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Civil War Medical Photography

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This image is a carte de viste with signature of Brigade Surgeon Dr. Stephen F. Elliot, c. 1863. Dr. Elliot was a 1848 graduate of Harvard Medical School and moved to California during the gold rush of 1849 where he was commissioned Surgeon, 4th Battalion California Mountaineers in which he served until 1862. In April 1862, President Lincoln commissioned Dr. Elliot as Brigade Surgeon for Brig. Gen. George Crockett Srong, who he treated for a fatal wound received during the union assault on Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina in July 1863. Dr. Elliot was charged with insubordination for disobeying orders from the chief medical officer for Morris Island when he persisteed in placing his field hospitals too close to the field of battle. He resigned his commission in October 1863.

An extract of the report of the of the Chief Medical Officer, Surgeon J.J. Craven, U.S. Volunteers, on the wounded after the assualt on Fort Wagner in July 1863 states that "I learned that Surgeon Elliot, U.S.V. of General Strong's brigade, had, contrary to my orders, established a hospital some half a mile still in the advance, where he was conveying the wounded. I reported this to Surgeon Crane, who was then present on the island. Surgeon Crane called Surgeon Elliot, and, in my presence, charged him with insubordination, and informed him that I was the chief medical officer, and that he must respect and obey me accordingly. Surgeon Elliot continued, however, to ignore my authority, and persisted in establishing independent hospitals upon different parts of the field."

(Surgeon J.J. Craven, U.S. Volunteers, was cheif medical officer for Morris and Foley Island, South Carolina in 1863. Dr. Craven later served as the doctor for Jefferson Davis, President of the  Confederate Southern States, during his imprisonment at Fort Monroe after the civil war. Suregon C. H. Crane, U.S.A. was at that time medical director of the department of the south and later served as Surgeon General U.S.A.)


This carte de viste photo shows a physician with his open pocket minor surgical set, circa 1860. Note the Phi Beta Kappa key on his vest pocket watch chain and top hat on the table next to the pocket set.



A carte de viste view of "Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon" Philadelphia showing the Refreshment Saloon with union soldiers standing around out front and flanked by two other buildings. The buiding to the left was a union hopsital. The verso is covered with a preprinted history of the Saloon with numbers of injured soldiers served and story of its founding in 1861.






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