Books and Documents

ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES

THE
ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT
1865-1917

by
Mary C. Gillett

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1995

ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES Jeffrey J. Clarke, General Editor
Advisory Committee (As of October 1994)
John W. Shy (Chairman) University of Michigan	Ira D. Gruber Rice University
Joseph T. Glatthaar University of Houston	William A. Walker Archivist of the Army
Brig. Gen. Gerald E. Galloway, Jr. U.S. Military Academy	Col. John F. Connolly U.S. Army War College
Brig. Gen. Randall L. Rigby, Jr. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College	Maj. Gen. John P. Herrling U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command
Carlo W. D’Este New Seabury, Mass.	D. Clayton James Virginia Military Institute
Rose L. Greaves University of Kansas	Carol A. Reardon Pennsylvania State University
Michael J. Kurtz National Archives and Records Administration
U.S. Army Center of Military History Brig. Gen. John W. Mountcastle, Chief of Military History
Chief Historian Chief, Histories Division Editor in Chief		Jeffrey J. Clarke Col. William T. Bowers John W. Elsberg

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gillett, Mary C.
The Army Medical Department, 1865-1917 / by Mary C. Gillett.
p. cm. - (Army historical series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States. Army Medical Dept.-History-19th century.
2. United States. Army Medical Dept.-History-20th century.
3. Medicine, Military-United States-History-19th century.
4. Medicine, Military-United States-History-20th century.
5. World War, 1914-1918-Medical care. I. Title II. Series.
UA223.G544 1995
355.3`45`0973-dc20

First Printing-CMH Pub 30-9

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402

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Contents

FORWARD

THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

PROLOGUE: THE RETURN OF PEACE

1. VIEW FROM THE TOP

The Surgeon Generals
Demobilization
The Peacetime Organization
Creation of the Hospital Corps
Problems of Victims of War
State of the Art

2. SUPPORTING THE ARMY

Preventive Medicine
Surgery
Hospitals
Above and Beyond Health Care
Off-duty Pursuits

3. THE INDIAN WARS

Fighting an Unorthodox Enemy
Supporting a Major Expedition
Surgeons and Their Work
Care of Reservation Indians
The Last Battle

4. A NEW DIRECTION

The New Surgeon General
Personnel and Training
Preventive Medicine
Surgery
Domestic Conflict

5. PREPARATIONS FOR CONQUESTS OVERSEAS

The Medical Buildup
Readying Supply
Organizing a Hospital System
Launching the Cuban Expedition
Launching the Philippine Expedition

6. SUPPORTING THE INVASION FORCES

In Cuba
In Puerto Rico
In the Philippines

7. DISEASE AND DEATH IN U.S. CAMPS

Camp Thomas
Camps in Florida
Camp Alger
Retreat From Disease: New Camps
Camp Wikoff
The Typhoid Board
The Dodge Commission Investigation

8. CAMPAIGNS OF THE NEW EMPIRE

The Philippine Insurrection
Hospitals and Evacuation
Medical Personnel
Health of the Troops
Supply and Diet
The China Relief Expedition

9. PUBLIC HEALTH IN CUBA

Health of the Troops
Improving Sanitation
Fighting Yellow Fever
The Yellow Fever Board
A Time of Trial and Triumph

10. PUBLIC HEALTH IN OTHER CARIBBEAN AREAS

Puerto Rico
Panama Canal Zone
Gorgas and the Opposition
Fighting Disease
The Hospital System
A Worthy Rivalry

11. PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES

Research and Disease Boards
Organizing the Campaign
The Campaign
The Most Dangerous Threats
Other Health Problems

12. THE ORGANIZATIONAL REVOLUTION

The Surgeon Generals
The Surgeon General`s Office
Medical Officers
Dentists
Nurses
The Hospital Corps
Preparing Medical Personnel for War
General Hospitals
Supply

13. THE MEDICAL SERVICE IN ACTION

Fighting Disease and Disability
Hospitals and Laboratories
Evacuation
Practice for War
Disaster Relief

14. IN THE SHADOW OF WAR

The Surgeon General
Medical Department Personnel
National Guard Medical Personnel
Supply
Hospitals and Laboratories
Training Along the Mexican Border
Lessons Learned From Europe

EPILOGUE: THE YEARS OF CHANGE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Table

Philippine Tropical Disease Board Members

Maps

No.
1. Bighorn-Yellowstone Expedition, 1876
2. Cuba, 1898
3. The Caribbean, 1898
4. The Philippines, 1899

Illustrations

Joseph K. Barnes
Charles H. Crane
Robert Murray
John Moore
Jedediah H. Baxter
Charles Sutherland
William H. Arthur`s Caricature
John van R. Hoff
Fred C. Ainsworth
George M. Sternberg
Post Hospital at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri
Alfred Alexander Woodhull
Daniel Smith Lamb
Joseph J. Woodward
Elliott Coues
Mule Pulling a Travois
Holmes O. Paulding
James P. Kimball
George E. Lord
Bennett A. Clements
Curtis E. Munn
Julius H. Patzki
Junius L. Powell
Leonard Wood
Bernard Semig
Peter J. A. Cleary
Surgeon General Sternberg
Army Medical Museum Classroom
John Shaw Billings
Charles Smart
Daniel G. Caldwell
Nicholas Senn
Charles R. Greenleaf
Dallas Bache
Nurses at Josiah Simpson General Hospital near Fort Monroe
General Hospital at Fort Monroe
Henry Lippincott
Benjamin F. Pope
Aaron H. Appel
Marshall W. Wood
George McCreery
Valery Havard
Francis J. Ives
Louis A. LaGarde
Albert Hartsuff
Louis M. Maus
Medical Care at Jacksonville
Alfred C. Girard
Victor C. Vaughan
Second Reserve Hospital, Manila, Philippines
Ward on Hospital Ship Relief
Converted Hospital Facilities at Angeles and Dagupan
Medical Officer Caring for a Wounded Filipino Insurgent
William B. Banister
Walter Reed
Aristides Agramonte
Jesse W. Lazear
James Carroll
Carlos Juan Finlay
Clara L. Maass
Bailey K. Ashford
Jefferson R. Kean
William C. Gorgas
Cartoon by Gorgas
Street in Colon, Panama
Theodore C. Lyster
Richard P. Strong
Charles F. Craig
Percy M. Ashburn
Edward B. Vedder
Weston P. Chamberlain
Franklin A. Meacham
A Sewage-clogged Drainage Ditch
William H. Forwood
Robert M. O`Reilly
George H. Torney
Paul F. Straub
Jane A. Delano
Company of Instruction Training at Washington Barracks
Henry L. Gilchrist
Chief Surgeon Girard
Letterman General Hospital, Presidio, San Francisco
Frederick F. Russell
Carl R. Darnall
William J. L. Lyster
Edward L. Munson
San Francisco, April 1906
Torney as a Young Officer
Robert U. Patterson
Surgeon General Gorgas
Base Hospital at Fort Sam Houston
Field Hospital No. 7 En Route to Mexico
Henry P. Birmingham
Field Hospital and Its Surgical Ward
Animal-drawn and Motor Ambulances

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Illustrations courtesy of the following sources: pp. 44, 98, 211 (top/bottom), 215, 358, and 359, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; pp. 153 and 188, Harper`s Weekly, August 1898 and September 1898; p. 366 (top/bottom), Library of Congress; p. 316, National Archives and Records Administration; and pp. 65, 126, 269, 298, and 330, U.S. Army Center of Military History. All other illustrations are from the files of the National Library of Medicine. Because most of the photographs from the latter collection are undated and without identification beyond the names of the subjects, the captions for the illustrations in this volume do not specify rank.

The work of Charles Johnson Post (1873-1956) depicted on the paperback cover-Field Hospital Back of the Lines, Cuba, 1898, watercolor, 14³/4" x 18³/4" - is from the Army Art Collection.