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Full-Text Articles in History
Inspirations Of War: Innovations In Prosthetics After The Civil War, Savannah A. Labbe
Inspirations Of War: Innovations In Prosthetics After The Civil War, Savannah A. Labbe
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
In early 1861, a Confederate soldier named James Edward Hanger waited on the ground to die. Minutes before, his left leg had been shot off above the knee while he was sitting with his comrades in the loft of a barn in Philipi, Virginia. As soon as the cannonball burst through the barn, the rest of the men fled, leaving Hanger behind. He was found by enemy troops and brought to a doctor, who amputated his leg. Hanger became the first person to have a limb amputated during the Civil War. When one thinks of Civil War injuries, amputations often …
Competing Stories: The Gardner Saga Continues, Brianna E. Kirk
Competing Stories: The Gardner Saga Continues, Brianna E. Kirk
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
In 1893, two Philadelphia doctors from the Mütter Museum sent surveys to Civil War amputee veterans in order to compile records on their war amputations circa thirty years after seeing combat. One of those surveys found its way into the hands of Clark Gardner, a fifty-four year old double amputee vet who served in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery. (An introduction to Garnder can be found here.) Gardner’s responses to the survey are quite compelling and provided vivid details about his war amputations, the healing processes, difficulties he encountered, and artificial limb usage. [excerpt]
Tales From A Boston Customs House: “Worthy” Suffering, S. Marianne Johnson
Tales From A Boston Customs House: “Worthy” Suffering, S. Marianne Johnson
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
Despite Francis Clarke’s argument that men who suffered in exceptional ways, such as amputees, were regarded as national martyrs and held up as the emblem of sacrifice to the nation, this argument cannot be applied wholesale to all exceptional sufferers in the post-war North. Although men who lost limbs in battle were often remembered in terms of glory and treated as national heroes, those who suffered in non-heroic ways, such as prisoners of war and the victims of non-combat related accidents, were often treated as less deserving of honor. [excerpt]
Tales From A Boston Customs House: “Living Monuments”, S. Marianne Johnson
Tales From A Boston Customs House: “Living Monuments”, S. Marianne Johnson
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
The image of the amputee is a classic one in the memory of the American Civil War. Francis Clarke has argued that the long-suffering and sacrificial Union amputee became a national martyr to the righteousness of their cause. While this view was manifested in various ways throughout the postwar North, the case of double-arm amputee Lewis Horton serves to give depth insight into–and possibly push back against–this argument. [excerpt]
Tales From A Boston Customs House: Recovering From Trauma, S. Marianne Johnson
Tales From A Boston Customs House: Recovering From Trauma, S. Marianne Johnson
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
After losing both arms in a gunnery accident aboard the USS Rhode Island in 1863 and being told he would not live, Medal of Honor recipient Lewis Horton resolved that he would recover and be with his family again soon. The double amputation, completed within an hour of the accident, was successful, but Horton lost a significant amount of blood and could merely wait and hope. Eighty days after amputation, the ligatures — cords left in the limb to hold arteries closed until they had sufficiently healed — were removed, and healing commenced quickly. Shortly after, he was discharged and …
“Home Again”: The Contrasting Experiences Of Richard D. Dunphy And Lewis A. Horton, S. Marianne Johnson, Kevin P. Lavery
“Home Again”: The Contrasting Experiences Of Richard D. Dunphy And Lewis A. Horton, S. Marianne Johnson, Kevin P. Lavery
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
Union veterans returning home from the war in 1865 faced a myriad of experiences and reacted to the return to civilian life in a variety of ways. Richard D. Dunphy and Lewis A. Horton, both double-arm amputee veterans of the Navy, ably demonstrate the differences in experience and reaction to the war and life afterwards. [excerpt]
A Life Cast Asunder: The Fate Of Sanford Pettibone, Bryan G. Caswell
A Life Cast Asunder: The Fate Of Sanford Pettibone, Bryan G. Caswell
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
As the American Civil War entered its fourth summer in 1864, both Union and Confederacy delved ever deeper into their remaining reserves of manpower. Legions of men continued to enter the armed forces of their nations, reinforcing drastically undermanned units as well as forming regiments of their own. One such regiment was the 133rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Organized at Camp Butler, Illinois in May of 1864 and mustered in for only one hundred days, the 133rd Illinois was stationed at the Rock Island Arsenal, where its men guarded Confederate prisoners of war. Here the 133rd would remain until its men’s …