The caption to the photograph says:

"Hospital slippers for the sick and wounded soldiers of the Union, These patterns and directions furnished gratis by Henry C. Blair, druggist, ...Philadelphia. ...The sick and wounded soldiers are found to suffer very much from Cold Feet." The image is a slipper pattern and contains instructions on how to sew the slippers

In 1861, at the beginning of the war, medicine was approaching what Surgeon General William Hammond called "the end of the medical Middle Ages." Americans had little knowledge of disease and infection and the medical discoveries of Pasteur and Koch were only beginning. The Army Medical Department had a staff of 90 doctors who were experienced in dealing with the health problems of small military outposts, but had no experience in dealing with the scale of the Civil War.

As is popularly known, more people died in the Civil War than all other American war participation combined. What is less well known is that two-thirds of the casualties died of dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, and malaria. Soldiers from rural areas died of childhood diseases because they had not developed immunity. Despite creating a U.S. Sanitary Commission in 1861, over 400,000 soldiers died of disease. An additional 200,000 died of battle wounds and another 375,000 were wounded and lived. The concepts of ambulances, sanitation, basic cleanliness, and good food were just being introduced as essential tools in the recovery of the soldiers.

The nature of the weapons and ammunition used resulted in severe gun shot and cannon injuries with many amputations done because of severity, workload, and convenience. Field hospitals were in whatever building was available without regard for sanitation. In 1861, Dorothea Dix was appointed Superintendent of the United States Nursing Corps, and the idea of professional nursing was born. Not until the end of the war did the idea of permanent hospitals become common.

Large amounts of data and case studies were collected during the war on injuries, treatment methods, sanitation, how disease spread, and other key information. These case studies were later published between 1870 and 1888 under the title "Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion." From this point forward, specializations in battle field medicine and logistics took on a larger role within the military.

Medium : 1 print

Created/Published : Philadelphia, 1861

Creator : Not attributed

Housed in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress

Availability: Usually ships in one week

Product #: rbpe15702200