There were 7,500,000 horses in the United States in 1861 and only fifty known graduate veterinarians, all of whom were schooled abroad and most were foreign born. That's the way it was on April 12, 1861, when the country split apart and the two nations embarked on programs of animal procurement, management, and medical care, the dimensions of which had never before been seen. As the rebellion raged, hundreds of thousands of horses and mules were processed through the remount systems of both sides. Demands on quartermasters, impressment officers, and medical care givers were staggering. Through all of this, the lack of an efficient veterinary service contributed significantly to the tragic loss of well over a million animals, most of which died in service from sickness and disease.
Presents a comprehensive reference to the American Civil War, including a chronology of major events, biographical sketches, related articles and a collection of maps.
The life of "Dr." John Tempany spanned some of the most exciting and momentous decades of American history. Born in New York City in 1838, he became a "dragoon" (mounted soldier) and pioneer in the newly opened Pacific Northwest, helping build and settle Walla Walla, Washington. He went on to serve as an aide-de-camp to several of the most important Union generals of the Civil War and to participate in some of the greatest battles of that epic conflict. After a brief hiatus in military service, he returned to the U.S. Army as the first veterinarian assigned to full-time care of horses for the cavalry. Tempany-who earned the honorary title, doctor, though he never had any professional education as a veterinarian-served in the South during Reconstruction, then transferred with Custer's 7th Cavalry to the Southwest where he was involved in the lengthy wars against the Comanche, Apache, and other hostile Indians. He took charge of the massive wagon train and herd of animals on the famous 1874 Black Hills expedition and participated in the U.S.-Canadian Boundary survey. He likely avoided death with Custer at Little Big Horn only because he left the Army for several years to try civilian life in Minnesota. Tempany returned to his first love-the U.S. Cavalry-in 1879, serving for more than two decades with the famed all-black "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 9th Cavalry all across the West, witnessing the end of Indian hostilities and the coming of the "modern" pre-World War I cavalry. By the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Tempany was the Army's senior veterinary surgeon and was sent to Tampa, Florida to inspect and oversee the shipment of all the "equine soldiers" being sent off to that conflict in Cuba. During his long career, he visited dozens, perhaps hundreds, of military installations, examined and purchased thousands of horses and mules, and cared for thousands more. He was a pioneer in the nascent field of veterinary medicine in the U.S. Despite his decades of service, due to quirks in the law, Tempany (like all Army veterinarians) was neither accorded the status nor the perquisites of a commissioned officer. Veterinarians occupied an anomalous position as semi-civilians with no retirement program, disability insurance, promotions, or pay raises. In fact, his pay did not change from 1879 until 1899. Beginning in the 1890s, Tempany began to press for changes in the status of veterinarians, seeking a "private bill" in Congress that would allow him to retire with a pension. Some two decades went by before his continued efforts were finally rewarded with a 1911 rider to the Army's appropriation legislation that provided for an honorable retirement with benefit. By that time, Tempany was 73 years of age and had five decades of government service. He would not live to see the 1916 legislation that finally regularized the status of veterinarians as commissioned officers with a career path, promotion and pay raise opportunities, and retirement benefits, but the content of the law owed much to his decades of effort.A husband, father of nine children (of whom five survived to adulthood), noted raconteur, member of a number of social organizations, frequent official at various sporting events, and highly respected professional, Dr. Tempany should be well known. But like so many important and fascinating characters in American history, he has receded into the shadows of time. This volume attempts to recreate his life and times, and accord him the honor he is due as a soldier, pioneer, and forbear of the modern military veterinary service.
A profound and insightful investigation into how the American Civil War transformed modern medicine. At the start of the Civil War, the medical field in America was rudimentary, unsanitary, and woefully underprepared to address what would become the bloodiest conflict on U.S. soil. However, in this historic moment of pivotal social and political change, medicine was also fast evolving to meet the needs of the time. Unprecedented strides were made in the science of medicine, and as women and African Americans were admitted into the field for the first time. The Civil War marked a revolution in healthcare as a whole, laying the foundations for the system we know today. In Healing a Divided Nation, Carole Adrienne will track this remarkable and bloody transformation in its cultural and historical context, illustrating how the advancements made in these four years reverberated throughout the western world for years to come. Analyzing the changes in education, society, humanitarianism, and technology in addition to the scientific strides of the period lends Healing a Divided Nation a uniquely wide lens to the topic, expanding the legacy of the developments made. The echoes of Civil War medicine are in every ambulance, every vaccination, every woman who holds a paying job, and in every Black university graduate. Those echoes are in every response of the International and American Red Cross and they are in the recommended international protocol for the treatment of prisoners of war and wounded soldiers. Beginning with the state of medicine at the outset of the war, when doctors did not even know about sterilizing their tools, Adrienne illuminates the transformation in American healthcare through primary source texts that document the lives and achievements of the individuals who pioneered these changes in medicine and society. The story that ensues is one of American innovation and resilience in the face of unparalleled violence, adding a new dimension to the legacy of the Civil War.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, industrialization and military-technological innovation were beginning to alter drastically the character and conditions of warfare as it had been conducted for centuries. Occurring in the midst of these far-reaching changes, the American Civil War can justly be labeled both the last great preindustrial war and the first major war of the industrial age. Industrial capacity attained new levels of military significance as transportation improved, but in this, as in many other respects, the Civil War was distinctly transitional. Smoothbore artillery still dominated the battlefield, horse-drawn wagons and pack mules still carried the main logistic burden, seamstresses still outnumbered sewing-machine operators. Astride Two Worlds addresses the various causes and consequences of technological change for the course and outcome of the American Civil War.
This text discusses a wide range of print and electronic media to locate hard-to-find documents, navigate poorly indexed subjects and investigate specific research topics and subcategories. It includes a chapter on grey and extension literature covering technical reports and international issues.
