The deadly and shocking experience of combat is one of the most horrendous experiences that anyone could ever endure. During our Civil War, the combination of Napoleonic tactics, requiring linear formations with men marching elbow-to-elbow, coupled with the new technology of rifled weapons firing soft lead projectiles that obliterated bone and horribly destroyed human tissue, produced gruesome and horriying scenes and unspeakable scars and dismemberments that are nearly impossible for the modern mind to comprehend. The new volunteer, an innocent and naive civilian, had no idea what was in store for him as he marched off to war amidst parades and bright uniforms. Battle came as a shock, mentally and physically. It was hot, nauseating and debilitating work. Men saw their childhood friends, relatives, and/or comrades brutally killed or dismembered and then of course they became targets themselves. Equally as many became terribly ill and died of diseases that permeated through the entire encampment like wild fire.
At the beginning of the war, both the North and the South were unprepared for the destruction and aftermath of a major battle. There was little or no thought given to medical attention. Worse yet, medical practices at the onset and during the Civil War were primitive. Crude medical techniques added to the losses on the field as well as away from the battlefields.
At the beginning of the hostilities between the States the personnel of the Medical Department were not permanently attached to any regiment or command, but their services were used wherever the demand was the greatest. In both the North and the South small, mobile, isolated medical units were formed and scattered over an immense geographical area. This differed from the European style of medical service which used one vast, centralized corps to cover the needs of all the military.
These mobile units became known as Field Dressing Stations. They were headed by a surgeon with the rank of major of cavalry. If fortunate they also consisted of an assistant surgeon with the rank of captain. The non-commissioned staff contained a hospital steward with some knowledge of medicine and drugs and with the rank of sergeant. Additional enlisted men were detailed to serve as needed under the direction of the medical officer. Not all of the medical officers were regular enlisted men. Some were civilians; country doctors with little surgical and amputation experience. And, when available, some units accepted women as nurses. (Several thousand women left their homes and children and risked their lives, living in tents or wagons, to give care to the sick and wounded troops.) Ideally, each regiment of infantry or cavalry was assigned a mobile medical unit.
The Field Dressing Station (FDS) was expected to be close up in the immediate rear of the center of the regiment. The care to be given the men was of primary attention, first aid to the wounded consisting of temporary control of hemorrhage by ligature, (binding or bandaging) tourniquet, bandage and compress, temporarily fixing of fractured limbs, administering water, anodynes (pain relief medicines) and the dispatch of the wounded to the field hospital by ambulance or any means available, where more intensive medical care would be given.
The medical material available on the battle line was carried by the surgeon in a case called the "surgeon's field companion." The steward carried the "hospital knapsack." Cleanliness was not considered important which caused infection to spread from wound to wound. Dressings were few with the men using dirty handkerchief's to shield wounds. Medicines were carried in pill form. Opium was used with morphine as a second choice. Chloroform was administered, but heart stimulants were not carried by the surgeon. Amputations were not usually done on the field or at the Field Dressing Station. Wounded soldiers needing amputations were transported to the rear to the larger and better equipped Field Hospital.
There were at least three laboratories in the south for making drugs. One in North Carolina, one in Georgia, and one in Mississippi. Natural herbs were often used when drugs became more and more scarce as the war continued. A substitute for quinine was a tincture of dogwood, willow and yellow poplar bark. The common jimson weed (Stamonium, maypop root (Passeflora incarnata) and the poppy were used for pain relief both internally and locally. Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and yellow jasmine controlled nerves in fever. Queen's-root (Stillingia) was used for blood loss. Common alder was used to make salves for ulcers and wounds. And slippery elm bark was used for poultices. Blackberry liquor aided the many cases of dysentery.
The uniform worn by the medical corps was similar to the rank and file with the slight difference of black facings on collar and cuffs and the stripe down the sides of the trousers. The front of the cap contained the letters M.S., embroidered in gold between two olive branches. Various gold braid rows were sewn on the sleeves according to the officer's rank.
The Field Dressing Station tent served as the surgeon's headquarters. These tents usually stood nine feet tall and nine feet in length. The walls were three and one-half feet from ground to separation. The material was "army duck" and the poles were hand-hewn.
Often a clearing on a riverbank with an adequate supply of water would be chosen as a location for the FDS. There would be a stove for heating water, surgical tools, chests of medicines, oil lamps, blankets and collapsible tables and cots.
Temporary splints would be made of long strips of cloth soaked in thick starch. As the starch dried the cloth would stiffen forming a fairly stable support for broken limbs. This technique and the mobile medical tents were first used in the Garibaldi forces in Italy.
Following is a scene paraphrased from the book CIVIL WAR MEDICINE, Care and Comfort of the Wounded, by Robert Denney, Sterling Publishing Co., New York, 1995, p. 34. From this excerpt the reader may catch a small glimpse of what it meant to be on the field of battle giving assistance to the wounded.
We took our positions on the field according to orders . . . carrying canteens of water, flasks of brandy and haversacks of provisions: lint, bandages, etc. A shell burst killing one and wounding three men and two horses. Then the battle began to rage with terrible fury. Nothing could be heard except the artillery's thunder, the clash of steel, and the roar of musketry .... I hurried off for more supplies. Upon returning the field was strewn with wounded, dead and dying. We were ordered to give water to the thirsty troops leaving the care of the wounded until later. We hurried off on horseback to a spring about a mile away. The Minnie balls fell thick and fast around us as we filled dozens of canteens with water. We spent three hours in this manner while the battle rolled on more fiercely than before.
And still the battle continues without cessation; grape and canister fill the air as they go screaming on their fearful errand; the sight of that field is perfectly appalling; men tossing their arms wildly calling for help; there they lie bleeding, torn and mangled; legs, arms and bodies are crushed and broken as if smitten by thunderbolts; the ground is crimson with blood; it is terrible to witness.
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In re-enacting the battle and camp scenes of today, the Field Dressing Station personnel have several functions. The first is to use equipment and dress as authentically as possible. This is done through research and the very knowledgeable assistance of regiment members. A second priority is to give aid on the field of battle which looks like genuine medical care for the wounded and dying. This entails the use of bloodied bandages, giving water and helping the wounded from the thickest battle scene area.
Another very important function is administering water to those in battle during the summer months where heat exhaustion is a true problem. This is done by the hospital steward and one or two "boys", and by dressing station nurses near the battle lines.
After the battle at least two other nurses meet the returning combatants with sliced apples, dill pickles, chips of ice and/or more water, if needed. In camp we bandage wounded re-enactors placing them on cots and in chairs for additional authenticity. And then presentations are given for tours that visit the encampment between battles.
At this time we are a civilian unit attached permanently to the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment. ***** Bibliography: PRISONS AND HOSPITALS by Francis Trevelyan Miller, Editor in Chief, Castle Books, New York, 1957; Organization and Personnel of the Medical Department of the Confederacy by Deering J. Roberts, M.D., Surgeon, Confederate States Army; Pictorial Encyclopedia of CIVIL WAR Medical Instruments and Equipment by Dr. Gordon Dammann, Vol. II, Pictorial Histories Publishing. Co., Missoula, Montana, 1988; The STONEWALL BRIGADE by Frank G. Slaughter. End
