Surgeon in Blue
Jonathan Letterman, the Civil War Doctor Who Pioneered Battlefield Care
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Jonathan Letterman was an outpost medical officer serving in Indian country in the years before the Civil War, responsible for the care of just hundreds of men. But when he was appointed the chief medical officer for the Army of the Potomac, he revolutionized combat medicine over the course of four major battles—Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg—that produced unprecedented numbers of casualties. He made battlefield survival possible by creating the first organized ambulance corps and a more effective field hospital system. He imposed medical professionalism on a chaotic battlefield. Where before 20 percent of the men were unfit to fight because of disease, squalid conditions, and poor nutrition, he improved health and combat readiness by pioneering hygiene and diet standards. Based on original research, and with stirring accounts of battle and the struggle to invent and supply adequate care during impossible conditions, this new biography recounts Letterman’s life from his small-town Pennsylvania beginnings to his trailblazing wartime years and his subsequent life as a wildcatter and the medical examiner of San Francisco. At last, here is the missing portrait of a key figure of Civil War history and military medicine. His principles of battlefield care continue to be taught to military commanders and first responders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
2013 marks the 150th anniversary of the deadliest battle ever fought on American soil. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, over the course of three days in July 1863, both sides combined tallied nearly 50,000 casualties. But bloodshed isn't the focus of this stirring tale. Instead, McGaugh (Battlefield Angels) focuses on Civil War surgeon Jonathan Letterman's radical efforts to staunch the bleeding at Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Union commander George McClellan called Letterman "the man for the occasion," and McGaugh's engrossing narrative bears this out. The innovative doctor devised an unheard-of approach to battlefield care that stressed organization and accountability, immediate evacuation for the injured, a healthy diet for convalescing soldiers, hygiene, and sharpening the skills and leadership of the medical corps in the heat of battle. In just 18 months, Letterman revolutionized battlefield medical care to cope with a new age of mass-casualty combat, and the legacy of the so-called "Letterman System" continues to inform battlefield care. In addition to being an incisive portrait of the great doctor and leader, McGaugh's history is a testament to the brave men to whom Letterman dedicated his life. 30 b&w photos.