Medical directors and officers.
The hardest task for a soldier is to remain quiet under fire without replying.
Add to this the concentrated thought and delicate nicety of touch necessary to the treatment of mortal and agonizing wounds, and you have the task which confronted the army surgeon on the field of battle.
During the first year of the war, before
General Jackson had established a precedent to the contrary, they were also liable to capture and imprisonment.
In war-time, army medical officers have many things to do beyond the mere treatment of the sick and wounded.
Far-reaching health measures are in their hands.
Vast hospitals must be organized, equipped, supplied, and administered, to which sick and wounded by the hundreds of thousands must be transported and distributed.
There are subordinates to be enlisted, equipped, cared for, trained, and disciplined.
No less than ten thousand medical men gave direct assistance to the
Northern forces during the war. Under the agreement of the Geneva Convention,
medical officers are now officially neutralized.
This status cannot free them from the dangers of battle, but it exempts them from retention as prisoners of war.
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Medical directors, army of the Cumberland, June, 1863 |
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Dr. Blackwood (center) and medical officers in 1864 first division, ninth corps, army of the Potomac |
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