Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War

xii, 253 pp. "The Civil War has been the subject of an extensive literature, yet its medical aspects have not received any adequate historical attention. In part, however, this lack has now been remedied by Doctors in Blue which offers a comprehensive picture of health and medical care in the Union Armies. Mr. Adams, who is professor of history at Colorado College, discusses the medical confusion, administrative and professional, which prevailed at the outbreak of the war, and goes on to indicate how order was brought out of chaos. He deals in turn with the relations of the regular officers to the reserve officers and volunteers, the beginnings of the ambulance system and the handling of the wounded, as well as wartime surgery and its consequences in terms of infection and healing. In this connection the hospital system and the hospital staffs are examined. Finally, disease, sanitation and hygiene, and therapy are considered."