It is known in the South as the War Between the States, and by the official union designation of war of the rebellion. The Missouri compromise of 1820 and the compromise of 1850 were unsuccessful efforts towards a peaceful solution. The election of Lincoln as president and the secession of South Carolina on December 20th if 1860, soon followed by six other Southern states, no doubt lead toward war. Hostilities began when federal troops were moved to Fort Sumter South Carolina, and federal general P.G.T. Beauregard obeyed orders to fire on the fort on April 12, 1861. Four more states seceded, making the total 11 Confederate States. Early battles w

One of the most disturbing aspects of the war was not only the fighting itself but the medical services provided for wounded soldiers. At the outbreak of the war the United States Surgeon General's office consisted of a total of 115 surgeons; 24 of these resigned to form the nucleus of the Confederate medical services. Eventually both services were vastly-but quite inadequately expanded. Nursing services, too, were primitive. The army still relied on male nurses, most of them quite untrained. At the outbreak of the war the famous humanitarian, Dorothea Dix, hurried to Washington to offer her services; she was appointed Superintendent of Women Nurses, but never allowed any real independence. Most of the nursing service on both sides was voluntary; the United States Sanitary Commission did invaluable work in nursing and relief both at the front and in hospitals behind the line. Hospitals were mostly hastily improvised and inadequate. It is sobering to read that inspection of hospitals in the Union Army at the mid war period (November 1862 to March 1863) reported a total Of 589 as good and no less than 303 as bad or very bad, while inspections of medical officers from the beginning of the war to March 1863 found 2,727 good and 851 bad! It is to be remembered, too, when we read of the work of the surgeons and contemplate the mortality fig

Some topics in this essay:
Union Army, Civil War, Surgeon General's, Lincoln April, South War, Orleans April, PGT Beauregard, Sanitary Commission, Emancipation Proclamation, Carolina December, medical services, campaign june, war union, march 1863, south carolina, civil war, outbreak war, mid april,