Author Description

This volume traces the development of the 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. Photographs are interspersed through this text and an extensive bibliography is included.