Doctors in Gray - by H H Cunningham (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

H. H. Cunningham's Doctors in Gray remains the definitive work on the medical history of the Confederate army. Drawing on a prodigious array of sources, Cunningham paints as complete a picture as possible of the daunting task facing those charged with caring for the war's wounded and sick.

Of the estimated 600,000 Confederate troops, Cunningham claims that 200,000 died either from battle wounds or from illness--the majority, surprisingly, from illness. Despite these grim statistics, Confederate medical personnel frequently performed heroically under the most primitive of circumstances and made imaginative use of limited resources. Cunningham provides detailed information on the administration of the Confederate Medical Department, the establishment and organization of Confederate hospitals, the experiences of medical officers in the field, the manufacture and procurement of supplies, the causes and treatment of diseases, and the beginning of modern surgical practices.

From the Back Cover

H.H. Cunningham's Doctors in Gray, first published more than thirty years ago, remains the definitive work on the medical history of the Confederate army. Drawing on a prodigious array of sources, Cunningham paints as complete a picture as possible of the daunting task facing those charged with caring for the war's wounded and sick.

Review Quotes

Doctors in Gray is a comprehensive study of the entire picture of the Confederate medical service. Cunningham has studied and reported every aspect of medical care with a proper perspective for the important and the trivial. . . . The writing is refreshingly free from the medical jargon that might have discouraged many readers. This book can be enthusiastically recommended to the lay reader and the historian whose curiosity about the Civil War leads him to inquire beyond the appalling totals of the casualty lists.-- "Civil War History"

[Cunningham] has produced a book that will place all serious students of the Civil War in his debt. It removes serious misconceptions, and it tells the story of an intelligent, resourceful service that in the face of every possible difficulty performed extremely well.-- "Journal of Southern History"

About the Author

H. H. CUNNINGHAM taught history at Elon College, in Elon, North Carolina, and at the University of Georgia.