Note_from_Steve

Steve Williams March 4 2010 Dr. E. Cook Book Review # 3 History of Alabama Author Jack Welsh Two Confederate Hospitals and Patients Atlanta to Opelika This book gives great in-depth information and analysis of Confederate medicine in the Army of Tennessee using primary and secondary sources and individual patient records in a form not previously available. There are over 200 diagnosis, approximately 17,000 patients for 12 states, and more than 870 numbered and named units. The two hospitals under discussion originated in Atlanta in the year of 1862 and moved to Vineville, Georgia, in 1864 before Atlanta fell. One later moved to Cornith, MS to support General John .Hood. They both finally closed in Opelika, Alabama in the year 1865. Effects of changing numbers of admissions, three major relocations, small bed space, at times too few doctors, and the the disintegrating Southern railroad system are detailed. Since the original data are derived from various primary sources with different methods of recording and some incomplete records, the data and the methods of collecting and collating it are described. Use of individual patient s records allowed the evaluation of the Confederate Army of the state Tennessee disease patterns and patient dispositions. Patient care was also hurt by frequent changes in rules and regulations, and orders in response to military events. Prognostications, the ability to predict outcome of diseases and wounds, were required by the surgeons to carry out the various orders determining patient disposition. This aspect of Civil War medicine has not been previously discussed. Problems with comparing various published Civil War medical data with the present material are examined. Jack D. Welsh, is from Grand Island, Nebraska, and an alumnus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska College of Medicine- Omaha. He was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a attending physician at hospitals and medical centers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Welsh always had an interest in the Civil War that increased as he continued to find works of wounds and illnesses that debilitated that killed many the f military officers. His investigation into the medical histories of both Union and Confederate officers assists in delineating information about their lives and the practice of medicine at the time. The Confederate Hospitals and Their Patients: Atlanta To Opelika is a remarkable primary and secondary sources of information concerning the medical care of the Confederacy during the Civil War of 1865 . The bulk of The Confederate Hospitals And Their Patients presents individual patient records of two different hospitals, both of which were originated in the city of Atlanta in the year of 1862 and moved to Vineville, Georgia before Atlanta fell, eventually closing in Opelika, Alabama. Since the gathered data is from various primary, and secondary sources and some incomplete records, the unoque methods of data collection and collation are described. The Confederate Hospitals And Their Patients mainly focuses on the data itself, with minimal exposure , though many clarification and conclusions are included. An enthusiastically recommended reference and resource for college libraries and anyone researching Civil War medical care.