The Surgeon's Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War (Civil War America) - Softcover

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469690276 ISBN 13: 9781469690278

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2025

Synopsis

Between May and May 22, 8 3, Union soldiers marched nearly 2 miles through the hot, humid countryside to assault and capture the fortified city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Upon its arrival, the army laid siege to the city for a grueling forty-seven days. Disease and combat casualties threatened to undermine the army's fighting strength, leaving medical officers to grapple with the battlefield conditions necessary to sustain soldiers' bodies. Medical innovations were vital to the Union victory. When Vicksburg fell on July 4, triumph would have been fleeting if not for the US Army Medical Department and its personnel.By centering soldiers' health and medical care in the Union army's fight to take Vicksburg, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette offers a fresh perspective on the environmental threats, logistical challenges, and interpersonal conflicts that shaped the campaign and siege. In doing so, Privette shines new light on the development of the army's medical systems as officers learned to adapt to their circumstances and prove themselves responsible stewards of soldiers' bodies.

About this title

About the Author

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette is associate professor of history at Anderson University.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1469690276
• ISBN 13: 9781469690278
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232