Hospice to Demonstrate Civilian Care for Gettysburg Reenactment

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<font size="+0">Hospice to Demonstrate Civilian Care for Gettysburg Reenactment</font>

July 1, 2002--Most Civil War reenactments have participants who portray medics, men who, often under fire, tried to care for the wounded and evacuate them for further medical care.

Less often seen, though, is what that "further care" consisted of. Beyond a "doctor's tent" with an obligatory bag of prop arms and legs to be flung out the door as if amputations were constantly in progress, details are seldom shown.

This will not be the case at the Gettysburg 139th Anniversary event this weekend. For the first time, employees of the Hospice of the Good Shepherd will be presenting a depiction of what long-term medical care looked like in 1863.

“This is the first time we’ve done anything like this,” said Lori Sterner, public relations and marketing coordinator.

Darcy Sowders, director of Hospice Services, said the organization’s presence at the re-enactment is two-fold – to raise awareness of the Hospice mission and to raise funds.

Hospice will be selling hand made quilts, sculptures, pottery and flags to benefit Hospice of the Good Shepherd Ministry.

“We have an exact replica of the Sanitary Commission quilt,” said Sterner. “And we’ve made patriotic cockades," lapel decorations popular in the period.

“It’s a great opportunity to educate the public and let them know what we do,” said Sowders. The 139th Anniversary Re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg will take place July 5, 6, and 7 at the Yingling Farm on Pumping Station Road in Freedom Township. The gates open daily at 8:30 a.m.

Hospice nurse Laurie Ewers is an avid, experienced re-enactor who shares the truth about medicine during the Civil War. She is a member of the Civil War Surgeons Society.

“It wasn’t as barbaric as people might think,” said Ewers. “In fact, a lot of stuff we do today was invented then.”

Ewers wants visitors to know that men were nurtured and cared for by many women who left their homes to take on the burden of caring for men they did not know.

“I want to bring more of the civilian experience to the story. And tell how the general population became involved with the war machine,” she told the Gettysburg Times.

“If you were injured you wanted to be in a nun’s ward. Or at least a ward run by women,” she said, adding that some figures suggest soldiers death rates were lower in facilities where women worked.

“When Camp Letterman opened in late July, the army went door to door to tell the men to evacuate to the hospital. But the women begged to keep them in their homes. These men, these strangers, had become family to them,” she said.

Ewers is a little sad about the the current state of Camp Letterman, which has been developed. “It was hallowed ground,” said Ewers. “People really suffered there.”

Hospice will be set up in the living history village and along sutler's row at Yingling Farm, with all participants in period clothing. Besides the medical aspects, the group will be offering activities for children including games of the time as well as more serious activities like bandage rolling.

“We’ll have bandage rolling, the children will be able to write letters to the soldiers and we’ll be creating church dolls and playing games of the era,” said Lori Sterner.

“The church dolls are made out of fabric and were often created by mothers for their children out of handkerchiefs during church services,” she added.

Courtesy of:
Civil War Interactive: The Daily Newspaper of the Civil War
www.civilwarinteractive.com