Civil War Ambulance.

[Robert Gray]

Photograph of an army ambulance being loaded with wounded soldiers. Image caption reads, "Grandfather York with his ambulance during the Civil War."

Typical army ambulances were wagons covered with a canvas cover, pulled by horses or mules, with room for two to four stretchers and one or two walking wounded. Lacking springs or other suspension, the trip from the battlefield to the field hospital could be extremely painful. The sight of ambulances such as these would have been common on the battlefields of the Trans-Mississippi Theater.

Tintype by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson's Creek National Battlefield; WICR 32037

 

[Saint Jude]

If an ambulance like this were empty or carrying a few uninjured soldiers, how fast could it travel?

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

It had springs, I can see them, but it would still be rough.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

A few weeks ago, during the 157th anniversary of Antietam, the Pry House had an exhibit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine set up. They had an ambulance completely recreated and let me sit in it and take pictures of course!

This is meant to hold 12 wounded men sitting up OR the benches fold up to make 2 flat layers and supposedly, 2 to 3 men laying down on top and on the bottom. Depending on size it would be pretty tight and claustrophobic to me.

This is your fancy breaking system. You'd better hope you have an experienced and good team of horses working with you!

And here is you "all weather" driving seat with padding! The set up next to it is from Desert Storm. The Pry House exhibit was showing how current medical triage is a direct result of Dr. Letterman's system. Of course I talked to them about getting horses for this ambulance and the person running the exhibit thought that would be super neat! I'm moving there to work if they do that!

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

These ambulances had leaf springs. The docent at this exhibit said that when these ambulances pulled into Frederick, MD, blood was dripping in huge amounts from the wagons into large pools on the roads and the bottom of these ambulances were awash in blood. Many men died in them before they could get to help.

 

[kyle.dalton]

Glad you had a great time! I'm with the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and we operate the Pry House Field Hospital at Antietam National Battlefield

The ambulance you see here is our reproduction Wheeling or Rosecrans model ambulance wagon. There are numerous reproduction ambulances around the nation, and a few surviving examples in museums including the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Grand Gulf Military Park in Mississippi, and the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia.

Ours is a slightly smaller than original scale, so the accommodation of twelve walking wounded and four doesn't appear quite as spacious as it would be in the war. Many of the supplies required to be carried by the ambulance would have been stored under the driver's seat.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

The program there at 3:00 pm with the docents (as always with your museum) was the best. I've been to your museum in Frederick 4 times and that's something coming from NH! Even at slightly smaller scale, it is still daunting to think that 12 wounded men were expected to sit up in something like that and lean on each other. Yet, it was a huge step up from what had been on a wagon on a single axle.

 

[JOHN42768]

Glad you had a great time! I'm with the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, and we operate the Pry House Field Hospital at Antietam National Battlefield

The ambulance you see here is our reproduction Wheeling or Rosecrans model ambulance wagon. There are numerous reproduction ambulances around the nation, and a few surviving examples in museums including the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Grand Gulf Military Park in Mississippi, and the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia.

Ours is a slightly smaller than original scale, so the accommodation of twelve walking wounded and four doesn't appear quite as spacious as it would be in the war. Many of the supplies required to be carried by the ambulance would have been stored under the driver's seat.

Welcome, enjoy

 

[Seduzal]

Thanks for sharing this awesome article and photos. Enjoyed reading it.

 

[DixieRifles]

There are numerous reproduction ambulances around the nation, and a few surviving examples in museums including the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Grand Gulf Military Park in Mississippi, and the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia.

See this thread.
The Starkville Civil War Arsenal

That thread is 2 years old. Their website has the construction details of ambulance and the finished product. {Edited}

Starkville CW Arsenal--- Amublance

 

[StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal]

View attachment 327809
Photograph of an army ambulance being loaded with wounded soldiers. Image caption reads, "Grandfather York with his ambulance during the Civil War."

Typical army ambulances were wagons covered with a canvas cover, pulled by horses or mules, with room for two to four stretchers and one or two walking wounded. Lacking springs or other suspension, the trip from the battlefield to the field hospital could be extremely painful. The sight of ambulances such as these would have been common on the battlefields of the Trans-Mississippi Theater.

Tintype by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson's Creek National Battlefield; WICR 32037

The Starkville Civil War Arsenal has an exact replica of a Wheeling Ambulance. You can see every step of the build, along with the government specifications for each part of the ambulance. Go to StarkvilleCivilWarArsenal.com and click on Featured items.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I ran into this image a few years ago? At the time the caption said something about Grandfather Frank who was from York? I'm not saying that as a correction, this stuff can get morphed after awhile. Wish I could remember which web site- found it while digging around for information on York soldier's hospital.

Patent for one, no idea if it was used.

A ' Howard '? If LoC's description is correct?