site logo

Assistant Surgeon A. Steinach's Report

A Surgeon's report on the campaign

[author biography]

 

The regiment was again drawn up in line of battle on the northern side of the Antietam creek. We went into action one hundred and eighty-seven strong, and lost eighteen killed, seventy-five wounded, and twenty-seven prisoners and missing.

During the battle at South Mountain and Antietam, some amputations of the thigh and leg were performed on the field; but the result was very unfavorable. I cannot remember a single case in which such an operation was successful. In other cases, the operations were performed in buildings prepared for temporary field hospitals. In general, the amputations of an arm or leg were successful, while the thigh cases, with a very few exceptions, were fatal.

 

Source: Extract from a Report on the Medical History of the 103d New York Volunteers, MSHWR 1

Notes

1   Barnes, Joseph K., and US Army, Office of the Surgeon General, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 6 books, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1870, Part. 1, Vol. 1, Appendix, pg. 108  [AotW citation 19758]

 

« to OR Index