Category Archives: Civil War

Civil War

Surgeons of the Civil War

Civil War Surgeon Kit

Surgeon of the Civil War

The topic of Civil War medicine is one that there have been many, many books and museums dedicated to. This is just a brief  look into the kit of a typical surgeon of the time.

The first thing you notice above and a preponderance of saws alongside the knives.  While a grisly thing, such tools became a necessity . Without a doubt the number one most practiced procedure during the war was amputation. The Minie ball that was in use by both sides during the war was slow-moving and soft lead. When it impacted with the body it caused terrible wounds. If it connected with a bone it would often shatter it spread a grisly form of shrapnel inside the body.

During the fighting arms and legs took the majority of the hits. Most of the time due to the limited knowledge of the day amputation was the only way to save the soldier’s life. While a good surgeon could perform an amputation in ten minutes, bad ones would take much longer.

More Tools of the Surgeon

Among the knives and saws there are a number of probes and forceps. The surgeon used these to pull bullets out of the bodies when time permitted.  In the back of the kit you will see a bottle of chloroform, the  closest thing to a general anesthetic at the time.

Now that we have taken a look at the tools, in another post we will look at what it took to become an army surgeon. That will be almost more shocking than looking in your doctors kit and finding a half-dozen different saws…

Civil War, Uncategorized

You Don’t Know Jacks

Navy Flags or Jacks

You Don’t Know Jacks

Yes, I know the picture is not in that great a focus. I had to be sneaky at this place OK?

What I think makes it interesting is that it breaks down all the different flags you would see on a warship and what they mean. I’ll provide the definitions, the picture can give you an idea of what the flags look like. While this is showing US and Confederate examples, these should be pretty universal for the time.

The definition for the terms we are going to define will be based on what is provided at Sea Talk Nautical Dictionary. The are a free site that takes donations (what a great idea!) so feel free to visit and toss them a few bucks.

Ensign

In flag terms, the ships ensign is the flag of the nation that the ship is sailing under. Sometimes it is the same as the normal flag, but with nautical symbols (like anchors) or a slightly different design. Sometimes it is just a bigger version of the normal flag. It will be the biggest flag on a ship. From far away you will know who you are dealing with.

Jacks

The smaller flags, or jacks, usually flown on the front (bow) of a ship. Again, this is a national flag and where you will see some of the cooler designs.

Commission Pennant

This long streamer designates the ship as being “commissioned”, or on active duty. It is flies at all times. With the advent of professional navies, these pennants distinguish military ships from merchant ships. They remain a source of great pride among the navies of the world.

Officers Flag

Naval officers over the rank of Captain get to fly special flags that denote their rank. If you saw a ship flying one of these you would know immediately who was in charge. Interesting enough, if you ever have heard the term “Flag Officer” this is where it comes from.

The purpose of all of these flags was to provide as much information as possible. In a time  of limited communication these visual cues were important That is of course assuming the ship is playing by the rules.

 

Civil War

Loyalty Oath

A copy of the loyalty oath former Confederates were forced to sign.

Loyalty Oath

In April 1865 the Civil War ended and the time had come to try to rebuild the nation. For the victors in the North the times ahead would be difficult. In the South the struggles were to continue for many years. Reconstruction in many ways prolonged the conflict into the 1870’s.  The story Reconstruction is long and difficult. Winners sought to punish and losers sought to protect some semblance of the life they had before. None can argue that what happened during that time would have been very different if President Lincoln had lived to see it through.

President Lincoln, in December 1863 set out the terms by which he expected the post war period to be. In his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction he laid out the future as he saw it, so sure was he at this pint of a victory, he began to plan the peace. Pictured above is a loyalty oath that each former Confederate soldier had to sign. They then had to to carry with them as proof that they were done fighting.  See, under Lincolns plan, the men who fought were pardoned of treason and could be considered citizens again. To Lincoln the only way forward would be forgiveness.

The Oath

Below is the text of the Loyalty Oath from his original proclamation:

“I,                  , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by congress, or by decision of the supreme court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the supreme court. So help me God.”

 

 

Civil War

Relics

Civil War Relics

Relics

For such a young country, the United States has a lot of history. Just taking into account the American Revolution and the Civil War, we also have a lot of battlefields in the east. Many of these battlefields are still full of relics that enterprising people will go out and find. Sometimes they do it to sell what hey find, sometimes they do it to try to persevere history. For the most part, relic hunting on government-owned land is illegal and some may even question the morality of it. These battlefields are mass grave yards where many hundreds even thousands of people have died.

For collectors there is a draw to these relics. Holding a piece of history in your hand is something beyond words. Stories become real and a sense of magnitude takes over. Guessing how the pieces got to where they were found, who may have touched them, what stories do they hold. Sure, you can go to a museum and see them behind glass, in cases, up on walls, but you can’t touch them or feel them.

Now of course besides the legal issue, you also have the issue of authenticity. Generally of the price is too good to be true, it is. Sometimes though that doesn’t really matter if you need a certain piece for your collection. Price and value are relative in many ways.

Shrapnel

Above is a picture of some pieces from my personal collection. They were supposedly dug from the Seven Pines battlefield in Henrico County Virginia. The battle took place May 31st to June 1st 1862 as part of the Peninsula Campaign during the Civil War.

As you can see they are not cleaned up and only a few pieces are easily recognizable. In the upper left you the broken pieces of an artillery shell (round hollow ball with a fuse that explodes into shrapnel). The Lower left you have a prick, which was used with cannons, once the tube was loaded you would shove the prick into the touch hole to expose the powder. In the upper right is  a nail. The rest appears to be iron banding and other scraps.

Are these really artifacts from a Civil War battlefield? I can not say for certain, but I think they are and that makes it pretty cool to have.

Civil War

As Close As We Can Get: Lincoln’s Masks

Lincoln Death Mask

As Close As We Can Get

Gettysburg is more than a battlefield. It is also the home to a very good museum with a number of fantastic exhibits and artifacts at the visitor center. One artifact worth mention is the plaster mask of President Abraham Lincoln pictured above.

The practice of creating “life” and “death” masks dates far back into antiquity when men of note would allow a mask to be made of their features using plaster. Sometimes done during their life, sometimes not until after they died. These masks are the closest we may ever get to seeing what these men of legend actually looked like.

Lincoln himself had two life masks done . The first in 1860 before becoming president. The second in 1865, just months before his untimely death.  The one pictured above comes from a cast of the 1860 original. It shows a Lincoln, sans beard, before the tolls of politics and war took their toll.

For more information on the masks themselves and the story of their castings visit Abraham Lincoln Online via this link.

Lincoln: Myth or Man?

No matter how you view Lincoln seeing his face, even in plaster, is sobering. Generally considered the best President of the United States he has become more myth than man. In recent years there has been a movement to try to demystify him, to make him more human and flawed. From efforts to paint him as a racist, who only used the issue of slavery as a political tool,  to efforts underway to prove he was homosexual, Lincoln is still a touchstone for controversy.

But seeing that face, as close to reality as you will ever get, shows that he was a man upon which the history of the nation turned on. Standing in front of the exhibit at Gettysburg just adds to the over all feeling of awe at the place.

 

Civil War

The Last Wagon From A Long March

A Civil War Supply Wagon

The Last Wagon

That wagon you see in the picture is special and the last of its kind. If the picture was a little better and a different angle you would see names carved into it. Names of cities and battlefields. Many names that even to this day when people see they will recognize and either smile or grimace. Actually seeing this wagon during the war meant different things to whoever viewed it. For the Union soldier it carried supplies or wounded and represented forward movement and that the war was one step closer to being over. For someone in the Confederacy, seeing that wagon meant one thing. That devil Sherman and his minions had arrived.

Yes, this wagon is the last of those that General Sherman used during his infamous March to the Sea.

The March

After his successful campaign to capture Atlanta from May to September 1864, Sherman started planning his next move. He would send his army from Atlanta to Savannah carving a path of destruction and devastation along the way. The army would leave its supply base and live off the land, in effect it would be on its own behind enemy lines and taking what it needed to survive.

The idea would be to either capture or destroy any and all war materials along the way and to, honestly, terrorizes the civilians and undermine their will to fight. Was it harsh? Yes. Was it immoral and improper? Depends on what side you were on.

What no one can argue is that the march was one of the most famous military campaigns ever. And that wagon in the picture, it was there. Oh the stories I am sure it could tell…

 

 

Civil War, Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Free State of Jones

Free State of Jones [Blu-ray]

We live in a day and age when the causes of the Civil War are still being debated, where is can be said that Reconstruction never truly ended and anything that has to do with the Confederacy is being called out as a sin that should be wiped from the collective memory.

Along comes a movie like Free State of Jones that shows a man rebelling against the rebels, deserting from their army and rallying his relatives and neighbors to stop fighting the wars of the rich planters as he goes on to build a society around the idea that all men, regardless of color are the same. It’s a story that a cynical person could believe was custom-made to get people talking in light of where our society is.

The thing is, it is a true story. Newt Knight was a real person and Jones County Mississippi did indeed break away from the Confederate States of America and actively fought against the Confederate Army on behalf of the Union. Of course being a movie things are not 100% accurate, but the general gist is there.

Matthew McConaughey plays Newt Knight and he does it well.  McConaughey is one of those actors that to me, always feels like he is playing himself instead fo a character, but in this movie he takes on the roles and does a fine job with the material he is given. The rest of the cast is good, but no one really stands out. For the most part that is because the script is a little messy, and paper-thin in places. Which with an over two-hour run time means a lot of water being tread.

As a Civil War movie it is effective in invoking the conflict, while also showing an aspect of it that is no often dealt with. Not everyone who lived in the South and fought for the South did so to defend slavery. The vast majority of the Confederate soldiers were not slave owners and when push came to shove chose to defend their homes and family when the fighting started.

It’s a good movie and well worth seeing once.  As always you can click on the picture above to get the movie at Amazon. Unlike most times though I am also including a link below to the book. If the movie is interesting to you, pick up the book. or just get the book and then check out the movie.

 

Product Details

Book Reviews, Civil War

Book Review: Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac

 

Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac

by Stephen W. Sears

 

On paper it should have been easy for the United States of America to put down the rebellion that broke out in April 1861. The North had the population, resources and industrial capacity that the people of the South could only dream of. The first battle, fought at Bull Run, should have been the first battle, but there was one problem that the Union had that almost cost it the war. A lack of military leadership that hamstrung every attempt to put the rebellion down by force. No where was this lack of leadership so apparent as in the Army of the Potomac, the Union Army that was tasked with capturing Richmond and ending the war.

Starting with General McClellan, who loved the army so much he refused to actually have it fight. To General Meade who took command two days before the largest battle ever fought on the continent, the leadership had issue that allowed the Confederates to win almost every major battle in the first few years of the war.

This book by Stephen Sears digs deep into the officer corps of the Army in a way that a general history of the conflict will not. Several times I found myself thinking how a single sentence about a battle would open up into a flurry of blame throwing and general incompetence that other wise would be missed.

As a general example: General Meade ordered an assault on a fortified Confederate position at 6;30pm on a given day. Orders were sent to all his Corps commanders to make the  attack at that time. Where a general history of the battle would say, “the attack did not launch as planned”. In this book you learn that several commanders claimed to not have received there orders, or decided that they were not ready so attacked later, earlier or whatever. Then each blames the other and in the meantime the rebellion continues.

Sears’s cast of characters is wide and varied and he does a good job in making sure you never lose track fo who is who among the officers. Each has their moment, some heroic, some less than but all are heard from.

This book is recommended if you have a general knowledge of the Civil War and are ready to start the deep dive. The focus on the Army of the Potomac means not much is covered in the Western Theater or other areas and that is good. I would love to see the same sort of book done to bring the same level of focus to the other main Armies of the Republic.

As always, you can get a copy of this book by clicking the cover pic above.

Civil War

Lincoln The General

President Abraham Lincoln had a daunting task in front of him in April 1861.  Several states had seceded from the Union and war seemed pretty much inevitable.  When the first shots came and the rest of the Southern states left the task seemed nearly impossible. Lincoln himself had a very limited experience with war and at the start he leaned heavily on those around him. As defeat after defeat piled up and the idea that the war would be short started to fade, Lincoln started to come into his own as Commander In Chief.

As a grand strategist Lincoln had several priorities that he set the army to. First was the protection of Washington DC. He knew that if for some reason the capital were to fall to the rebels the war would pretty much be over.  He also believed strongly in gaining control of strategic points on the map. Control of the Mississippi River was top of this list as well as the blockade of the coast. He was also a strong proponent of the idea that the Confederate Army should be the target of operations with the goal of destroying the Confederate ability to carry on the war.

In the end that would be the strategy that would win him the war, but getting it carried out became a herculean task that made the actual activity on the battlefield pale in comparison. Opposed to him were his generals that wanted to follow their own path. Opposed were politicians, in his party and in the other, that all looked to further their own needs.

The longer the war went on the more the army began to look like what Lincoln wanted. He would visit the War Department several times a day to read the telegraph dispatches that up dated him on the status of the army and current actions. When battles were engaged he would stay in the telegraph office and monitor events happening hundreds of miles away. Once he even intervened in a battle sending orders to the commanders based on what he was seeing develop.

It’s easy to remember Lincoln the politician, or even the emancipator, but it was his ability to become a warrior on the fly, and to be a leader that truly set him apart.

 

Civil War

At A Loss

The surgeons kit above was fairly standard equipment for Civil War doctors. You can see there is not a lot there that is not made for cutting or sawing, that is mainly because that is what a doctor on the battlefield would do most, cut and saw.

It is estimated that over 60,000 battlefield surgeries were done during the war, and of those almost 45,000 were amputations. While it may seem extreme today at the time amputation was done to protect the patient against gangrene which was almost always life threatening. What made it worse was that there was really no anesthetic available, and even if the patient did survive the surgery, infection could always make the entire point moot. Needless to say amputation was something that many soldiers feared.

If whoever the amputation went well and the patient survived the recovery, there was a good chance they would be able to live a very productive life. Even though it was still not as advanced as today, prosthetics, artificial legs and even hands, were available to the men. In fact in the years between 1861 and 1873 over 150 patents were issued for artificial limbs. Both sides during and after the war provided funds to the veterans that needed these devices.

So for many the site of that kit in the photo above being brought out led to outright terror, for most of them it also meant a chance at life.