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A history of George W. Murray, and his long confinement at Andersonville
A pattern-maker in Springfield before the outbreak of the Civil War, George W. Murray was taken prisoner, along with his three elder brothers, after the battle of Spotsylvania and confined to the infamous Confederate prison at Andersonville. He…
The army hymn
This patriotic musical poem was first printed in the June issue of The Atlantic monthly and also as part of a program for a prize-giving ceremony at the Boston Latin School on May 25, 1861, just a few weeks after Confederate forces began firing on…
My hunt after 'The Captain'
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., abandoned his studies at Harvard College to join the Massachusetts Volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was wounded on October 21, 1861, at the battle of Ball’s Bluff, in Virginia, and attended by a…
Fractured humerus with healed amputation
Case history: From an active, and powerful man who served as an artillerist in the American Civil War. In 1864, his hand was severely injured by the premature discharge of a cannon. It was amputated at the wrist joint. Subsequently, the forearm was…
Chess Pieces
The wooden chess set pieces were carved by Zabdiel Boylston Adams and Fred Guyer during internment at Libby Prison in May 1864. Both were Captains in the Union army and injured and captured at the Battle of Wilderness.
United States Navy amputation kit
These instruments were used by Union Navy Assistant Surgeon and 1861 Harvard Medical School graduate Charles Thatcher Hubbard aboard the USS Unadilla during the American Civil War. The Unadilla was one of the Union's 2390 day gunboats and was…
Fractured Right Humerus- Proximal Portion, due to Gunshot Wound
Inscription: "No. 152" written on the underside of the base in pencil; "6780." written on a small label adhered to the bone.
Distal Portion of a Right Femur with an Embedded Musket Ball
Inscription: "6693 12-3" Stamped on the bone in red; "6693 12-3 12" written on the underside of the base in pencil.
Distal end of left femur with fracture and lead ball embedded in lateral condyle
The preparation was originally collected and mounted by the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C., most likely number 460. Army Medical Museum 460 was a gunshot fracture of the femur from an Union soldier in the American Civil War. Inscription: in…
Portion of fractured comminuted right femur
Inscription: "6691" written on the shaft in red; "6691" etched on the underside of the base.
Excised head of humerus
This amputated head of the left humerus was excised from a soldier in the American Civil War. He was shot at the battle of Fredericksburg. The amputation was performed sometime after the injury by Algernon Coolidge and was successful. The soldier was…
Cranium fragment with embedded bullet
This cranium fragment is from a solider of the American Civil War. He exhibited no symptoms after injury. The wound developed into a brain abscess and the soldier died 3 weeks after being shot.
Inscription: in pencil on bottom of base: "Civil War /…
Inscription: in pencil on bottom of base: "Civil War /…
Tourniquet, invented during the American Civil War for the personal use of soldiers
This tourniquet was invented during the American Civil War for the personal use of soldiers. Large numbers of these tourniquets were manufactured and supplied to the war's participants.
Inscription: "Lambert S. JANY 7 1869"
Inscription: "Lambert S. JANY 7 1869"
Fractured radius and ulna with gun shot wound
Case history: This radius and ulna was from a 35 year old soldier injured on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg. His radius was fractured by gunshot and his ulna by a two inch long piece of fragmented gun barrel. The soft tissue of the soldier's arm was…
Portions of humerus removed for an ununited fracture after gunshot wound
Case history:From an unidentified soldier whose arm was shattered by gunshot in mid-April 1862. Immediately after the injury fragments were removed from the arm, the ends of the fractured bone were sawed off, and fit together. After six months…
Right scapula, showing a well-defined circular rifle ball perforation
This scapula was found or removed from an unidentified soldier injured on a Virginia battlefield in 1863.
Inscription: "984 12-3 Civil War Gettysburg" written on the underside of the base in pencil; Hand written label "984. Gun Shot Fracture."…
Inscription: "984 12-3 Civil War Gettysburg" written on the underside of the base in pencil; Hand written label "984. Gun Shot Fracture."…
"The Salem leg, under the patronage of the United States government for the use of the army."
The injuries and amputations of Civil War soldiers fostered a booming industry in the manufacture and marketing of artificial limbs. The Salem Leg Company—Dr. Edward Brooks Peirson was the president of its board—achieved early prominence due to its…
"Private L. H. Parham"
This report to the Senate outlines the treatment of Union prisoners of war by the Confederate forces at Belle Isle.
"Your committee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion, expressed by so many of our released…
"Your committee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion, expressed by so many of our released…
"Sanitary Commission bulletin," vol. 1, no. 22.
Issued twice monthly from November, 1863, to August, 1865, the Bulletin reported on the work of the Commission and the local sanitary fairs, accounts of battles and the experiences of prisoners of war, and provided a regular means to report on the…
"Sanitary Commission bulletin," vol. 1, no. 2.
Issued twice monthly from November, 1863, to August, 1865, the Bulletin reported on the work of the Commission and the local sanitary fairs, accounts of battles and the experiences of prisoners of war, and provided a regular means to report on the…
Autograph letter signed : Ely's Ford, Va., to [Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch, Boston, Mass.].
Bowditch writes:
I write this to send by a waggon train that is going to Rappahannock Station tomorrow morning. They might just as well send us too if there was any one to take the responsibility of it but the comfort of 100 or so wounded men is…
I write this to send by a waggon train that is going to Rappahannock Station tomorrow morning. They might just as well send us too if there was any one to take the responsibility of it but the comfort of 100 or so wounded men is…
"A manual of military surgery; or, hints on the emergencies of field, camp and hospital practice."
S. D. Gross, professor of surgery at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was one of the country's foremost operative surgeons. He designed this brief textbook on field surgery for emergencies: portable, easy of reference, always at hand.…
"The autobiography of a quack : and the case of George Dedlow"
This tale of a Civil War soldier, George Dedlow, who loses both his arms and his legs but continues to experience sensation in his missing limbs the phantom limb phenomenon was written by Silas Weir Mitchell and grew out of his experience with…
Scrapbook on the death of Robert Ware
An 1856 graduate of Harvard Medical School and son of faculty member, John Ware (1795-1864), Robert Ware was an inspector with the United States Sanitary Commission and later a surgeon with the 44th Massachusetts Volunteers. Nearly fifty letters…
Autograph letter signed : Washington, D.C., to [Abby Ann Newbold Cox, New York, N.Y.?]
Former professor of surgery at the New-York Medical College, Abraham L. Cox resigned his New York practice at the opening of the war and became the Surgeon-in-Chief, 1st Division, 20th Corps, of the Army of the Cumberland. "Hastened by the labor and…
Autograph letter signed : Baton Rouge, La., to [John Rogers, Roxbury, Mass.,?].
Alfred R. Glover's body was brought back to Massachusetts and buried in Forest Hills Cemetery. His wife, Mary Louisa Bodge Glover, died on September 10, 1864, of phthisis, though according to Henry A. Willis, historian of the 53rd Regiment, she, it…
"The empty sleeve : or, The life and hardships of Henry H. Meacham, in the Union army / by himself."
Henry H. Meacham, a former carriage-maker in Massachusetts, joined the 32nd Massachusetts Volunteers; his arm was blown off by a shell near Petersburg in June, 1864. He printed and sold this pamphlet to make a living for himself and his ailing wife.…
"Armory Square Hospital Gazette," Armory Square, Washington, D.C. Vol. 2, no. 64. Page 1.
The Armory Square Hospital (now the site of the National Air and Space Museum) was active from August, 1862, through September, 1865, and many of the worst casualties of the Civil War battlefields were treated there. The patients and a former nurse…
Great fair for the Sanitary Commission held at New York.
Verso: "Blessed is the Giver. Great fair for the Sanitary Commission, New York, May, 1864."
Soldiers' Fair at Springfield, Massachusetts
Recto: "Abraham Lincoln born Feb. 12, 1809."
Verso: "Soldiers' fair, Dec' 1864. Springfield, Mass."
Verso: "Soldiers' fair, Dec' 1864. Springfield, Mass."
Great Central Sanitary Fair at Philadelphia
Recto: "We gave our wealth for those who gave their health for us."
Verso: "In commemoration of the great central fair for the U.S. Sanitary Commission held at Philadelphia, June 1864."
Verso: "In commemoration of the great central fair for the U.S. Sanitary Commission held at Philadelphia, June 1864."
James Gowran
Gowran was treated at the Lincoln General Hospital in Washington.
"North Western Sanitary Fair, Chicago, Ill., 1865."
Columbia to left, waving American flag. At her feet, an eagle, shield with arrows, and boxes and barrels that are marked NW, NW SV and N.W. SAN COM. The sun setting behing mountains, artillery park, and lake with ships and monitor.
Autograph letter signed : Lynchburg, Va., to James T. Fields
A graduate of Harvard Medical School in 1853, Zabdiel Boylston Adams enlisted in 1861, joining the 7th Massachusetts Volunteers as an assistant surgeon. He was later a captain with the 56th Massachusetts Volunteers. Adams was wounded at Orange…
Autograph letter signed : Whitehouse Landing, Va.,
to Fanny [Ware].
An 1856 graduate of Harvard Medical School and son of faculty member, John Ware (1795-1864), Robert Ware was an inspector with the United States Sanitary Commission and later a surgeon with the 44th Massachusetts Volunteers. Nearly fifty letters…
"Charles B. Johnson, age 21, Hospital Steward, 130th Illinois Infantry Volunteers."
Charles B. Johnson, who served with the 130th and 77th Illinois regiments and became a physician after the war.
Late in life, he published a memoir of his experiences with particular attention to medical care and diseases of soldiers during the…
Late in life, he published a memoir of his experiences with particular attention to medical care and diseases of soldiers during the…
"To arms! To arms! : Men of Massachusetts! Your country is in danger! ...
Fill up the regiments then, and let not Massachusetts be behindhand in sending her quota of troops ... "
After his older brother, Henry Pickering Bowditch, enlisted, Charles, then finishing his sophomore year at Harvard College, sought his father's permission to do the same. When his request was refused, Bowditch wrote, "The country must be aroused to…
"It's too late, Dr., ye are."
The obstetrical scene depict is dated November 30, 1864. Dr. S. W. Abbott, a former surgeon with the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, stated in 1893 that Sargent drew this while in camp in front of Petersburg. Nine days afterward he was killed by a…
"Camp near Falmouth, Va."
This drawing, from 1863, is part of a letter to Sargent's young son, George; he wrote, I shall try and get leave to come home one of these days. I hope you will be glad to see me when I come. If you are not glad, I shall be very sorry, I can tell…
Radiograph of the right elbow of Henry Pickering Bowditch, showing fragments of bullet
Autograph presentation inscription "from E. A. Codman to Henry P. Bowditch" on verso
Zabdiel Boylston Adams (1829-1902)
A graduate of Harvard Medical School in 1853, Zabdiel Boylston Adams enlisted in 1861, joining the 7th Massachusetts Volunteers as an assistant surgeon. He was later a captain with the 56th Massachusetts Volunteers. Adams was wounded at Orange…
"The soldiers' manual : a hand book of useful and reliable information, showing who are entitled to pensions, increase, bounty, pay, etc. ... "
The manual's introduction states:
There is no particular class of wounds, injuries, or diseases, for which pensions are granted. It depends not so much upon the wound, injury, or disease itself, as upon the disabled condition arising therefrom. A…
There is no particular class of wounds, injuries, or diseases, for which pensions are granted. It depends not so much upon the wound, injury, or disease itself, as upon the disabled condition arising therefrom. A…
Traveling homeopathic pharmaceutical kit
Inscription inside reads: "This medicine case is one of the articles which belonged to the late 1st Lieut. Alfred R. Glover, who was killed in battle, June 14th, 1863, at Port Hudson, La., and was afterward returned to his home."