Volunteer Surgical

After realizing that the kit was probably used by a volunteer surgeon some questions I had in mind were whether the owner of the kit was the only volunteer surgeon during the war and what made the surgeon decide to volunteer. According to an article, by John H. Nelson, from the American’s Civil War Magazine, “Battle of Antietam: Union Surgeons and Civilian Volunteers Help the Wounded," volunteer surgeons were actually really common during the war. However, a statement that Nelson mentions in his article brings up some questions. Nelson mentions that a New York Times reporter observed, “Great complaint is made in regard to the conduct of the volunteer surgeons, who recklessly amputated the limbs of the wounded, and leave them destitute of the
care needed for their recovery. Many operations are performed without judgment, and in a totally unjustifiable manner, frequently hastening the death of the patient” (Nelson, 1). The use of amputation was common during the war because “soft lead Minié balls and round musket balls used by both sides would flatten on impact, mangling both muscle and bone” (Nelson, 1). This cultivated a controversy around surgeons about whether or not their decisions were made correctly or if they just hastily conducted their job in order to save the patient from immediate pain. Perhaps the kits of the surgeons can be a gateway to the minds of the surgeons themselves and reveal a different perspective on the kit’s importance besides the normal understanding of the purpose of surgeon’s kit, which is to be used to perform surgeries. Based on the physical appearance of the kit, not much can be said about the kit itself besides the practical use of it and its equipments, but the kit is like a door to the tools and all the history behind them.
According to Dr. Michael Echols, an expert on American Civil War Medicine and Surgical Antiques, the inside an of regular kit contains: a large amputation saw, a surgical scalpel, a set of forceps for extracting bullets, scissors, a probe to locate objects in wounds, a Tenaculem that was used to hold body parts during surgery, a Tourinquet which was used to compress arteries above the cut during amputations, a bone brush, a amputating knife, and a catlin, which is a small knife used in amputation (Echols, 1). Since the kit lacked the set of forceps that’s used for extracting bullets, I assumed that the owner of the kit only amputated the limbs of his patients because the forceps were needed to extract the bullets and keep the limb, otherwise the limb was amputated. Also, since the kit is made out of leather, apart from the normally used wooden kits at the time, it meant that the owner belonged to a higher class at the time. The stains on the knives, the saw, and the kit show how often the tools were used and the amount of surgeries that were performed. The knives and the saw both lacked the sharp edges it once may have and have now became dull. This made me think that the kit represented the great contributions of volunteer surgeons during the war, but also the cruel reality that took place during the war. Perhaps, alongside with asking about the importance of the kit it’s necessary to ask what images does the kit show about its
past? When thinking of this cruel reality a picture comes to mind. Imagine rows and rows of beds under open tents, where anyone can see what’s happening. The sky is dark red from all the smoke and on each bed is an injured soldier wrapped in bandages or bleeding painfully. Piles of limbs are scattered everywhere near the beds and more are thrown on top. This image gives off a sense of sadness and sympathy towards the soldiers. Through this image that the kit conjures, it gives a deeper and different perspective about the reality during the war that the kit is trying to show. I developed a negative view where all the surgeons during the war only amputated limbs instead of trying to figure out other methods of saving the patient without amputating a limb. Perhaps, the surgeons were afraid of trying something new in a war zone and risked killing innocent soldiers as experiments. This fear from the surgeons is the fear of the unknown, in which the unknown is trying to figure out a new method. The fear of not knowing the best option or another option clouds a person’s mind during emergency situations.