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Nine of the 192 Union military hospitals during the Civil War circulated newspapers edited and printed by convalescents. The horrors of wound infection and amputation were reported in the words of surgeons, nurses and patients. Sermons cautioned against drink, tobacco and profanity while stressing patriotic sacrifice. Those who experienced the war wrote about it in simple narratives, and these are extensively quoted.
Convalescent life was painful and terrifying. Bedridden for months with fever and festering wounds, disabled veterans wondered who would respond to their needs. Who would hire them? Who would marry them?
This book covers the founding and development of nine hospital newspapers, each fully explored for such topics as patriotism, politics, religion, satire, romance and marriage, battlefield experience and treatment of prisoners of war.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
One.¿Hospital Register
Two.¿Armory Square Hospital Gazette
Three.¿The Soldiers' Journal
Four.¿The Cripple
Five.¿The Crutch
Six.¿Hammond Gazette
Seven.¿The Cartridge Box
Eight.¿Knight Hospital Record
Nine.¿Voice of the Soldier
Conclusions
Appendices
I. Union General Hospitals, December 1864
II. Department of Washington, December 1864
III. Department of Pennsylvania
IV. Middle Department Hospitals
V. Department of the East
VI. Hospital Newspapers
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Ira Spar, M.D., is president of the Hartford Medical Society, a board member of the Society of Civil War Surgeons, a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He served as a U.S. Army battalion surgeon in the Vietnam War and lives in Farmington, Connecticut.
