1862

Battle of Fredericksburg (December) “represented a turning point in the medical treatment of combat casualties. For the first time in a great battle, three cardinal components of military medicine (evacuation measures, supply concerns, and hospitalization needs) were planned and facilitated in advance. Thus the Battle of Fredericksburg is of singular significance to the history of military medicine” (Rutkow, 206). But Letterman’s major misstep was insisting on keeping all wounded on-site for as long as possible, forestalling their evacuation to hospitals in Washington (220). Union troops sustained almost 6,000 wounds of upper and lower extremities, but fewer than 1,200 gunshots to the abdomen, chest, and head (217).