The following is an account

taken from the Progress

newspaper regarding the
military hospitals at New
Bern, NC. The Hospitals
referenced in the article
were known collectively
later in the war as Foster
General Hospital

MEDICINE
IN
CIVIL WAR
NEW BERN

The General Hospital at

Academy Green is full of severely
wounded men, and those who
have undergone amputation.
Two houses opposite are filled
with wounded rebel prisoners,
under charge of their own
surgeons. The Masonic Hall (the
public hall adjoining the Lodge
Room) is filled with the sick of
various regiments. These last
two are branches of the original
Academy Hospital, and are
supplied from its kitchen. The
best of food is furnished,
excellent ventilation, good beds
and kind and attentive nurses.
Dr. George Derby, of the Mass.
23d, has the general supervision,
assisted by Dr. Newton, Assistant
Surgeon of the Conn. 10th, and by
Dr. Clark, of Whitinsville, Mass.,
one of four surgeons recently

sent by the Governor of that

State. The wounded are
cheerful, and speak in the
highest terms of their surgical
and medical advisers,
accommodations and nurses.
The General Hospital, On Craven
St., was fitted up by the rebels,
and contains eleven wards, with
about 240 beds. These wards are
generally finely aired, and well
ventilated. They contain both the
wounded and sick patients.
Under the same name Craven
Street General Hospital are
included the Odd Fellows Hall
Hospital, in Middle St., and the
Merchants Bank Hospital, in
Craven St., with about sixty beds.
This whole organization is under
the charge of Brigade Surgeon
James Bryan, of Philadelphia,
assisted by Drs. Saml Kneeland
of Boston, D. W. C Lathrop of
Connecticut, W. H. Leonard of
New York, and J. C. Batcheleder
of Templeton, Mass., one of the
four surgeons sent by the
Governor of that State. The
hospital steward is H. R. Jones,
Co. C, 8th Conn. and the
apothecary, John M. Davies,

Orderly Sergeant Co. M, 9th N. Y.

We are glad to learn that the
patients are all doing very well.
The hospitals have fine open
yards, with plenty of ventilation
and light; the wards are kept
clean and sweet, and, through
the assistance of the Sanitary
Committee, are abundantly
supplied with clean clothing, in
the way of shirts, drawers, quilts,
bed ticks, &c. &c. Dr. Page, the
Sanitary Inspector, is
indefatigable in his department
in the hospitals. We also learn
that the gun-shot and other
wounds heal kindly, our men
being generally robust and
healthy of constitution.

www.detachedhospital.com
MALADIES AT THE
GENERAL HOSPITAL AT
ACADEMY GREEN
In addition to the wounded soldiers,
the General Hospital at Academy
Green also treated those afflicted
with meningitis, small pox and
yellow fever.

Meningitis

The
Detached
Hospital
Mike Williams
1323 Shoreline Trail
Graham, NC 27253
mwill12612@aol.com
Chris Grimes
1700 Holly Neck Road
Roper, NC 27970
cw.grimes@yahoo.com

During the Civil War, the infection

was referred to as inflammation of
the membranes of the brain,
inflammation of the brain or
cerebrospinal meningitis. The
infection itself could have been
caused by a variety of organisms
which could be passed easily given
the environment in which the
soldiers lived. The symptoms of
meningitis as related by surgeons of
the period, included nausea, chills,
extreme pain, and neck muscle
spasms as well as tiny hemorrhagic
blisters or lesions in the skin. The
only treatment described as
successful in the majority of
meningitis patients treated was
quinine, which alleviated symptoms
more than the other remedies did.
Despite the lack of a successful
treatment besides quinine, the
surgeons do state that cerebrospinal meningitis needed to be
treated early. If meningitis was not
treated during the first few days of

symptoms, attempts after the first

week proved to be futile and
ineffective.

Small Pox

Smallpox was an ancient disease.

For millenniums, descriptions of
smallpoxs telltale pustules had
followed the routes of trade, empire
and war. W.W. Brown, a 7th New
Hampshire surgeon, wrote that the
disease, when uncomplicated,
requires no medication except an
occasional anodyne to allay nervous
irritation and procure rest. Many
stricken with smallpox were already
suffering from other ailments. With
their immune systems compromised,
smallpox struck a deadly blow.
Treatment typically consisted
purging the patient by way use of

emetics, applying iodine or

bromine to sores, giving Dovers
powders, a crystallized
combination of ipecac and opium for
pain and if the oozing pustules
invaded the mouth and throat, a
small dose of potassium chlorate as
a gargle.

Yellow Fever

Yellow fever was well known by

1861 because so many had friends
or relatives who had been stricken
during the previous fifty years. All
along the Gulf of Mexico, and the
South and Middle Atlantic coasts,
the fearful host appeared during
summer seasons. The initial
treatment addressed the visible
symptoms, which included the
jaundiced face, dangerously high

fever, severe headaches, muscle

aches, dehydration, fatigue, nausea
and vomiting. The treatment of
these symptoms included giving lots
of water, cooling the victim, oral
administration of Peruvian bark,
calomel, sugar of lead, quinine, nitre
and tartarized antimony. Doctors
who saw their patients continue to
decline after four to five days
observed the most horrific
symptoms: Violent vomiting of black
fluid, bloody urine and gums,
disorientation turning into delirium,
burning sensations inside the head,
convulsions, slowing pulse rate, then
coma and finally death. There was
really nothing that could be done
other than to try to reduce the pain
using laudanum (opium).