Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the American Civil War [Paperback]

Frank R. Freemon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2001

This unusual history of the Civil War takes a close look at the battlefield doctors in whose hands rested the lives of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers and at the makeshift medicine they were forced to employ. A medical doctor and a credentialed historian, Frank R. Freemon combines poignant, sometimes horrifying anecdotes of amputation, infection, and death with a clear-headed discussion of the state of medical knowledge, the effect of the military bureaucracy on medical supplies, and the members of the medical community who risked their lives, their health, and even their careers to provide appropriate care to the wounded. Freemon examines the impact on major campaigns - Manassas, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Shiloh, Atlanta - of ignorance, understaffing, inexperience, overcrowded hospitals, insufficient access to ambulances, and inadequate supplies of essentials such as quinine. Presenting the medical side of the war from a variety of perspectives - the Union, the Confederacy, doctors, nurses, soldiers, and their families - "Gangrene and Glory" achieves a peculiar immediacy by restricting its scope to the knowledge and perceptions available to its nineteenth-century subjects. Now available for the first time in paperback, this important volume takes a hard, close look at a neglected and crucial aspect of this bloody conflict.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Highly readable and well researched . . . a wonderfully good narrative. -- Civil War History

In Freemon's vivid account, one almost sees the pus, putrefaction, blood, and maggots and . . . the unbearable pain and suffering. -- Journal of the American Medical Association

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (June 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252070100
• ISBN-13: 978-0252070105
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well rounded view of Civil War medicine!, August 30, 2002

By 

Todd E. Newman (Valparaiso, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care during the American Civil War (Paperback)

Gangrene and Glory is a great book covering just about every aspect of medical related issues in the Civil War. It covers key players in the development of medical affairs while bringing forth quite a bit of information to many subject matters. For example, some of the subject matters consist of Confederate/Union healthcare,development,training,medicine,supply,diseases and surgical procedures on and off of the battlefield. Interesting stories are added to certain areas which enhance the book, plus there is mathematical data to back up the chapters. This book is a must read for those interested in medicine and medical operations during the Civil War. It is a somewhat fast read, though gets to the point and has many pictures and is thoughtfully easy to read.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Done! Highly recommend this work, February 28, 2006

By 

M. Mercedes (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care During the American Civil War (Hardcover)

This subject is often handled too dryly-- with an abundance of stats that ultimately distance the reader from the real horrors of the Civil War. Or, so graphically that the reader is numb from the overwhelming shocking suffering of the era. Freemon managed a perfect balance with this volume. Packed with plenty of little-known information and the author's own perspective, I found it to be well worth the purchase price and my time. Lots of illustrations and anecdotes throughout that illuminate the era as it really was. The author understands the reader's need for occasional comic relief while wading through such horrifically appalling and depressing material. VALUABLE resource and a keeper!! I only wish it were available in hard cover, or at least printed on a higher quality paper.

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars author's response, December 10, 1999

By 

Frank R. Freemon (Nashville, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gangrene and Glory: Medical Care During the American Civil War (Hardcover)

I am stimulated to write a review by the previous reviewer. He, perhaps, was looking for an explanatory work with chapters on doctors, nurse, hospitals, etc. The present work tells a story, one might say it reads like a novel. The book describes what happens but only with information available to contemporaries. The doctor-reader can try to use his medical knowledge to make a diagnosis. But the work is not just for doctors: it tells the importance of medical care to the war efforts of North and South and tries to argue that the superior medical care of the North was partially responsible for the Union victory. The miserable diseases and horrible wounds (gangrene) show how horrible the war was for participants and balances the rosy picture of the war given by other works (glory). I hope I can be pardoned for giving my own work 5 stars.