American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques

Surgical Set collection from 1860 to 1865 - Civilian and Military

Civil War:  Medicine, Surgeon Education & Medical Textbooks

 Dr. Michael Echols  &  Dr. Doug Arbittier

 

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 William Whelan, Secretary of the Navy, Bureau of Medicine & Surgery

Page manuscript document, on Imprinted Letterhead. ALL IN THE HAND OF BUREAU CHIEF WILLIAM WHELAN.

"Sir, I have received your communication of the 10th inst. addressed to the Honorable. Secry. of the Navy reporting your return to the East &c. Very Respectfully, Yr. Obdt. Servt. W. Whelan.

Surgeon Henry F. McSherry, Littlestown, Adams Co., Penna."

WILLIAM WHELAN (Chief of Bureau of Medicine 1853-1865) was the third chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. He was born in Pennsylvania in September of 1808. He was commissioned surgeon's mate in March of 1828. His experience included duty in the West India Squadron, Naval Hospital, Pensacola, Florida, where he was on duty during outbreaks of yellow fever and smallpox. He also served at the Naval Hospital, Boston, and the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. He was promoted assistant surgeon in 1834, and commissioned surgeon in 1837. From 1837 he was in the Pacific on the U.S.S. 'Falmouth'. From 1843 to 1845 he served as fleet surgeon in the Mediterranean Squadron, and again from 1849 to 1852. He was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery September 23, 1853 by the President. He held the office until his death on June 11, 1865. His period of office, nearly twelve years, is longer than that of any other Chief of the Bureau.

The first major challenge to face the Bureau was the Civil War, when the number of medical officers nearly quadrupled and hospitals at Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC opened in older facilities or enlarged, and temporary hospitals sprung into existence in New Bern, NC, Beaufort and Port Royal South Carolina and Pensacola. The Naval Hospital at Norfolk, VA, lost to the Confederates early in the war, reopened for Union forces upon its recapture in 1862. Other hospitals opened in Mound City, Illinois (later moved to Memphis) and New Orleans. The first Navy hospital ship–the Red Rover–saw service to Naval forces on the Mississippi. In addition, Bureau Chief William Whelan established the Naval Laboratory in Brooklyn, under the direction of Surgeon Benjamin Bache and Edward R Squibb. Squibb was responsible for creating a system for producing medicaments of reliable quality.

Medical Antiques Index

American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques Index

 

Topical Index for American Civil War Surgical Antiques 


 

Contact Dr. Arbittier with questions or if you have Civil War medical related items for sale

 

 

Civil War Medical Collections    Sitemap for entire website 

 

Direct links to all medical & Civil War collections on this site           

American Surgical Sets:

Pre-Civil War:  1 | 2  -   Post-Civil War:  3  -  Civil War 1861-1865:  4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8   INDEX

Medical Text-Books:

1 | 1a | 2 | 2a | 3 | 3a | 4 | 4a | 5 | 5a | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9a | 10 | 11 | 12    INDEX

Surgeon General's Office Library printed catalogues: 1840 | 1864 | 1865
Medical Lecture Cards: 1a | 1b | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21    INDEX

Medical Faculty and Authors:

INDEX

Navy Surgeon Exams:

1863 Navy Surgeon Applicant Exams with Biographies   INDEX ONE | INDEX TWO

Surgeon CDVs, Images

Surgeon's Medical Service Swords, and Pistols

Army: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8    INDEX    

M.S. Surgeon Swords and Pistols:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4  INDEX

Navy: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8   

Hosp Dep't Bottles, Tins, 

U.S. Army Pannier:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

American Civil War Medicine & Surgical Antiques

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Last update: Tuesday, February 01, 2022