Surgical instrument makers
during the Civil War: Tiemann, Hernstein,
Otto, Reynders, Gemrig, Kern, Snowden, Kolbe, Helmold, Kuemerle, Leypoldt,
Teufel, Wirz, Wiegand, Snowden, Codman, Shurtleff, Rees, Wade, Ford, Wocher,
Brinkerhoff, Tiencken
|
Known
major and minor contract makers of Civil War instruments and kits for the Union |
Tiemann (major)
Hernstein (major)
Otto-Reynders
Gemrig (major)
Kern (major)
Snowden (major)
Kolbe (major)
Kuemerle
Leypoldt
Teufel
|
Wirz
Wiegand and Snowden
Codman and Shurtleff
Rees
Wade & Ford
Wocher
Brinkerhoff
Helmold
Tiencken (minor)
|
|
See a list of the
above makers with identification information |
What you need to know about
Civil
War surgical sets
How to identify
Civil War era
surgery sets
Identification
of Civil War
surgeon's
Civil War maker labels as found in 61-65 sets
Some general
information: Obviously there is great interest in American Civil War medical
items. Interest is especially high in surgical sets which were actually
"used" during the war in the field. Unfortunately,
identification of these sets is difficult unless specifically marked with "U.
S. A., Hosp. Dept." or "U.S.A. Hospl Dept." or "U.S.A. /
Medical Department" for the United States Army, Hospital Department.
For more information, see the extensive
article on the history of the US Army
medical department.
The exact history
of how surgical instruments and sets were marked “U.S.A. Hosp Dept” is not
known. Following the Federal defeat at Manassas and the grim realization
that the war may last years and not months, the Army Medical Department, under
the auspices of the Quartermaster Department, (the agency responsible for
procuring supplies) began purchasing standardize sets and instruments from
contract suppliers like Tiemann, Hernstein, Kolbe' and others.
Federal government purchased
sets:
There are two major groups of Federal government
contract-ordered surgery sets used during the Civil War:
First,
U. S. Army Hospital Department sets,
which were specifically made for use during the Civil War. Yes,
there were a few Hospital Department marked sets which existed outside
the War years, but they are easily identified and dated by the
contents. (Note: There are U. S. A. Hosp. Dept.
sets used during the Mexican War of 1846, so
the trick is to correctly identify the maker and production dates.
The Army Medical Department before the Civil War was a small
bureaucracy, which consisted of less
than 100 doctors, most of whom were not performing surgery on a regular
basis as there were no wars, so there were not that many surgical sets
needed.)
Secondly, there are
U. S. Army Medical Department sets, which
were used by Army surgeons before, during, and after the
Civil War. With Medical Dept. marked sets you have to figure out when
the set was made via the maker address or style of the case and
instruments, but the vast majority of these sets were purchased
immediately before or during the War. It may have just been a
matter of the small group of doctors in the pre-war Medical Department
ordering military surgical sets out of a different budget than the
budget created to run the whole War effort and assigned to the Hospital
Department bureaucracy.
A minor category of 'government', but
not Federal, military sets are those purchased by the volunteer state
militia's. A
minor source of
military 'style' sets are those from various state voluntary militias
existing prior to and during the Civil War. These state groups,
which were later mustered into the Regular Army, could have ordered
military-style sets for their own use prior to or even during the War.
The
instrument makers made sets for the state militia groups before the War
or during the first year before the Med. or Hosp. Dept. purveyors
ordered the 4,000 sets for the Federal Army.
This would account for the small number of
military sets we see from regional makers like Rees, Brinkerhoff,
Goulding, Otto, Shurtleff, etc. These regional makers could have
provided military-style sets for their local militia volunteers, but
were never under contract to supply the main-stream sets ordered and
used by the
Union Army during the War due to their inability to supply the large
numbers or quality of instruments.
Remember, the vast
majority of instrument makers in 1861, other than someone like Tiemann, were not geared for large
scale production, but rather crafted individual hand-made instruments
which were custom ordered by the surgeon or put-up in cases for sale as
a design by 'doctor so-and-so'. Other 'makers' imported instruments
from England and France to assemble sets as requested by a given doctor
or retail outlet such as a pharmacy or apothecary dealer.
It
is possible any
given military group could have contracted with any given instrument maker
to provide a set of instruments for their group with military latches and
military dedicated instruments. The markings or lack there-of on the
brass plates or instruments would be the telling point. Only the
official Union ordered sets would be engraved and marked as U.S.A. Hosp. Dept or Medical Dept. All others would be
either unmarked or otherwise marked. This may account for some un-marked
brass plates during or prior to the War years.
The Union
government, through Surgeon Richard S. Satterlee as Medical Purveyor of the
United States Army, contracted with various makers in the Northeast like
George Tiemann of New York and Dietrich W. Kolbe' of Philadelphia to make
specific types of instruments and field surgical sets. These sets
were actually used in the War by the Union's field troops and rear area
hospitals. These same instrument makers supplied the pre- and
post-war medical community in all areas of the continental U.S.
Therefore, it becomes important to "date" a given set to document its
ownership.
There were a large
number of doctors who served on both sides during the war and they required
access to instruments of the profession. The Union's troops
were supplied by some of the best known instrument makers in the United
States, while the Confederate supplies were often from smaller makers in the
South, earlier sets, or were imports from France, England, and other European
makers. Only the Federal provisioners are marked as 'U.S.A., Hosp.
Dept.' and are "official" government produced sets or individual items.
The fact the
Confederate's instruments were perhaps from European or Southern origin is not
to say they were inferior by any means. The European makers were in
business long before the American makers and in many cases of better quality.
It's just that the Union's medical supplies were organized and ordered to
specification.
Proving an
amputation or surgical kit was used in the Civil War is difficult at best.
Unless the name "U.S.A. Hospital Department" or "U. S. Medical
Department", or the documented variation appears on the item, you need
extensive information and documents to attribute a given set to the Civil War.
Antique dealers are fond of calling anything old "Civil War Antiques", but the
fact is few are authentic. The name and address of the
manufacturer is a key to dating the item. Many sets are stamped with the
makers name and the dates they were in business can provide information as to
the period of use. At the bottom of this page is a
list of Civil War instrument makers.
See:
Instrument
sets specified by the U.S. Army Medical Department during the Civil War
U. S. Army Hospital Department and Medical Department
inscriptions
In general, due to
the time frame of 1860-1865 when actual Civil War material would have been
made, most of the hand instruments like the surgical knives will have
non-metal handles. Non-metal means: rubber, ivory, ebonized wood, bone,
horn, gutta percha, etc.. All-metal handles were not used until after
the 1870's, so any wood cased or leather pouched minor surgical set with all
metal handled instruments will
not be from the Civil War era. All too often an antique dealer
will label a small leather cased set with all metal handles as being from the
Civil War and that is just not the case.
Obviously, if a
given instrument maker didn't exist prior to the Civil War or the address on
the instrument case of the maker dates post Civil War, then the instruments
could not have been a part of the Civil War. Also, if
the doctor didn't graduate until after the War, then...well you get the idea.
It is known that
contract doctors used their own pre-existing surgical instruments during the
war, but unless there is actual documentation from the time, that would be
very difficult to prove. This is why there are instruments and sets which date
prior to 1860 which may or may not have been used in the War. Unless
you can provide absolute proof that a given 'contract' doctor owned and used a
given set during the War, you are making a mistake to call it a 'Civil War'
set. You can call it a Civil War 'era' set, but then anything made prior
to 1860 could make that claim. To be safe, don't pay a premium for any
set unless the seller can provide absolute and positive proof of use and
ownership. Given the high dollars involved in true or real Civil War
sets, fakes are not uncommon, and liars are plentiful.
We can get some
idea of the numbers of contract and 'regular' military doctors during the War
and assume that many of contract doctors would have provided their own
surgical sets. The following information is from: A History of the
Army Medical Department: Civil War Medicine 1861-1865 by Mary C.
Gilletty
The quality of the Army's
contract physicians was important, since during the course of the war more
than 5,500 civilian doctors assisted the Medical Department. Many routinely
staffed general hospitals while others provided help only in emergencies
when it was necessary to locate more physicians quickly. In the last group
were some of the nation's most prominent doctors. When a battle resulted in
overwhelming numbers of casualties, those who flocked to the scene might
include quacks, cultists, and practitioners of questionable ethics, men who
were not under military discipline and who could, therefore, come and go as
they liked, taking assignments that pleased them and rejecting all others.
They often performed unnecessary operations or wrought havoc as they dug
about for bullets. As a result of the problems experienced with doctors so
casually assembled, the Medical Department decided to call only upon members
of a reserve surgeons corps formed by the governors of various states. These
gentlemen were paid the salary of contract surgeons and came in if called.
They served under Medical Department orders and were required to remain at
their assigned posts at least fifteen days, unless officially released
sooner."
The Medical Department had intended
that its detailed and copious records concerning the Union's sick and
wounded guarantee the emergence of something of value to medical science as
well as to the Army from the most frightful conflict that the nation had
ever faced. During the struggle and the months immediately following it,
more than 12,000 medical officers- regulars, volunteers, and contract-
examined over 250,000 wounds and treated more than 7 million cases of
disease. In the course of their duties, more than 300 Army surgeons died
from wounds, disease, or accidents."1
Almost 6,000 regimental medical
officers, whose qualifications were initially ascertained at the state
level, also served at one time or another in the Union Army. An equivalent
number of civilian doctors unwilling or unable to join the Army worked as
contract surgeons, either for short periods when necessity dictated or in
general hospitals in the cities where they lived."1
How often
amputation was performed can be determined from the following account by
Gilletty:
"Although occasional reports of
excessive enthusiasm for amputations did surface during the Civil War, this
form of surgery was apparently often undertaken only after careful
consideration of the alternatives. Excision was generally viewed as the
least desirable choice, however, in cases where there was damage to the
upper leg, and damage to a joint was often regarded as necessitating
amputation. The records concerning the number of amputations performed are
not complete, but the figure was at least 30,000. The most common amputation
was that of the hand or fingers, while the highest fatality rate, of 83.3
percent, occurred after amputation at the hip joint. Surgeons discovered
that amputation at the knee took a surprisingly high toll of 57.2 percent,
and even amputation of the lower arm was followed by the deaths of 20.7
percent of those operated on. Considerable difference of opinion existed as
to how the amputation was to be performed in any event, with many favoring a
flap procedure that could be quickly done on the field and involved less
danger from bleeding than the circular form of the operation. Some surgeons
favored immediate operation, others a very brief wait until the first shock
had worn off. The surgery itself was apparently a rapid procedure even
though anesthesia was generally used. A hip amputation reportedly took two
minutes, including the time needed to tie off the femoral artery."1
1. The Army Medical Department 1818-1865 by Mary C. Gillett Center of
Military History, Washington, D.C., 1987
Often, personally
owned surgical sets were engraved with the doctor's name on the top of the
wood surgical instrument case and that would be especially helpful in tracking
down the actual user and time frame. There are extensive
documents on almost all the doctors who served in the War, so it is possible
for an expert or historical researcher to determine authenticity should that
be desirable. Before you pay extra for provenance, do the research.
(Note: I personally do not collect sets just for provenance. It's too
dangerous to the pocket book and more than likely someone made up the story
anyway.)
After the War, many
doctors moved out West and purchased surgical sets to take with them.
Just because a given doctor served on either side during the War doesn't mean
he used a given set in the War. The same goes for the later "Indian
Wars" era. However, it may be a case of a given set was owned by a Civil
War doctor, but the use of that set in the war will be questionable unless the
set is marked as having been produced for the U. S. Army. Is this
getting any clearer?
The point I'm
trying to make is that authentic, documented Civil War sets are rare and the
odds of one turning up at a weekend local auction are slim and none.
Just because a set was made by one of the listed Civil War contract makers is
no guarantee it was used in the Civil War. Just because an auction
house makes the claim that a set is 'Civil War' don't believe it.
Research and dates are your best friend.
If you are going to
claim a set was used in the Civil War, you better have some extensive
documentation and even if you have a marked set, you have to make dead sure
the engraving is not faked. Fakes are being made because Civil War sets
bring a premium. See the photos below.
The other problem
with many of the "Civil War" sets is missing instruments and substitutions in
the set. Often parts are missing from any set, but war-time issue
is particularly subject to loss. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending
on your perspective, the instruments were more standardized for the contracted
sets and the odds of finding a replacement part is better than for finding one
for an individually handcrafted set. As is the case with most velvet
lined wood cased surgical sets, the wood cases were made specifically for a
given instrument and the fit of the given instrument to the case is generally
perfect. If someone tries to substitute an instrument, then it is
usually obvious or not consistent with the time-frame of the set.
The Civil War
instrument manufactures, in many cases, were contracted by the Union government's
Army Medical Department to supply
the Army with specified surgical sets and may or may not be marked "U.S.A. Hospl
Dept." or "USA Hospital Department". There
are also earlier sets marked U. S. A. Medical Dept. For example, in a
war specified set one would expect a "bullet" extractor would be a part
of that specification and would be found in the set. On the other hand,
not many general amputation sets have a bullet extractor. By deduction,
if you find an amputation set with a bullet extractor of a certain type, you
may expect it was used during a time when bullets were flying, but that
doesn't mean it was used in the Civil War.
The Civil War
contract sets are very utilitarian and not the fancy ivory handled sets or
presentation sets sold to "famous" doctors in a professionally competitive
place like New York. The list of makers listed below are not the only
providers, but some of the more notable. Some of these manufacturers
existed prior to and after the War. The trick is to figure out
which ones were suppliers to both sides during the War.
The wood cases for
real" Civil War" commercially made sets will be in military type boxes.
The wood boxes usually, have double lateral sliding locks on the front of the
case, not central keyed locks. Central keyed locked sets are generally
civilian issue. (Finding the 'key' during a battlefield experience would
have presented some difficulty.) Some military sets with a single
sliding lock have surfaced. The boxes were made of high quality mahogany
and not fruitwood or some other wood that would fracture when wet.
The military sets
generally have a brass cartouche on the top of the box which will be inscribed
with the United States Army Hospital Department insignia of some sort.
Some of the instruments will also be marked with the insignia of the
Department. The military sets are in general similar in lay-out of
the instruments and all will have a velvet type of lining.
The urethral instruments will be the longer type for use on males.
One point of
confusion about military sets is the marking on the top of the sets. It
can be "USA Medical Department" or "USA Hosp. Dept." To the best of my
knowledge, the sets marked "Medical Department" can be pre- or post- Civil War
as they were made for and owned by the existing military. The Medical Department
existed after the Revolutionary War (created in 1818) and lasted until well after the Civil War. They
owned surgical sets which were in existence before, during, and after the Civil War.
Those sets marked
"Hosp. Dept." can be pre-Civil War or issued during the Civil War by and for the Army's
Hospital Department. The term 'Hospital Department' actually
precedes the 'Medical Department' as the Hospital department was in
existence during the Revolutionary War and the into the War of 1812.
After 1812, congress created the 'Medical Department' which oversaw the
Hospital Department. Confused?
It is not uncommon
for Civil War medical items to be found in a general Civil War collection.
Therefore, those collectors may be major preservers of "real" sets.
Since there are far more general Civil War collections, the likelihood of a
large number of medical sets being in those collections is important. To
date, the only public catalog of American surgical sets has been accumulated
by Dr. Edmonson and presented in his book on American Surgical Instruments.
This is an area where the Civil War collectors could help with the knowledge
base by contributing detailed photos of their sets for publication of these
important artifacts. I am currently making plans to collect this data
for general use via this site. Anyone wishing to contribute photos may
contact me via this site.
From what I have
seen by their purchases on eBay, Civil War reenactors are not typically using
sets or instruments actually used during the War. They are
typically using just about any era surgical set to stage their acts.
Authenticity is not necessary for acting as it is for collecting. I'm
sure there are reenactors with correct sets, but it is not necessary to use
authentic sets or instruments to provide a historical drama. Hopefully
reenactors appreciate the necessity to preserve these valuable artifacts and
not subject them to loss or damage during staged productions.
The type of knife
and shape of the blade in the amputation kit can be telling. The
straight blade amputation knife replaced the curved or circular style blade
about the time of the Civil War. Circular amputation blades would more
than likely be earlier. Pre-1840's kits tend to be much more fancy and
ornate too. The ones actually used in the War are generally in pretty
rough condition as are the cases in which they were stored.
Buying an
'authentic' Civil War item at auction is a study in foolishness. You
better know a lot to do it and get a guarantee with written return privileges
from the seller or auctioneer.
A word of warning:
there are reproduction amputation kits out there. Some of them were
made by E.G. Archer & Son,
Surgical Instrument Co., Knoxville, Tenn. These are fine for
"Civil War reenactors", but not for collectors.
As previously
mentioned, all too often, antique dealers will attribute a medical item as
being "Civil War" . This is very difficult to ascertain without
extensive documentation. The fact that an item existed at the time of
the Civil War is not necessarily reason to say it was used in the Civil War.
Remember, many of the manufacturers existed prior to and after the war.
Often it is the address of manufacture printed on an item that will tell you the date
range during which that item was made. Name, associates, and address changes are a
way to narrow the time and usage of a given instrument or case. This is
where Edmonson's American Surgical Instruments
book
is so helpful as it
painstakingly charts the addresses and dates of all American manufacturers of
the time.
A few statistics
from Edmonson's book...to give you an idea of the number of sets ordered for
the War by the United States Army and to help figure the odds of one showing
up now as well as rarity:
-
4,900
amputating and general operating cases
-
1,150
trephining, exsecting, post mortem, and personal instruments
-
12,700 minor
surgery and pocket cases
-
65,000
tourniquets.
Listed are some
(not all) of the known Civil War instrument makers as reported by James M.
Edmonson, Ph.D., in his book: American Surgical Instruments, a
directory of makers to 1900. See the
books and references
page for the publisher of this essential book.
If you have any
information or opinions on these notes, please do not hesitate to email me
with comments or questions. Michael Echols, Ft. Myers, Florida
