Doctors for Hire at the Battle of Gettysburg

Contract Doctors in the Civic War Problems within the Army medical corps became readily apparent during the fi rst major engagement of the Civil War at Bull Run. Hospitals, located too far from the front lines, forced the Union Army to rely on ambulances driven by civilians to transport casualties. Th e civilian drivers were not accustomed to being in harm’s way and fl ed during the fi rst shots of the battle. Th e result of the Battle of Bull Run was that the wounded were forced to seek medical care on their own. Union soldiers who were too injured to walk to the hospitals were left on the battlefi eld for days, and the ones who were able to walk had to travel twentyseven miles or more to Washington, DC, for treatment. Th e debacle at Bull Run was met with outrage from both the upper echelons in the Union Army and the American public. It was blatantly apparent that more medical personnel were needed to provide battlefi eld treatment and immediate care close to the fi eld of action. Enter the contract doctors. Th ere were three types of contract doctors: military affi liated contract doctors, state contract doctors, and local contract doctors. Military affi liated contract doctors were individuals who at one time or another served in the military. We know a great deal about these doctors because their military records still exist. State contract doctors made up the majority of the staff behind the frontlines hired as physicians by state governments to attend their locally organized regiments. Because each state used diff erent criteria for licensing their attendant Doctors for Hire at the Battle of Gettysburg