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Swamp Doctor: The Diary of a Union Surgeon in the Virginia & North Carolina Marshes, edited by Thomas P. Lowry
Thomas P. Lowry is no stranger to the Civil War reader. His previous books includes Tarnished Eagles: The Court-Martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colones, The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War and more recently, Tarnished Scalpels. In Swamp Doctor, he introduces the diary of Surgeon William M. Smith of the 85th New York Volunteer Infantry.
Smith hails from a medical family and his father was a country doctor. As a medical practitioner, Smith had the benefit of medical schooling which, while primitive by today’s standards, was as complete a medical education one could receive in the mid-nineteenth century. His regiment is initially assigned to the defense of Washington before joining McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. Unfortunately, Smith’s diary covering the early part of the campaign has been lost but it picks up before the Seven Days Battle. After their ignoble retreat where McClellan saves (?) the army from total destruction, they are sent to Southern Virginia and caught up in the battles of Kingston and Goldsboro. Afterwards they participated in the defense of Washington (NC) against a force led by A. P. Hill that is ten times their size.
Reflecting the morals of the period, Smith converses with fallen women, but does not use their services. He is also entangled in the politics of the regiment when their major accuses his assistant surgeon of going AWOL and then attributes the accusation to Smith. Smith secures the original documentation and the major is allowed to resign for his ungentlemanly conduct. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book is Smith’s examination papers where he is certified by an examining board to be eligible to hold his post as Surgeon. For instance, he is asked, “Describe a disinfectant and describe the several classes of disinfectants” or “What are the conditions on which secondary hemorrhage after amputation depend, and what are the best modes of treating them?” Microbes and bacteria were unknown in those days but there was some knowledge about hygiene. Other questions are entirely irrelevant to the medical field. Under what circumstances did the House of Hannover succeed to the British crown? or What were the causes of the last war with Great Britain and in what year did it take place? For a re-enactor working on his medical impression, the examination papers alone makes the book worth its price.
Thomas P. Lowry is no stranger to the Civil War reader. His previous books includes Tarnished Eagles: The Court-Martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colones, The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War and more recently, Tarnished Scalpels. In Swamp Doctor, he introduces the diary of Surgeon William M. Smith of the 85th New York Volunteer Infantry.
Smith hails from a medical family and his father was a country doctor. As a medical practitioner, Smith had the benefit of medical schooling which, while primitive by today’s standards, was as complete a medical education one could receive in the mid-nineteenth century. His regiment is initially assigned to the defense of Washington before joining McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. Unfortunately, Smith’s diary covering the early part of the campaign has been lost but it picks up before the Seven Days Battle. After their ignoble retreat where McClellan saves (?) the army from total destruction, they are sent to Southern Virginia and caught up in the battles of Kingston and Goldsboro. Afterwards they participated in the defense of Washington (NC) against a force led by A. P. Hill that is ten times their size.
Reflecting the morals of the period, Smith converses with fallen women, but does not use their services. He is also entangled in the politics of the regiment when their major accuses his assistant surgeon of going AWOL and then attributes the accusation to Smith. Smith secures the original documentation and the major is allowed to resign for his ungentlemanly conduct. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the book is Smith’s examination papers where he is certified by an examining board to be eligible to hold his post as Surgeon. For instance, he is asked, “Describe a disinfectant and describe the several classes of disinfectants” or “What are the conditions on which secondary hemorrhage after amputation depend, and what are the best modes of treating them?” Microbes and bacteria were unknown in those days but there was some knowledge about hygiene. Other questions are entirely irrelevant to the medical field. Under what circumstances did the House of Hannover succeed to the British crown? or What were the causes of the last war with Great Britain and in what year did it take place? For a re-enactor working on his medical impression, the examination papers alone makes the book worth its price.