Blog
Posts Tagged ‘civil war medicine’
When Pius Blessing’s muster roll listed him as “missing” in the spring of 1864, the Army had no better word for what had happened to him. It would be nearly a year before that record was corrected, and considerably longer before the rest of his story – a family already marked by […]
For more than 170 years, a modest brick building has stood on Seventh Street, situated in downtown Washington, D.C. Throughout that time, its storefronts have changed hands again and again. Its address has changed, and its façade has been covered over and rebuilt. Through all of it, the rooms on its third […]
Join us for a members-only walking tour at Arlington National Cemetery, visiting the final resting places of the women who served as Civil War nurses. Meet Dorothea Dix’s recruits and the volunteers of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions through the true stories of the women who lie here: a nurse who survived […]
The day after Virginia’s secession in May 1861, Union troops marched from Washington to occupy its neighbor Alexandria. A former powerhouse in the slave trade, Alexandria was the first Confederate city in Virginia to be occupied during the Civil War and governed under strict martial law. Overnight, this bustling urban town on […]
The end of the Civil War brought an end to the dangers Clara Barton faced as a volunteer army nurse, but it did not bring an end to her work. In March 1865, with the support of President Lincoln, she accomplished the monumental task of establishing the Missing Soldiers Office—just weeks before […]
Battle-Tempered: The Physical and Psychological Consequences of War Join the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and partner organizations for a unique one-day conference. 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM Monocacy National Battlefield “Character, Warrior Identity, and Moral Leadership: Union Colonel Charles Gilpin at Monocacy and in Peace” Stephen A. Goldman, MD 9:30 […]
In 1861, anti-recruitment riots in Baltimore marked a key moment in the Civil War. Tensions were high as Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers angered Southern sympathizers, especially in divided states like Maryland. When the 6th Massachusetts Infantry arrived in Baltimore, they were attacked by an agitated mob. In self-defense, the soldiers fired […]
Women’s contributions during the American Civil War were substantial. Thousands on both sides served as nurses, while others manufactured ammunition. Some even took up arms in the battle between North and South. Historic Congressional Cemetery is the final resting place of numerous women who had active roles in the deadliest American […]
Learn the incredible story of the highest-ranking African American in the Civil War! Join us at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office on February 28 at 2:00 PM as historian and re-enactor Dr. Michael A. Hill presents the story of Brevet Lt. Col. Alexander T. Augusta, M.D.: the first African American to be commissioned […]
When an assassin’s bullet struck James Garfield in July 1881, the battle to save the president’s life began. In the weeks that followed, doctors argued over how to treat the stricken executive. In the end, Dr. D. Willard Bliss, a former Civil War surgeon, took control of Garfield’s recovery and controversy has […]
