Assistant Surgeon/Surgeon Reports?

[civilwarnewbie520]

Hello,

(I am still very much a newbie when it comes to Civil War stuff, so please forgive my ignorance.)

I am trying to research and better understand my ancestor, who was an assistant surgeon with the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. I have seen mentions of surgeons' reports and that sort of thing having been written during the Civil War, but I haven't been able to figure out where any of them are located now (at least for the Union side). Might anyone have any advice for searching for records that my ancestor or his boss, the regimental surgeon, might have created while serving during the Civil War? I already have my ancestor's Compiled Military Service Record, and he wasn't wounded or anything during the Civil War, but I imagine that he or his boss must have been keeping some sort of records about the soldiers that they tended to, even occasionally (especially big battles, like Gettysburg).

(I know about the 6-volume book, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65, that was compiled, but I am looking for the original records that regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons would have kept, if they kept them and if they still exist.)

Thank you in advance!

 

[USS ALASKA]

Sir, do you have any names we could use?

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[BartlbyAdams]

Hello,

(I am still very much a newbie when it comes to Civil War stuff, so please forgive my ignorance.)

I am trying to research and better understand my ancestor, who was an assistant surgeon with the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. I have seen mentions of surgeons' reports and that sort of thing having been written during the Civil War, but I haven't been able to figure out where any of them are located now (at least for the Union side). Might anyone have any advice for searching for records that my ancestor or his boss, the regimental surgeon, might have created while serving during the Civil War? I already have my ancestor's Compiled Military Service Record, and he wasn't wounded or anything during the Civil War, but I imagine that he or his boss must have been keeping some sort of records about the soldiers that they tended to, even occasionally (especially big battles, like Gettysburg).

(I know about the 6-volume book, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 1861–65, that was compiled, but I am looking for the original records that regimental surgeons and assistant surgeons would have kept, if they kept them and if they still exist.)

Thank you in advance!

Great topic! Google Search "Pennsylvania Civil War Sanitary Commision Reports" and there is a whole host of sources that come up. Might help get you where you're trying to be.

"Civil War Sanitary Commission reports cover a wide range of topics, including army sanitation, hospital conditions, the medical treatment of soldiers, and support for servicemen and their families."

Also as it is semi-related, the wonderful novel "Edgar Holden, M.D., of Newark, New Jersey: Provincial Surgeon on a National Stage" by Dr. Sandra Moss (written about the very same Edgar Holden that wrote the famous account of the USS Passaic) details his time as an Assistant Surgeon in the Navy & otherwise. Great resource.

 

[lupaglupa]

You might try searching for your ancestor here:

The medical and surgical history of the war of the rebellion (1861-65) - Digital Collections - National Library of Medicine

collections.nlm.nih.gov

 

[lupaglupa]

Also - the National Museum of Civil War Medicine could be a good resource. Here is their list of resources for Union medical records -

Union Medicine

Researching Civil War medicine in the Union and don't know where to start? Check out these primary sources online.

www.civilwarmed.org

 

[huskerblitz]

Im not sure how to find reports from surgeons, I've tried. Someone recently shared a pension file with me where the assistant surgeon stated he had the regimental medicals with him....post war! No clue where they wound up.

 

[Tom Elmore]

During a battle, assistant surgeons were frequently posted well to the front, providing initial aid to wounded soldiers, who would then be taken to field hospitals further to the rear where surgeons were located. At these forward aid stations, there was no time to prepare written reports. Even records from rear-area hospitals were usually brief and incomplete in the immediate aftermath of a major battle given the constant employment and utter fatigue of the surgeons involved.

However, in the days, weeks and months to follow, surgeons and assistant surgeons stationed at general hospitals would typically keep detailed records on individual soldiers, to include the nature of their wounds, treatment rendered, and changes in their overall condition. These latter records/reports sometimes made it into individual service records of the soldier/patient, and some of the more interesting cases were later published in the Medical and Surgical History as noted above. Unfortunately, the Fold3 resource does not yet have complete service records on most Union regiments, except for a few smaller states like Massachusetts and Vermont.

I have been tracking such reports from Gettysburg's Camp Letterman General Hospital and each one is quite valuable. But it is mere chance that they appear in a wounded soldier's service record. Here's one I found recently:

Williamson, James S - Page 57 - US, Civil War Service Records (CMSR) - Confederate - Alabama, 1861-1865

www.fold3.com

 

[Tom Elmore]

Assistant Surgeon J. H. Roberts was with the 102nd Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, at least according to the regiment's plaque affixed to the Pennsylvania Memorial on that battlefield. However, I have not yet uncovered any information on where he served or the identity of any of his patients.

Surgeon Matthew Porter Morrison also served with the 102nd Pennsylvania at Gettysburg according to the same source, and the only information I have on him is that he graduated from Washington College, Pennsylvania in 1847, and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1851. But again, nothing on his patients or the field hospital/grounds where he served.

Not that many surgeons or assistant surgeons with the Federal army remained behind at Gettysburg, because they were soon ordered to rejoin their commands, having been largely replaced by contract surgeons.