Medical Support during the Vicksburg Campaign

1
Medical Support during the Vicksburg Campaign
2
Agenda

• Battlefield medicine during the Civil War
• Letterman initiatives
• Federal medical support at Vicksburg
• Confederate medical support at Vicksburg

3
Battlefield Medicine during the Civil War

• Lack of knowledge about the true causes of
  disease and infection led to many more deaths
  than battlefield action
• Lack of surgeons
• Lack of space
• Lack of time
• Amputations common

4
Letterman Initiatives

• After First Manassas, Federal Surgeon Jonathan
  Letterman initiated an evacuation and treatment
  system characterized by
• Consolidation of field hospitals at division
  level
• Decentralization of medical supplies down to
  regimental level
• Centralization of medical control of ambulances
  at all levels

5
Federal Hospitals

• 1,000 bed general hospital and convalescent camp
  just north of Vicksburg
• Memphis had 5,000 beds
• Other hospitals in Cairo, Mound City, Paducah,
  Evansville, and St. Louis
• Steamers R. C. Wood, D. A. January, and City of
  Memphis served as hospital ships for evacuation
  upriver

6
Federal Medical Support at Vicksburg

• Large stockpile of medical supplies at Youngs
  Depot
• The steamer Des Arc could then move supplies to
  any secure drop-off point
• Mississippi River was an excellent supply and
  evacuation route

7
Federal Medical Situation during the Early
Attempts

• Between Jan and July 1863, the biggest problem
  was disease, exacerbated from the swampy
  encampments along the river
• Levees served as roads, latrines, graves, and
  living areas
• 170,000 cases of serious illness in the Jan to
  March encampment

8
Federal Medical Situation during the Maneuver
Phase

• Once the campaign of maneuver began, surgeons
  were forced to either carry patients with the
  Army or leave them behind
• 2,000 Federal wounded were left under Confederate
  control after Raymond, Jackson, and Champion Hill
• Nineteen Federal surgeons remained behind to help
  attend these men Another four stayed to help
  Confederate wounded which attests to Pembertons
  physician shortage

9
Federal Medical Situation during the Siege

• During the siege, Federal division hospitals were
  established a mile behind the lines, using
  combination of buildings and tents
• Except for the assaults on 19 and 22 May, battle
  casualties averaged only a hundred per week
  numbers the medical staffs could manage

10
Confederate Medical Situation

• Little specific information is available
• Disease, supply shortages, and an inadequate
  number of trained surgeons are assumed to have
  been problems
• Homes within Vicksburg such as Cedar Grove served
  as hospitals