BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Walter Reed) -- Exhibit: Civil War

DC -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Walter Reed) -- Exhibit: Civil War:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NMHMCW_090411_002.JPG: Joan Kollins @ the Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Walter Reed)
2. NMHMCW_090411_028.JPG: Effects of Canister Shot in the Civil War: Skull of a soldier of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers This skull was discovered in 1876 on Morris Island, South Carolina, near the site of Battery Wagner, a powerful earthwork fort that had protected the entrance to Charleston Harbor during the Civil War. The skull belonged to a man of African descent -- a soldier of the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, which had led the assault on Wagner on the night of July 18, 1863. Of approximately 600 men who made the charge, 256 were killed, wounded, or missing. From the size of the wound, and the remains of the projectile itself, it can be determined what type of munition hit this man: an iron canister ball from one of two field howitzers known to have been used in the repulse of that attack. ... The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers was not the first black regiment in the Civil War, not was it the first to fight. However, it was the first black regiment raised entirely of free men enrolled on exactly the same footing as white troops and the first to engage in a major action well-covered by the national press. Its gallant conduct in the doomed assault on Battery Wagner, at Charleston, South Carolina, on July 18, 1863, electrified the nation and proved once and for all that the black man, given the opportunity, could learn the soldier's trade, and fight as well as any white man.
3. NMHMCW_090411_045.JPG: Rucker Ambulance, 1865: This ambulance, designed by Brigadier General D.H. Rucker based on lessons learned in the field, was intended to minimize discomfort of wounded soldiers. Since the ambulance operated on rough ground, the ride was cushioned by a triple-spring suspension. Springs attached to the harnesses of the horses minimized jolting. The two tiered layout of the stretchers, based on a design by Augustus Sus, allowed the ambulance to carry either four patients on stretchers or eight seated.
4. NMHMCW_090411_061.JPG: Gunshot wounds to the skull were fatal in more than 80% of cases reported by Union surgeons. This skull, retrieved in 1866 from the Confederate trenches at Wilderness, Virginia, shows a gunshot wound.
5. NMHMCW_090411_072.JPG: Gunshot wounds of the chest were difficult to treat because they often involved the lungs. Private Christian Britch, age 50, Company B, 11th Pennsylvania, was shot through the chest at Hatcher's Run, Virginia, April 2nd, 1865. He died from exhaustion twenty-six days later.
6. NMHMCW_090411_088.JPG: Accidental injuries were not uncommon during the war. Private John Brown, age 19, Company I, 109th New York, was accidentally shot in the left foot with a minie ball at Mason's Island, Virginia, on November 3rd, 1863. He entered Armory Square hospital on the same day. His limb was amputated three days later and he was discharged from service on march 22nd, 1864.
7. NMHMCW_090411_096.JPG: Corporal I.P. Miller, Company A, 6th U.S. Colored Troops was wounded in the right middle finger on June 15th, 1864. The finger was amputated soon after the injury. On July 6th, Corporal Miller began to experience the symptoms of blood poisoning with severe chills and delirium. His health declined and death occurred ten days later.
8. NMHMCW_090411_102.JPG: Certain medical devices, such as this electromagnetic machine for nerve stimulation, were used in specialized care hospitals.
9. NMHMCW_090411_107.JPG: Some conditions were treated by hypodermic injections of drugs
10. NMHMCW_090411_133.JPG: "The rapid march, the life of the camp" Disease and Hygiene: A fear to which every soldier could admit was death from an enemy bullet, but a greater unseen killer lurked in the camps. Disease, the product of poor hygiene, inadequate diet, crowded camps, and unseasoned troops, killed more than 400,000 soldiers. For every life lost to a bullet, disease claimed two lives. Union surgeons reported more than six million cases of disease, meaning that the average soldier became sick at least twice each year. Doctors suspected that something in the odors emanating from swamps, privies, and garbage was the source of disease, even though the role of microorganisms in transmitting disease was still unknown. At first, the military commands were slow to acknowledge doctors' demands for fresh air, dry ground, and healthy food for the troops. However, citizens' groups such as the United States Sanitary Commission pressured the military to make improvements. These changes reduced the rate of sickness and death by allowing physicians to introduce and enforce personal hygiene and camp cleanliness as well as other health-related regimens.
11. NMHMCW_090411_137.JPG: Spirits fermenti, also known as whiskey, was used to treat a variety of conditions.
12. NMHMCW_090411_144.JPG: Gunshot wounds to the skull were fatal in more than 80% of cases reported by Union surgeons. This skull, retrieved in 1866 from the Confederate trenches at Wilderness, Virginia, shows a gunshot wound.
13. NMHMCW_090411_151.JPG: Private J. Luman, Company A, 122nd Ohio Volunteers was wounded at the battle of Mine Run, Virginia, on November 27th, 1863, when a minie ball passed through his skull. He was treated in the field hospital for several days before being evacuated to the 3rd division hospital in Alexandria. By December 8th, Private Luman was comatose and Surgeon E. Bentley applied a trephine and removed the splinters of bones associated with the wound. He [sic] condition failed to improve and he died five days later.
14. NMHMCW_090411_163.JPG: The Case of Major General Henry Barnum: Major General Henry A. Barnum of the 12th New York was injured at Malvern Hill, Virginia, on July 1st, 1862, by a musket ball that passed through his left lower abdomen. The ball penetrated his intestines and hip bone. The wound was considered fatal and he was left in a field hospital. A few days later he was captured and taken eighteen miles to Libby Prison. Fifteen days later, he was transported seventeen miles and exchanged. In October, the wound was opened and several bone fragments were removed. He was promoted to Colonel in January of 1863 and sent back to the field. A year later, Barnum visited a private physician who pushed a probe through the wound causing a large abscess to drain. In order to keep the wound draining, the physician threaded a probe with a strip of oakum and passed it through the wound. Barnum wore a thread through the wound his entire life. He was promoted to Brigadier General and was also injured in battles at Kenesaw [sic] Mountain and Peachtree Creek, Georgia. Barnum died of pneumonia at the age of 65 still wearing a thread through the wound. The thread through Barnum's abdomen is visible in this photograph.
15. NMHMCW_090411_168.JPG: After his death, Barnum's hip bone was removed and sent to the Army Medical Museum. The hole in the upper part of the bone is the site of the wound.
16. NMHMCW_090411_181.JPG: Civil War vintage prosthetic legs
17. NMHMCW_090411_195.JPG: Cranium with tertiary syphilis
18. NMHMCW_090411_202.JPG: Hospital Car, Prussian Commission, 1868 This model, built for the Army Medical Department Pavilion at the 1876 Exposition in Philadelphia, illustrates a proposal made to the Prussian Army by a German machinist, Grund. The designed allowed for freight cars, which shipped supplies to the front, to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield. Leaf springs, which could be removed when not in use, cushioned stretchers from the harsh ride of the boxcar's suspension. The Medical Department included this model in the 1876 exposition to encourage the Army to adopt this design. There is no evidence that the leaf springs were ever ordered. This model was constructed by JG Brille & Co., a manufacturer of railroad cars.
19. NMHMCW_090411_211.JPG: Army Ambulance, 1900 Pattern This design illustrates that the basic concept of the Rucker, which featured a triple spring suspension and the two tiered layout of the stretchers, was considered valid forty years after it was designed. Unlike the Rucker, the 1900 ambulance used standard canvas stretchers instead of specially designed wood stretchers. Wooden seats could be folded out if patients were to be transported seated.
20. NMHMCW_090411_219.JPG: Tompkins Wheeled Stretcher, 1865 Although this stretcher was recommended for adoption by the Army, there is no evidence that a full scale version was ever built. General Charles H. Tompkins designed the stretcher to be adjustable to provide the maximum comfort for the wounded soldier. It has an elliptical spring suspension, an adjustable backrest with collapsible hood, and a blanket rolled on a spool at the foot of the stretcher. The wheels could be detached and the stretcher could be carried or supported on the folding legs.
21. NMHMCW_090411_230.JPG: The US Army Hospital Steamer DA January was a sidewheel steamer that served as a floating hospital. Outfitted to allow for the best in patient care, she contained a surgical suite, baths, a kitchen, nurses quarters, hot and cold running water and an ice water cooler. Windows circulated air through the wards, which held nearly 450 beds. During its four years of service, the DA January transported and cared for more than 23,000 wounded mem. It regularly visited the cities along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
22. NMHMCW_090411_238.JPG: Once evaluated and cared for at the field hospital, wounded me were transported to general hospitals in trains and hospital ships. Large numbers of wounded men could be loaded on these trains and ships, given care, and transported directly to general hospitals. Hospital trains could carry hundreds of patients. Many contained kitchens and well-spaced bunks to provide better patient care. Ships transported soldiers to general hospitals and also served as floating hospitals. Later in the war, Union ships stopped at Southern ports to pick up the wounded and transport them up the Atlantic coast to hospitals in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York.
23. NMHMCW_090411_248.JPG: Four Wheeled Ambulance, c 1863 The purpose of this model, in the general configuration of the Wheeling ambulance used by the Army from 1863 to 1865, is not documented. It was probably built to demonstrate a proposal by Augustus Sus of New York to an Army commission for an improvement to the Wheeling ambulance, which doubled the number of patients that could be carried. The design later evolved into the Rucker ambulance and featured a lower stretcher that could be folded to form a bench seat, which is illustrated by this model, and an upper tier of stretchers, which folded up out of the way. The ambulance could carry four patients lying down or eight seated.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Walter Reed) -- Exhibit: Civil War) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
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Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Military (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)] [Museums (Other)] [National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM)] [Display ALL National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) photos]
2009 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs. I've also got a Nikon D90 and a newer Fuji -- the S200EHX -- both of which are nice but I still prefer the flexibility of the Fuji. Trips this year: Niagara Falls, NY, New York City, Civil War Trust conferences in Gettysburg, PA and Springfield, IL, and my 4th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles, Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, etc). Ego strokes: I had a picture of a Lincoln-Obama cupcake sculpture published in Civil War Times and WUSA-9, the local CBS affiliate, ran a quick piece on me. A picture that I took at the annual Abraham Lincoln Symposium appeared in the National Archives' "Prologue" magazine. I became a volunteer with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Number of photos taken this year: 417,000.
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