National Museum of Civil War Medicine

04/10/2025

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Photo: Melissa A. Winn Collection

04/09/2025

(Civil War medicine facts to get you through the longest day of the week)

Left for Dead on the ‘Last Day of the War’

Charles Minnigerode Jr. was just 16 years old when he ran away from home to join the Confederate Army. In 1862, he became General Fitzhugh Lee’s aide-de-camp. During the Battle of Appomattox Court House April 9, 1865, he was injured and left for dead. A note was pinned to him by the Chief Surgeon, A.C. Randolph, that read, “Take care of the body and inform his father Rev. Minnigerode of Richmond.” Fitzhugh Lee would later recount, “One of the last Minie balls that whistled on its cruel errand over the Field of Appomattox passed entirely through the upper part of his body. He fell at my side….” Laying on the ground, Minnigerode wrote a letter home to his parents saying, “I am dying but I have fallen where I expected to fall. Our cause is defeated but I do not live to see the end of it.” But he did live to see the end of it…and more. Minnigerode was transferred to and treated at a field hospital in Farmville. He later married and had several children, one of whom he named Fitzhugh Lee. He suffered pain from his wounds and the trauma of war for the rest of his life and committed su***de in 1888.

04/09/2025

It was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy in 1865. General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The terms of surrender were especially generous:
--To surrender their arms and artillery (not including the swords of officers)
--To return to their respective homes
--To observe the conditions of their parole, not to take up arms against the Government
--To abide by the laws of their individual states
In addition, food was granted for the starving army, and soldiers were allowed to keep their own horses and mules for use in the spring planting.

Image: Parole form (National Museum of American History)

04/08/2025

A fascinating story of compassion from the blog at Fold3. Access to Civil War records there is free until April 14!

https://blog.fold3.com/an-act-of-kindness-unites-enemies-the-160th-anniversary-of-the-end-of-the-civil-war/?xid=7788&utm_source=Internal&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=TMIH_Apr-2025

04/08/2025

Wow! A fantastic recent acquistion for our friends at The Civil War Museum. Some artifacts and photographs belonging to Surgeon William H. Walker of the 14th Wisconsin Infantry. On, Wisconsin!

04/07/2025

Meet the Author: Dillon Carroll

Join us as we talk with Dillon Carroll, author of “Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers.”

To purchase the book: https://www.civilwarmed.org/shop/merchandise/civil-war-medicine/invisible-wounds-mental-health-and-civil-war-soldiers/

04/07/2025

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The stories that fascinate enthusiasts include historical figures with unique backgrounds, distinguished war records, or notable post-war achievements. And of course, here at the Museum, we also like to highlight people with a connection to American medical history.

The story of Morris W. Morris has all these novelties and more! Read it on our blog now!

Morris had ties to the Confederacy, the Union, an acting dynasty, and medicine

04/07/2025

Throughout the Civil War, inventors patented and built numerous stretcher models for use by the new United States Ambulance Corps. All of the inventors struggled with balancing strength, weight, and versatility. Assistant Surgeon George C. Douglass used this folding stretcher while serving with the 1st New York Cavalry in 1863 and 1864. The regiment spent much of the war in the Department of West Virginia and the names Martinsburg and H. Ferry probably indicate the locations of hospitals where Douglass was assigned.

For more about stretchers used during the Civil War: https://www.civilwarmed.org/stretchers/

04/06/2025

Our Director of Interpretation Dana B. Shoaf was honored to be a presenter and panelist as part of yesterday’s Civil War Symposium hosted by Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation and the Davis & Elkins History Department. This year’s symposium focused on Civil War medicine, "Patching Wounds and Fighting Disease: Medical Service in the Civil War."

Photo: From left: Authors and Historians Christy Perry Tuohey, NMCWM’s Dana Shoaf, Hunter Lesser, Dr. Mathew Lively, and RMBF Board President Richard Wolfe.

04/06/2025

The Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee started in 1862. After an initial attack that took the Union army by surprise, the Confederates were forced to retreat after a successful Union counterattack the next day. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was a casualty—the highest-ranking soldier killed in combat in the Civil War. Johnston died from a severed artery in his leg—it is thought that if he had used a tourniquet, he would have lived. Unfortunately, his personal physician was not present when Johnston was wounded, and the general ignored the wound until it was too late.

Image: Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston (University of Kentucky) and a Civil War-era tourniquet (NMCWM collection)

04/05/2025

Grant’s Conscience: The Unique Camaraderie Between Ulysses S. Grant and his Chief of Staff John Rawlins

Join us at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine for our Saturday Speaker Series! NMCWM’s Director of Marketing and Communications Melissa A. Winn will discuss the life of Union General John Rawlins, the prewar origins of his close and unique friendship with General Ulysses S. Grant, and the many ways in which the lives and legacies of these two men were not only intertwined during the Civil War, but for each of their lifetimes, and, likely, eternity.

Although barely mentioned in the personal memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, Union General John A. Rawlins, Grant’s chief of staff, was often considered his right-hand man, closest confidante, and by some, even, his conscience—the man who kept Grant sober during the Civil War. So why the snub in Grant’s two-volume recollections of the conflict in which they served side by side? Melissa Winn will uncover the myths and truths about their historic connection.

04/03/2025

On the night of April 2, 1865, the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, Virginia. Fires meant to destroy government documents, stores, and supplies quickly spread elsewhere in the city - a conflagration ensued. Among the buildings destroyed in the blaze was the office of Samuel Preston Moore, the Confederacy's surgeon general. Medical records and documents stored in the office were lost.

On April 3, U.S. Army forces entered the still burning city. On the city's outskirts, they found a remarkably well-designed and well-kept system of hospitals. A reporter for the "New York Herald" documented the scene:
"There were thirteen hospitals, capable of accommodating between twelve and fourteen thousand patients, in Richmond when our troops took possession of the city. The hospitals were beautifully located in the suburbs of the city, remarkable for their cleanliness, and well ventilated. The hospitals were all left intact, surgeons, attendants, nurses, &c., remaining with them...There were about four thousand patients in the hospitals when we got here. Of this number eighty-seven were medical officers and assistants. Among the patients were two hundred officers. None of the latter were above the rank of colonel."
Source:
"New York Herald," April 13, 1865
Image: "The Fall of Richmond, Virginia, on the Night of April 2nd, 1865," Currier & Ives.