Doctors in Gray: The Confederate Medical Service

Rating:
Summary: A Study of the Confederate Medical Service
Review: Although books on the military and political aspects of the Civil War abound there are surprisingly few books devoted to the study of Civil War medical care. There are fewer books still that examine in detail medical care within the Confederacy. H.H. Cunningham's "Doctors in Gray" first was published in 1958 and remains an excellent study of the Confederate medical service.

The book begins with an examination of the specific medical problems the Confederacy faced in 1861 which intensified as the War continued: lack of medical personnel, lack of medical supplies lack of food, an ever-tightening blockade, among others. Cunningham then proceeds to examine the ways in which the Confederate government and military tried to bring sufficient medical care to its troops and to prisoners of war within its lines.

Cunningham describes the organization of the Confederate medical service and the large general hospitals the Confederacy opted to establish for the care of its sick and wounded. The largest of these hospitals (and the largest Civil War hospital) was Chimbarozo in Richmond. The book then considers the field hospitals established in line of battle. Cunningham stresses the flexible, mobile nature of these hospitals and how they were constructed to move in a short time as required by the hazards of battle.

There are discussions on the ways in which the Confederate Medical Service endeavored to procure supplies and of how the availablity of supplies changed with the South's military fortune. There are detailed discussions of the diseases which claimed the lives of many soldiers and sailors and their sources in the unhygenic conditions of camps and ships. The book discusses medical care at the time of the war -- the use of chloroform, the prevalence of amputation, and experiments with various remedies to cure prevalent diseases. Interestingly, the Confederate Medical Service was the first in wartime to establish a dental care unit for its troops. It was well ahead of the Union army in this respect.

Cunningham discusses Confederate medical officers, their training and the difficulties under which they labored. He offers judicious and thougtful assessments of the successes and failures of the Confederate Medical Service. He concludes, reasonably enough, that it performed as well as could have been expected during that time under highly difficult circumstances.

Cunningham's book is still in print and worth reading. I am pleased to see, from this site, that others are reading and learning from the book. I enjoyed reading the excellent and succinct review below.

Rating:
Summary: A Study of the Confederate Medical Service
Review: Although books on the military and political aspects of the Civil War abound there are surprisingly few books devoted to the study of Civil War medical care. There are fewer books still that examine in detail medical care within the Confederacy. H.H. Cunningham's "Doctors in Gray" first was published in 1958 and remains an excellent study of the Confederate medical service.

The book begins with an examination of the specific medical problems the Confederacy faced in 1861 which intensified as the War continued: lack of medical personnel, lack of medical supplies lack of food, an ever-tightening blockade, among others. Cunningham then proceeds to examine the ways in which the Confederate government and military tried to bring sufficient medical care to its troops and to prisoners of war within its lines.

Cunningham describes the organization of the Confederate medical service and the large general hospitals the Confederacy opted to establish for the care of its sick and wounded. The largest of these hospitals (and the largest Civil War hospital) was Chimbarozo in Richmond. The book then considers the field hospitals established in line of battle. Cunningham stresses the flexible, mobile nature of these hospitals and how they were constructed to move in a short time as required by the hazards of battle.

There are discussions on the ways in which the Confederate Medical Service endeavored to procure supplies and of how the availablity of supplies changed with the South's military fortune. There are detailed discussions of the diseases which claimed the lives of many soldiers and sailors and their sources in the unhygenic conditions of camps and ships. The book discusses medical care at the time of the war -- the use of chloroform, the prevalence of amputation, and experiments with various remedies to cure prevalent diseases. Interestingly, the Confederate Medical Service was the first in wartime to establish a dental care unit for its troops. It was well ahead of the Union army in this respect.

Cunningham discusses Confederate medical officers, their training and the difficulties under which they labored. He offers judicious and thougtful assessments of the successes and failures of the Confederate Medical Service. He concludes, reasonably enough, that it performed as well as could have been expected during that time under highly difficult circumstances.

Cunningham's book is still in print and worth reading. I am pleased to see, from this site, that others are reading and learning from the book. I enjoyed reading the excellent and succinct review below.

Rating:
Summary: Insight into the Confederacy
Review: Cunningham has created here a comprehensive history of the medical services of the Confederate states in the Civil War era. Cunningham explains in great detail many afflictions and circumstances that befell Confederate soldiers that ultimately resulted in medical treatment by a Confederate doctor. Ironically, he finds that the majority of the 200,00 soldiers who died during the Civil War had died due to illness or battle wounds which is indicative of a burgeoning and developing medical system that moved from primitive to slightly better by the end of the war. Cunningham explains that while the Confederate doctors did they best they could with the resources and shortcomings they had, their care was still better than no care and there were some doctors who were exceptions to the popular belief that Confederacy personnel were largely untrained.