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- Jan 16, 2015
"The hospital knapsack ... is framed similarly to the ordinary knapsack, but larger, being sixteen inches long, fourteen inches wide, and six inches deep. The interior is divided by wooden partitions into four compartments, with a broad band of leather tacked across the lower portion of the enclosure to prevent the contents from dropping out. A leather apron, similar to that of an ordinary knapsack, covers the front of the knapsack. The frame is surmounted by a horseman's valise, which is convenient for carrying large bottles, dressings, and instruments." [source: http://www.cwreenactors.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1876.html; reportedly from Chisolm's Manual of Military Surgery, 1864 edition, p. 136]
"There was an emergency case, about the size of a soldier's knapsack, and, indeed, intended to be carried on an attendant's back like a knapsack. In this emergency case were bandages, adhesive plaster, needles, artery forceps, scalpels, spirits of ammonia, brandy, chloroform, ether, etc. This emergency case, or hospital knapsack, was always taken with the regiment when the firing-line was about to be approached, and where the First Assistant Surgeon was in charge and was ready to render first aid to any who might be wounded." [source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/regimentalhospital.html]
The Assistant Surgeon, accompanied by an orderly with the hospital knapsack, set up a temporary station just beyond musketry range; the Surgeon established a field hospital beyond artillery range. [G. W. Adams, Doctors in Blue]
James R. Morris, who was 41 years old when he enlisted, carried the medical knapsack throughout most of the war to aid the surgeons. [William Calvin Oates, The War Between the Union and the Confederacy (15th Alabama Infantry)]
Morton was my knapsack bearer. He was a young man from Onslow Co. He was a short, stout boy, about 23 and carried the hospital knapsack and his own with perfect ease, and was always ready to do extra duty when called upon. [Journal of Thomas Fanning Wood, Assistant Surgeon, 3rd North Carolina Infantry; Private Jacob Morton's Compiled Service Record]
Julius Perlinski [variant spelling Perlinsky], who mustered in at Savannah as a musician with the 38th Georgia, was a bearer of the medical knapsack as of August 17, 1863 [Perlinski's Compiled Service Record]. Perlinski was born in Prussia in 1836 [Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. VII, Georgia, p. 913]; he was a clothier in Savannah after the war. He died in 1912 and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery [http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122702537]
There was a man always detailed to accompany me to carry the knapsack containing bandages, a pocket case of instruments, and a small amputating case. In the cavalry we could do less for our wounded than in infantry, for the cavalry troops are the eyes and ears for the army, and are usually on the move. [Surgeon Archibald Atkinson, 11th Virginia Cavalry]
"There was an emergency case, about the size of a soldier's knapsack, and, indeed, intended to be carried on an attendant's back like a knapsack. In this emergency case were bandages, adhesive plaster, needles, artery forceps, scalpels, spirits of ammonia, brandy, chloroform, ether, etc. This emergency case, or hospital knapsack, was always taken with the regiment when the firing-line was about to be approached, and where the First Assistant Surgeon was in charge and was ready to render first aid to any who might be wounded." [source: http://www.civilwarhome.com/regimentalhospital.html]
The Assistant Surgeon, accompanied by an orderly with the hospital knapsack, set up a temporary station just beyond musketry range; the Surgeon established a field hospital beyond artillery range. [G. W. Adams, Doctors in Blue]
James R. Morris, who was 41 years old when he enlisted, carried the medical knapsack throughout most of the war to aid the surgeons. [William Calvin Oates, The War Between the Union and the Confederacy (15th Alabama Infantry)]
Morton was my knapsack bearer. He was a young man from Onslow Co. He was a short, stout boy, about 23 and carried the hospital knapsack and his own with perfect ease, and was always ready to do extra duty when called upon. [Journal of Thomas Fanning Wood, Assistant Surgeon, 3rd North Carolina Infantry; Private Jacob Morton's Compiled Service Record]
Julius Perlinski [variant spelling Perlinsky], who mustered in at Savannah as a musician with the 38th Georgia, was a bearer of the medical knapsack as of August 17, 1863 [Perlinski's Compiled Service Record]. Perlinski was born in Prussia in 1836 [Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. VII, Georgia, p. 913]; he was a clothier in Savannah after the war. He died in 1912 and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery [http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122702537]
There was a man always detailed to accompany me to carry the knapsack containing bandages, a pocket case of instruments, and a small amputating case. In the cavalry we could do less for our wounded than in infantry, for the cavalry troops are the eyes and ears for the army, and are usually on the move. [Surgeon Archibald Atkinson, 11th Virginia Cavalry]
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