Letter of the Day: January 18 (2 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 461

 

Portland Jan 18^th /95

 

Surgeon General .U.S

 

Dear Sir

 

if it is possible I would like to have the Bones that was taken out of my leg. I was wounded at the Battle of White Hall North Carolina in 1862 and had 6 ½ inches of the fibular bone taken out, and the surgeon told me he was going to send them to Washington. I would like to have them. I was in Co H. 23^rd regiment Mass vols.

 

Address Michael .H. Curlin

538 Congress St Portland

Maine

 

1326 Path Sect.

We're still sending Civil War pictures to Flickr.

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Contributed Photograph 0936

PATTERSON, JAMES

GUNSHOT WOUND OF ARM. SAME MISSILE WOUNDING ABDOMEN ALSO.

PVT, Company H, 5th Pennsylvania CAVALRY

Wounded NEAR RICHMOND, 2 APR 1865

Dr RB BONTECOU, HAREWOOD HOSPITAL

See also CP 628

BOUND IN HAREWOOD, VOL. I. HISTORY ON VERSO.

CIVIL WAR

Letter of the Day: December 29

Attorney at [document torn]
And Notary Public

Lake Crystal, Minn., Dec 29, 1883

Surgeon General U.S.A.

Dear Sir.

Nineteen years ago Dec 15-last-Surgeon AJ Bartlett 33d Mo Vols, now of Virdeu Ill removed the head of the humerus from my left-arm. Hee [sic] writes me that he sent the bone with a minie ball sticking in it to the Army Medical Museum at Washington and it is numbered 6599 surgical section. I have never seen the piece removed and as I had taken a photograph of myself showing the wound taken + sent to the Medical Museum, will you kindly have the bone with the ball in it photographed + sent to me. I will be glad to incur all necessary expense.

I hope you will do this as it will be a valuable war relic to me.

Yours truly,

Lonnie Cray

Letter of the Day: December 27

Personal

Richmond Medical Journal,
Richmond, Va., Dec. 27th 1866,

Major Gen JK Barnes

Dear Sir - On returning home, I devote a portion of my earliest leisure to thanking you and (through your self) the officers immediately around you for courtesies extended to me in Washington, such polite attention has been fully and pleasurably appreciated.

The Museum is a monument of scientific research and most successful labor - For Professional and (and Editorial) reasons, I should be glad to indicate the features and subjects (past and prospective)of greatest interest and, with the necessary faits allowed in my profession, I will, if it be acceptable, comprehensively allude to the gigantic labours characterizing all departments of the Museum and offering, to all scientifically interested, material for profitable study and reformations. I desire it to be understood that, in this manifestation of what is being done and has been done by you , for the practical improvement and development of medical science, I am actuated by professional motives exclusively - I seek the good of the profession and will irrespectively of all other objects -

Respectfully Yr Obdt Srvt,

E.L. Gaillard

Letter of the Day: December 26

Hammond General Hospital
Point Lookout, Md.,
Decem. 26th 1862

Dear Doctor,

I am very desirous to furnish cases + any information for the Surgical History of the War, that may be in my power. I am having notes of all cases of gun shot wounds that are of interest taken, + the cases written out carefully. If you have any suggestions or instructions to give it will afford me great pleasure to carry them out.

Very truly
Yr st.
C. Wagner

Dr. J.H. Brinton
Surg. US Vols.
Washington.

John Wilkes Booth's contested identity?

Here's an article that mentions specimens held in the Museum - Navy medical historian Jan Herman will appear on Brad Meltzer's Decoded tonight at 10 pm on the History Channel to discuss it

Booth descendants agree to brother's body ID tests

By Edward Colimore

Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 23, 2010

Letter of the Day: December 23

Hammond General Hospital
Point Lookout, Md.
December 23rd, 1862

Dear Doctor,

Your letter requesting me to preserve specimens for the Museum has been rec'd. I received last week eleven hundred wounded, I have already performed a number of interesting operations, resections, amputations etc[?] - I have more in prospect - the specimens in each case has been preserved- I intend keeping them until the results in each case is known. I would suggest that yyou have a circular issued giving us instructions as to the manner of preparing them whether wet or dry - rest assured I will do all in my power to enrich you collection.

Very truly,
Yours, &c.,

C. Wagner
Asst. Surg., U.S.A.

[To] Dr. J. H. Brinton
See above

Contextual Note: Hammond General Hospital was built in 1862 to care for Union soldiers wounded during the Civil War. It was built on the site of the Point Lookout lighthouse, which was constructed in 1825 to warn ships away from the shoals and mark the entrance of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. A few months after today’s letter was written, the first Confederate prisoners were assigned to the hospital and its ground were expanded, transforming the site into Camp Hoffman, the largest prison camp of the Civil War. Conditions in the camp were terrible and by 1864 the prison, with an original capacity of 10,000, had a population that exceeded 20,000 men. The suffering of the prisoners, primarily enlisted men, was terrible as the ground became filthy, the wells became contaminated and inadequate tents and blankets caused death from exposure. By the end of the war between 3,000 and 8,000 men had died at the camp and were buried on the lighthouse grounds.

The terrible conditions of Camp Hoffman are still felt today. Point Lookout State Park now encompasses the camp and lighthouse , which is considered to be the “most haunted” lighthouse in America. The Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society holds nighttime "paranormal investigations" to raise funds for preservation and restoration activities and the site has been featured on segments of Mystery Hunters, Weird Travels and Haunted Lighthouses.

Sources: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society, Maryland Online Encyclopedia, Lighthouse Friends

Civil War images posted to Flickr

I'm posting all the Civil War pictures from the Contributed Photograph collection to Flickr, in numerical order, unless we've already put them online there in the past. However we're missing large parts of the collection for various reasons, so if there's a gap between CP 543 and CP 572, it's because we no longer have the intervening 29 photographs.

Most of these photographs have never been seen by the general public. I think the level of interest shown in the largely anonymous photographs recently donated to the Library of Congress shows that there is an interest in seeing the people that fought 150 years ago.

Some of the pictures are disturbing due to either violence or exposed genitalia, and I’ve thought twice about posting them. The Flickr site is open to anyone and photographs of genitals are not something everyone wants to see. However, the first hernia picture we have was by Dr. Reed Bontecou, one of the more famous Civil War medical photographers (or it was commissioned by him). Additionally, due to the draft and volunteerism, not everyone who fought in the Civil War was young and healthy, and problems like hernias resulted, but were less easily treated surgically than they are now. Finally, as we get a little farther along in the series of Civil War pictures, there will be many gruesome physical injuries with exposed viscera, and they should be just as troublesome to modern viewers. When I get done with these pictures, I’ll work through the 400 Surgical Photographs that the museum published between 1862 and 1881.

 

Letter of the Day: December 18

T. Sinclair & Son
Lithographic Establishment.
506 & 508 North St.
Philadelphia Dec. 18th 1883

Dear Sir:

In reply to your communication of the 17th inst., we have to say that the illustrations for 10,000 copies of Parts 1.2.3 Surgical volume and Parts 1 and 2 Medical volume would cost at the rate of one dollar per volume, or about $50,000 in all.

Very respectfully yours
Thos. Sinclair + Son

Surgeon General U.S.A.
Washington D.C.

Letter of the Day: December 14

USA General Hospital No. 5
Frederick City Md. Dec. 14th 1862

Surgeon Brinton USA

Sir

I have learned that there is now connected with the Medical Department of the Army, an Anatomical Museum under your charge, I have a couple of dry specimens. One of the Knee Joint, the other Foetus, which I requested Surgeon Keene to inform you of , I would be pleased to have you present them to the Surgeon Gen'l from me - I prepared them while reading Medicine at Hartford Conn. I have Written my father to have them Expressed to you.

I have been some time in preparing specimens here, I should be pleased if I could be Transferred to Washington for duty under your charge, as I have a great taste for Anatomy. Please let me hear if you have received them or not + oblige.

I am your Obt Servant

H.S. Hannen
Medical Cadet, USA

Civil War photos slowly be added to Flickr

I’m posting about three pictures a day to Flickr from the Contributed Photographs collection. Many of these images are from the Civil War -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/medicalmuseum/sets/72157614294677868/

Letter of the Day: December 6

U.S. Army General Hospital,

McKim’s Mansion, Baltimore, Dec 6 1862

 

Surgeon Brinton U.S.A.

 

Sir,

 

I send to day per Express a box of specimens (dry). I have but 2 wet specimens, and I will send them when I get enough to make it an object. Most, if not all the specimens from the National Hospital have no name attached to them by which to designate the operator. But in Dr. Bartholon’s [?] time he performed all the operations himself. The specimens for this hospital are by myself. Those for the other places are also appropriately marked. I waited for my boxes to mount the dry specimens, but as they did not arrive I was unwilling to keep you without the preparations any longer. I shall be pleased to take particular pains in the future to collect every specimen that can be collected. No history can be obtained relative to the bones contained in a single package from the National.

 

Very  respectfully,

Your obedient Servant,

Lavington Quick

Surg. U.S.A.

Letter of the Day: November 26

N.R. Moseley,
Surgeon U.S.V., in charge
U.S. General Hospital “Emory,”
Washington, D.C. Novr. 26th, 1864.

Sir:

I have the honor to transmit herewith One Pathological Specimen accompanied by Medical History.

Very Respectfully
Your Obedt Servt
NW. Moseley
Surgeon U.S.V.
In Charge

Brig. Genl J.K. Barnes
Surgeon General U.S.A.
Washington D.C.

Letter of the Day: November 24

Mrs. Charles T. Sivers
R.D. No. 3
Oswego, New York

Oswego, New York
November 24, 1957

Mr. Robert W. Davis
Medical Museum of the Armed Forces
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Davis:

Since reading the enclosed article in the Oswego Palladium Times, I thought I would write to you to see if the museum would be interested in purchasing a great deal of material I have on Dr. Mary Walker.

I am a "picker" for antique dealers, and I have a collection of things that were owned by Dr. Mary Walker. I have such things as the family sampler, many of Dr. Mary's medical books with her autograph on the fly leaf, her brass name plate with which she had her cards printed, a journal kept by Dr. Mary's father about 1820, the "sit tub" in which she bathed, the suitcase she carried during the war, her albums of many of the Civil War generals and friends of Civil War days, and many, many personal items such as letters, invitations, etc. I also have some actual snap-shots in large sizes, taken of her as an old lady. There are many pictures of her as a young woman in the albums. I also have her scrap book which she kept about herself, made up of clippings about her taken from the papers of her time. They are pasted in one of her old medical record office books.

My price on the entire collection is three hundred dollars. If the museum is interested please write me and I will send a detailed list of the things I have.

My address is listed on this stationary.

Very truly yours,
(Sgd) Mrs. Charles T. Sivers

Letter of the Day: November 18 (2 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 7132

 

November 18, 1903.

 

Mr. Henry Reens,

409 Fourth Ave.,

New York, N.Y.

 

Dear Sir:

 

In accordance with your request of the 17^th inst. 6 copies of printed circular of Museum photograph 177, recovery after fracture of the right ilium by a musket ball (from your own case), are herewith forwarded.

 

Very respectfully,

 

C.L. Heizmann

Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.

In charge of Museum & Library Division

- note that he just asked for a copy of the label - not the photograph, which originally showed him nude. This version had a figleaf added for the 1876 Centennial fair. 1903 seems like a long time after the Civil War, but Reens was just 60 when he wrote in.

Letter of the Day: November 11 (1 of 2)

Surgeon General’s Office
Army Medical Museum
Washington D.C. Nov. 11” 1870.

Sir:

I have the honor to report that the following specimens in the Army Medical Museum are available for exchange with other Museums and Instititutions.

Illustrating Gunshot Injuries

Four illustrations of gunshot injuries of the shoulder joint.

Thirty four specimens of gunshot injuries of the shaft of humerus.

Fourteen specimens of gunshot injuries of the elbow joint.

Nineteen specimens of gunshot injuries of the forearm.

Six specimens of gunshot injuries of the carpal articulations and hand.

Sixty three specimens of gunshot injuries of the femur.

One hundred and twenty one specimens of injuries of the knee joint.

One hundred and seventeen specimens of gunshot injuries of the bones of the leg.

Sixty two specimens of gunshot injuries of the bones of the ankle and foot.

Twenty two leaden bullets

From Prof. William Gibson’s Cabinet.

Twenty two oil paintings.

Five femurs, three bones of the leg, and one humerus.

Anatomical.

Four preparations of the heart, purchased in Paris.

Miscellaneous.

Once Indian medicine drum and rattle.

One Assiniboine Indian rattle.

One deformed hoof.

Three entomological specimens.

Six specimens of Indian food, of which samples have been sent to the Agricultural Department, Smithsonian Institution, and to the Springfield Museum.

“A right boot, showing the wound of entrance and exit of a bullet passing nearly transversely through the middle of the foot”

I am sir,
Very respectfully
Your obedient servant,
E.T. Parker
Hospital Steward U.S.A.

Assistant Surgeon George A. Otis.
U.S. Army
Curator Army Medical Museum

Letter of the Day: October 31

Army Medical School
Royal Victoria Hospital,
Netley 31st Oct. 1865

To Surgeon General Barnes
United States Army

Dear General

I think I must be indebted to your consideration + kindness for a portfolio of 30 large illustrations, photographed at the Army Medical Museum at Washington, which I received a short time since by railway from Liverpool. The parcel did not contain a letter, + the cover simply bore the words “courtesy of Dr. Haight,’ to whom, no address being given, I have been unable to write my acknowledgements of its safe receipt. I have been greatly interested in the drawings – many of them illustrate cases of great scientific value as well as of great credit to the operator, while all of them are of subjects calculated to be useful as affording material for thought + instruction on military injuries. Your Museum must indeed be rich in specimens of the effects of gunshot wounds, judging from the examples photographed in the collection of drawings I have received. I thank you very sincerely for giving me the opportunity of seeing those which are now in my possession, + I feel that the profession at large in Europe is indebted to you for giving to it the means of studying some portions of your museum at Washington, by such photographs, notwithstanding the distance which divides us from it.

I take the opportunity by this communication of transmitting to you a report on the effect on health of the present system in England, + elsewhere in Europe, of carrying the knapsack, kit, and accoutrements by soldiers. The report, though printed, is not published, - a certain number of copies only being circulated among those who have been engaged in or connected with the enquiries to which the report refers. I should feel obliged if no public use of the report is made. I mean reference in public prints. I send it on account fo the importance of the questions involved, + in the belief that the questions are of such a nature that you will feel an interest in them. The recommendations of the Committee in p. 11 are to be carried out, + I hope that the trials may lead to much good.

I also enclose one or two reprints from the 5th Vol. of the Army Medical Reports. I hope you have also received the volume itself.

I am
Very faithfully yours
Tho. Longmore

Letter of the Day: October 15

U.S.A. General Hospital
Frederick, Maryland
October 15 1862

Dar Doctor-

Yours of the 12th came to hand last evg [evening].

I have only been waiting to get the enclosed not of a case the specimens of which can be obtained in Washington in order to write you.

The Barrel is filling up well. I have now some sixty odd specimens with some notes. The great lack I find is to obtain the results. The notes are sent with the specimens + if they are the results of operations the final result of the case is not known + the surgeons are not careful to send subsequently the results. I am however hunting them up gradually. As soon as the Barrel is full I will Express it to you and advise you of the fact by mail.

I am having good times in operative surgery and would not for at least the present exchange my position for any other what ever. We have the cream.

Porter is doing well + were he here I would send his regards.

The post mortem specimens I spoke of are to be found at Carver Hospital in the room formally occupied by Dr. Russell U.S.A. now occupied by Dr. Banks + wife. The colon is in alcohol on a shelf – or rather was there – and the vertebrae are on a board under the ventilator.

Dr. Banks probably knows of their whereabouts.

With kind regards
Truly your friend
W.W. Keen Jr.

Letter of the Day: October 5

Appleton Station Va Oct 5^th 1864

 

To Surgeon J. H. Brinton A. Medical Depot, Washington

 

Sir:

 

Mr. E. Leitz, artist Gallery Broadway New York wrote to me that the Med. Department was in want for an artists in water-colors and that he had recommended me as such.

 

Therefore I beg leave to give you my directions with the remark that I am unfit for field duty and employed as clerk  in the Adjutant’s Office.

 

I am, Sir,

Very Respectfully

Your obedient Servant

Herman Strider

Comp D, 46^th Reg. N.Y. Vet. Vols

1 Division, 2 Brigade 9 Army Corps

Pictures of average Civil War soldiers

SCDV 192 Ulmur, David, CO. M 4th PA Cavalry, battle of Dinwiddie Court House


The Washington Post is reporting an excellent donation of 700 pictures of average Civil War soldiers to the Library of Congress.

Va. collector donates Civil War photographs to Library of Congress
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Medical Museum of course took or collected thousands of these types of pictures during the war, excepting the showing of a wound, of course. You can see some on our Flickr site. We also have a donated album - Pleasants Photograph Album (1865) - that we scanned and put online recently. Here's the description of it:

Photograph album of Frances Pleasants, who taught wounded soldiers at the Army Hospital in Germantown, PA during the Civil War. Presented to her by her patients, it contains photographs of them as well as other Civil War images. Includes albumen cartes-de-visite, tintypes, and newspaper clippings. Note: where image numbers are missing in the sequence, those places in the album are empty and the pages were not digitized.