This Army military history volume traces the development of the Medical Department from its establishment on a permanent basis in 1818 through the final days of the Civil War in 1865. The uninterrupted existence of the Medical Department after 1818 made possible the gradual transformation of its staff from a collection of physicians of varying skills and attitudes into a group of highly trained and disciplined medical officers, proud of their organization and of their roles in it. Although the state of the art of medicine before 1865 gave the military surgeon few effective weapons against illness and infection, after 1818, the length of the military career of the average medical officer and his professional attitude toward the challenges he met led him to concentrate his efforts on the Army's health problems and to work persistently to improvise ways in which to meet them. The Army Medical Department, 1818-1865 is a significant and long-needed contribution to the history of military medicine. Contents: 1. THE STATE OF THE ART * Medicine * Surgery * Medical Education * Conclusion * 2. LAYING THE FOUNDATION, 1818-1835 * Organization and Administration * Surgeons in the Field * The Black Hawk War * Conclusion * 3. INDIAN REMOVAL IN THE SOUTHEAST: THE SECOND SEMINOLE WAR * New Leadership for the Medical Department * Removal of the Creeks * Character of the Second Seminole War * Assignment of Surgeons * Supply * General Hospitals * Care of the Sick and Wounded at a Temporary Fort * An Army Surgeon in the Field * Conclusion * 4. LAWSON'S FIRST YEARS AS SURGEON GENERAL, 1836-1845 * Administration in Washington * Problems of Surgeons in the Field * Conclusion * 5. THE WAR WITH MEXICO: THE TAYLOR AND KEARNY CAMPAIGNS. * Administration of the Medical Department * Surgeons in the Field * Conclusion * 6. THE WAR WITH MEXICO: SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN * Preparing for Invasion * Establishing a Base: Vera Cruz * The Drive on Mexico City * After the Victory * Conclusion * 7. LAWSON'S LAST Y