General & Miscellaneous Military History, Occupational & Industrial Medicine, United States Civil War - General & Miscellaneous, Medicine - History

Bleeding Blue and Gray

Name: Bleeding Blue and Gray
Author: Ira M. Rutkow
ISBN: 9780375503153

by Ira M. Rutkow

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Overview

A landmark chronicle of Civil War medicine, Bleeding Blue and Gray is a major contribution to our understanding of America’s bloodiest conflict. Indeed, eminent surgeon and medical historian Ira M. Rutkow argues that it is impossible to grasp the harsh realities of the Civil War without an awareness of the state of American medicine at the time.

At the outset of the war, the use of ether and chloroform remained crude, and they were often unavailable in the hellish conditions at the front lines. As a result, many surgical procedures were performed without anesthesia in the compromised setting of a battleground or a field hospital. This meant that “clinical concerns were often of less consequence,” writes Rutkow, “than the swiftness of the surgeon’s knife.”

Also, in the 1860s, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms was still unknown–many still blamed “malodorous gasses” for deadly outbreaks of respiratory influenza. As the great Civil War surgeon William Williams Keen wrote, “we used undisinfected instruments from undisinfected plush-lined cases, and still worse, used marine sponges which had been used in prior pus cases and had been only washed in tap water.”

Besides the substandard quality of wartime medical supplies and techniques, the combatants’ utter lack of preparation greatly impaired treatment. In 1861, the Union’s medical corps, mostly ill-qualified and poorly trained, even lacked an ambulance system. Fortunately, some of these difficulties were ameliorated by the work of numerous relief agencies, especially the United States Sanitary Commission, led by Frederick Law Olmsted, and tens of thousands of volunteers, among them Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman.

From the soldiers who endured the ravages of combat to the government officials who directed the war machine, from the good Samaritans who organized aid commissions to the nurses who cared for the wounded, Bleeding Blue and Gray presents a story of suffering, politics, character, and, ultimately, healing.

About the Author, Ira M. Rutkow

Ira M. Rutkow is a clinical professor of surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He also holds a doctorate of public health from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Rutkow’s Surgery: An Illustrated History was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He and his wife divide their time between New York City and the Catskills.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

During a 39-day period in the spring of 1865, 45,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded. The wounded received the best care available at the time-care that by current standards is horrifying. In this fast-moving and informative book, Rutkow (Surgery: An Illustrated History) recreates the experience of the common Civil War soldier: it "was more sharply defined by agony, butchery, and loneliness than anything else." Simple gunshot wounds necessitated amputation; lack of antiseptics meant more soldiers died from postoperative infection than from their wounds. Communicable diseases ravaged the armies on both sides of the conflict. Rutkow charts the progress of the military medical system during the course of the war, focusing on the struggles (against political opposition) of Sanitary Commission director Frederick Law Olmsted to establish a humane and scientific system of care for the fallen. As Rutkow shows, such medical developments as the construction of hospitals and the specialization of surgery aided in the "professionalization of American medicine." With plenty of historical context, Rutkow's book should appeal beyond hardcore Civil War aficionados to a larger readership interested in a gritty, compelling story well told. 16 pages of photos not seen by PW. Agent, Janklow & Nesbit. (On sale Apr. 19) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This is different from other recent histories that focus on medicine during the war (Alfred Jay Bollet's Civil War Medicine; Frank R. Freemon's Gangrene and Glory) because it also reviews political and social changes that had significant impact upon war medicine. Rutkow (surgery, Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey; Surgery: An Illustrated History) is a respected expert on the history of American surgery whose work has been mainly in the area of Civil War medicine. Rutkow particularly highlights the work of the U.S. Sanitary Commission and its role in the war. Owing to limited sources, he does not spend much time on Confederate medicine. While the text is accessible to the casual reader, this book is written for students of the war and those interested in the history of medicine. For general and academic libraries.-Eric D. Albright, Tufts Univ. Health Sciences Lib., Boston Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An absorbing account of how American medicine was changed forever by the efforts to bring good medical care to men on the battlefields of the Civil War. Rutkow (Clinical Surgery/Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey), the author of several histories of surgery, focuses here on medical care on the Union side during the Civil War, for it was the Northern experience, he notes, that most affected the future practice of American medicine. He paints a vivid picture of the state of medicine before the war, when medical schooling was haphazard, a hodgepodge of therapies vying for supremacy. While no great scientific innovations occurred during the Civil War era-germ theory came later, and anesthesia was still largely unavailable-the war brought discipline and standards to a fractious profession and transformed the administration and organization of military medical care. In particular, Rutkow tells the story of the powerful United States Sanitary Commission, a civilian relief agency established at the start of the war. Under the guidance of Frederick Law Olmstead, the Commission set standards for military camp sanitation, advocated an independent ambulance service, and fought for a strong Surgeon General, William Hammond. Among Hammond's successes was the reform of the US Army's Medical Department and the redesign of military hospitals, changing forever the public's notion of what a hospital could be. While Rutkow captures the sweep of action on battlefields and the bloody aftermath of battles, he also reveals the political infighting that went on at the same time. His cast includes politicians with personal grievances, generals with petty animosities, doctors and nurses with ambitionsand jealousies, and, of course, soldiers with gruesome wounds. Great storytelling that both Civil War buffs and fans of medical history will surely relish.