Accounts
Sanitation
Surgeon Charles Tripler an inspector who visited the camps of one Federal Army found that they were, "littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp."1
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Mary Livermore, a nurse, wrote that... "The object of the Sanitary Commission was to do what the Government could not. The Government undertook, of course, to provide all that was necessary for the soldier, . . . but, from the very nature of things, this was not possible. . . . The methods of the commission were so elastic, and so arranged to meet every emergency, that it was able to make provision for any need, seeking always to supplement, and never to supplant, the Government." 2
Dentistry
Medical director William A. Carrington, CSA, commented that dentists "plugged, cleaned, and extracted teeth", in addition to "adjusting fractures of the jaw and operating on the mouth"
Richmond dentist Dr. W. Leigh Burton, commented that his days were filled of "twenty to thirty fillings, the preparation of cavities included, the extraction of 15 or 20 teeth, and the removal of tartar ad libitum!"3
The medical director of the Army of the Potomac, Dr. Jonathan Letterman, wrote in his report after the battle of Antietam:
"The surgery of these battle-fields has been pronounced butchery. Gross misrepresentations of the conduct of medical officers have been made and scattered broadcast over the country, causing deep and heart-rending anxiety to those who had friends or relatives in the army, who might at any moment require the services of a surgeon. It is not to be supposed that there were no incompetent surgeons in the army. It is certainly true that there were; but these sweeping denunciations against a class of men who will favorably compare with the military surgeons of any country, because of the incompetency and shortcomings of a few, are wrong, and do injustice to a body of men who have labored faithfully and well. It is easy to magnify an existing evil until it is beyond the bounds of truth. It is equally easy to pass by the good that has been done on the other side. Some medical officers lost their lives in their devotion to duty in the battle of Antietam, and others sickened from excessive labor which they conscientiously and skillfully performed. If any objection could be urged against the surgery of those fields, it would be the efforts on the part of surgeons to practice "conservative surgery" to too great an extent."5
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Doctors began writing and submitting reports detailing a patients death. Many patients died after having chloroform administered to them. Surgeon Jas. Blaney and Surgeon Wm. B Wyme submitted a case report concerning the death of Corporal Ballou, Co. E, 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry Volunteers. Ballou received an "accidental wound" of the phalangeal bones of the index and middle fingers. The fracture extended into the hand causing ankylosis, thus he could not work for two months. He decided to remove his fingers. Once he was cleared for operation (His heart and lungs were checked) he was given chloroform and the surgery began. He could still feel pain so he was given a little more chloroform. Almost immediately he struggled violently and the “arterial hemorrhage ceased to flow". Doctors examined his tongue and found it had "fallen back". An autopsy showed healthy lungs, but the heart showed the appearance of slight ossification
concluded that death was the result of “immediate paralysis of the heart.”3
1. Goellnitz, Jenny. "Tripler's Report on Sanitation in the Army of the Potomac." ehistory. Accessed February 10, 2017. https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/sanitation.
2. IBID
3. Goellnitz, Jenny. "Civil War Dentistry." ehistory. Accessed April 20, 2017. https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/dentistry.
4. Devine, Shauna. "Chloroform and the American Civil War: The Art of Practice and the Science of Medicine." Mercy Street. Last modified February 22, 2016. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/chloroform-and-the-american-civil-war-the-art-of-practice-and-the-science-of-medi cine/.
5. Goellnitz, Jenny. "Civil War Battlefield Surgery." ehistory. Accessed May 21, 2017. https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/amputations.