The Confederate Navy Medical Corps

The Confederate Navy’s medical service is usually overlooked in histories of the Civil War, yet it was vital in maintaining the fighting strength of the South’s navy and marine corps. Confederate medical officers not only manned war vessels, they staffed navy yards and land-based hospitals, gathered supplies, participated in raids, examined recruits, and even served at defensive shore batteries. Many such officers had served in the United States Navy, while others were recruited from civil life. Enlisted personnel and civilian physicians also helped the navy provide medical care—used in managing battle wounds and other injuries but more often devoted to preventing and treating disease. Malaria was particularly common among sailors and marines stationed in the swampy regions of the South.
This book, the first devoted entirely to the medical corps of the Confederate navy, provides a carefully researched look at the men, structure, facilities, and activities of the organization. A complete list of men known to have been commissioned as naval medical officers is included.

Guy R. Hasegawa is a retired editor and pharmacist living in suburban Maryland. He has published numerous scholarly articles and books on Civil War medicine and is a frequent contributor to Civil War Navy—The Magazine.

Guy R. Hasegawa
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 245
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9451-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5212-2
Imprint: McFarland

Foreword by Gary McQuarrie 1
Preface 5
Introduction 9
1. Beginnings of the Medical Corps 13
2. Building a Nucleus 24
3. Wanted: More Medical Officers 33
4. Standing of Naval Medical Officers 49
5. Surgeons’ Stewards and Hospital Stewards 62
6. Civilian Physicians 69
7. Medical Officers’ Assignments 76
8. Surgeons Afloat 92
9. Medical Purveying 108
10. Hospitals 123
11. Treating the Sick 140
12. Rendering Judgments 158
13. Sundry Activities 170
14. End and Aftermath of the War 178
Conclusion 182
Appendix A. Commissioned Medical Officers in the CSN 189
Appendix B. Duties of Medical Officers 195
Chapter Notes 199
Bibliography 221
Index 231