Medicine" for his Civil War innovations.  Organizing the medical corps was the key to the whole effort.

Before the war, medical supplies were handled by regular quartermaster wagons.  According to retired Lt. General Ronald Ray Blanck, the Army's former surgeon general, that meant it had to compete with "beans and bullets."

The huge losses occurring in the early battles completely swamped the initial treatment procedures.  Wounded were left untreated on the field for days and faced treatment by untrained troops and civilians.  In addition, the killing capacity of the weapons being used had never been seen before.

In 1862, Letterman began creating an ambulance corps and three tiers of field hospitals: at the battlefield for simple wound dressing, nearby for emergency surgery and behind the lines for long-term care and recovery.

Something Definitely Had to be Done.  --Old Secesh