NF Death, Disease, and Life at War: The Civil War Letters of Surgeon James D. Benton, 111th and 98th Ne

Non-Fiction
To the OP, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Chris Loperfido and I am the author of Death, Disease, and Life at War. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the book. If anyone on here has read it I would love to hear your honest feedback. As an author its extremely important to receive opinions about our work. I have a Facebook page pertaining to the book and civil war medicine you might be interested in as well, its facebook.com/civilwarmedicine
 
To the OP, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Chris Loperfido and I am the author of Death, Disease, and Life at War. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the book. If anyone on here has read it I would love to hear your honest feedback. As an author its extremely important to receive opinions about our work. I have a Facebook page pertaining to the book and civil war medicine you might be interested in as well, its facebook.com/civilwarmedicine
Did you happen to read Dr. B F Stevenson's published letters from the war?
 
I don't know how much you're interested in doctor's perspective of the war or just Dr. Benton. If it's the former then you might enjoy his letters from Cumberland Gap to Vicksburg. You can read them for free at the site below if you're interested.
https://archive.org/stream/lettersfromarmy00stev_0#page/n3/mode/2up

I mainly read stuff from the Western theater but your book sounds interesting. Congrats on the book.


Thank you very much. I am always on the look out for first hand accounts from surgeons during the war. It is an excellent way to get new material for presentations.
 
Another for the list although these can be tough reading. Of all professions during the war, you just do not know how the surgeons stuck it out. If letters shed some light on how they managed it, it would be extremely helpful.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for bringing this surgeon's story, forward.
 
Another for the list although these can be tough reading. Of all professions during the war, you just do not know how the surgeons stuck it out. If letters shed some light on how they managed it, it would be extremely helpful.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for bringing this surgeon's story, forward.


Thank you for the interest. James touches on what drove him to enlist (money) and what keeps him going in several letters during the war.
 
Mr. Loperfido,

Thank you for posting. I bought your book and hopefully, it'll arrive in a few days. I purchased the book from a Civil War book store in Pennsylvania. Your book was mentioned in one of the stores recent e-mails.
 
Mr. Loperfido,

Thank you for posting. I bought your book and hopefully, it'll arrive in a few days. I purchased the book from a Civil War book store in Pennsylvania. Your book was mentioned in one of the stores recent e-mails.

Thank you for your purchase of my book, it is appreciated. If you would like a signed bookplate message me your address and I can send one out. If you could please leave an honest review on Amazon I would be grateful.
 
Thank you for the interest. James touches on what drove him to enlist (money) and what keeps him going in several letters during the war.


Thank you! Became interested in the docs bumping into accounts from Bull Run, genuinely accidentally. None were written by surgeons there, I think first, the shocked newspapers, then different post-battle accounts. Being a member here, someone regularly posts their ordeals, too. Slowly gathered what is probably only a vague idea of how insane a war they had.

Nothing beats the letters and journals, especially for the ' whys ' and ' hows '. Will be extremely interested on the second- how these men stayed. Arabella Wilson's book on the 126th New York speaks of the hit the 2nd Corp Hospital took at Gettysburg, killing ( maybe 2? ) doctors. Gave me a more exact idea of how close they stayed to death, too. Sorry to be long- just intrigued, so thanks for bringing your book here.
 
Thank you! Became interested in the docs bumping into accounts from Bull Run, genuinely accidentally. None were written by surgeons there, I think first, the shocked newspapers, then different post-battle accounts. Being a member here, someone regularly posts their ordeals, too. Slowly gathered what is probably only a vague idea of how insane a war they had.

Nothing beats the letters and journals, especially for the ' whys ' and ' hows '. Will be extremely interested on the second- how these men stayed. Arabella Wilson's book on the 126th New York speaks of the hit the 2nd Corp Hospital took at Gettysburg, killing ( maybe 2? ) doctors. Gave me a more exact idea of how close they stayed to death, too. Sorry to be long- just intrigued, so thanks for bringing your book here.


The assistant surgeons such as the subject of my book were the ones closest to the front lines. They were responsible for setting up the dressing station, likely a few hundred yards behind the front to deliver immediate aid to stem bleeding and get the men ready for transport to the field hospital. A collection of letters from the war are rare and even rarer are letters written from men in the medical corps.
 
Yes, in their imaginary spare time, guessing they'd get to it. Have not had the chance to see if Amazon has ' Kindled ' your book ( Valentine's Day is one of my busy ' seasons ' ), am briefly free to go add to this endless list- ' Civil War, Read Me Now ".

@lelliott19 , hate to be intrusive, have you bumped into this? You tend to stay on top of ' medicine ' and ' The War ', so may sound silly. Since your ancestor was a surgeon, experiences had to be similar, horribly so? Also an intrusive question, did he leave letters?
 
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