Abstract
Medical therapy in the United States prior to the American Civil War (1861-1865) was not only fragmented and mostly unscientific but frequently also barbaric at best. 1,2 With the numerous technological innovations in warfare (such as the rifled musket and bullet) that were tested and refined during the Civil War, it is no wonder that casualties were overwhelming and medical practitioners (termed surgeons by military parlance, no matter what qualifications or training) were inundated by the carnage. Of the estimated 12 000 surgeons who served on the Union side and 8000 on the Confederate side, most performed admirably under highly stressful (and what today would be considered horrific) conditions. Nonetheless, there were some (but a surprisingly small number of) surgeons who conducted themselves badly. In a previous text, Thomas P. Lowry teamed with Jack D. Welsh to describe some of the Union surgeons who were court-martialed for their improper activities. 3 Now, Lowry has teamed with a historian Terry Reimer from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland, to catalog the surgeons whose military discipline from either the Union or the Confederate side was recorded in various archives.
What is the importance of information in this type of text? History indicates that the middle of the 19th century was the period in the United States when the alarming chasm developed between orthodox (or allopathic) medicine and various other forms of medical therapy and health care that today fall under the rubric of complementary and alternative medicine. The noted philosopher George Santayana once indicated that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” 4 and author Dennis Covington stated that “knowing where you come from is one thing, but it’s suicide to stay there.” 5 It is vital that all health care providers know where they have come from over the past 2 centuries and how public perceptions have been molded by the history of the different types of medical services and the ways various practitioners have functioned and interacted. At a time in the United States when there are significant national financial constraints coupled with an explosion of scientific knowledge, it is crucial for all practitioners to move beyond acrimony to find bridges and common ground in order to provide effective evidence-based therapies for the public.
Considering the title of this text, an intriguing sidelight relates to the first author Thomas P. Lowry, a retired psychiatrist, who achieved fame in the 1990s as a Civil War historian. According to The Washington Post, controversy involves an allegedly altered date on an Abraham Lincoln Presidential Pardon document in the US National Archives collection. 6