Union Medical Cadets.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Today's mail brought me a stack of Military Images magazines from the 1990s. The September-October 1996 issue has an article, Three Hospitals. A photograph in the article shows G.L. Howard, Med Cadet, USA. The caption states that Medical cadets held the same rank and pay as West Point cadets. This made me wonder if Medical cadets were considered students. It also made me think about what tasks Medical cadets would perform.
 
Last edited:
From the description of an article in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (which requires subscription):
"Among the medical personnel serving the United States during the Civil War was an obscure group of young men called medical cadets. Composed of medical students, the US Army medical cadet corps was created to dress wounds and act as ambulance attendants. As mounting war casualties overwhelmed Army surgeons, medical cadets found themselves taking on much more responsibility for patient care. Although all but ignored in histories of Civil War medicine, the story of the medical cadets provides valuable insight about medical training and military medicine during that conflict."​

There is also Recollections of a Civil War Medical Cadet, by Burt Green Wilder, a Boston medical student who worked in Washington's Armory Square Hospital.

More information here:
 
From the description of an article in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (which requires subscription):
"Among the medical personnel serving the United States during the Civil War was an obscure group of young men called medical cadets. Composed of medical students, the US Army medical cadet corps was created to dress wounds and act as ambulance attendants. As mounting war casualties overwhelmed Army surgeons, medical cadets found themselves taking on much more responsibility for patient care. Although all but ignored in histories of Civil War medicine, the story of the medical cadets provides valuable insight about medical training and military medicine during that conflict."​

There is also Recollections of a Civil War Medical Cadet, by Burt Green Wilder, a Boston medical student who worked in Washington's Armory Square Hospital.

More information here:

Very interesting. I do not believe I have ever heard of the US Army medical cadet corps.
 
My wife's great-grandfather, Edward Curtis, entered the army as a Medical Cadet. I don't yet know a lot about his service, as most of my research about that family has focused on his later years. (BTW, Curtis was one of the surgeons who did the autopsy on President Lincoln.)

This article tells quite a bit about the Medical Cadets, and might have been based partly on the article you mentioned, @major bill. The article also quotes a kind of black-humor poem by Dr. Curtis:


Roy B.
 
My wife's great-grandfather, Edward Curtis, entered the army as a Medical Cadet. I don't yet know a lot about his service, as most of my research about that family has focused on his later years. (BTW, Curtis was one of the surgeons who did the autopsy on President Lincoln.)

This article tells quite a bit about the Medical Cadets, and might have been based partly on the article you mentioned, @major bill. The article also quotes a kind of black-humor poem by Dr. Curtis:


Roy B.

This is an interesting article with a fair amount of information. Before tonight I had never heard of them. I assume many Civil War fans have not heard of them either.
 
Back
Top