Whenever I, and I am sure any of you, must head to the Emergency Room it is an ordeal and an unsettling event. Thankfully we have access to medicine and treatments which were unthinkable to Civil War soldiers during the war. Last night I headed to my local hospital in Franklin, TN, due to a kidney stone (my fifth overall). The pain was brutal but within 24 hours the doctors managed the pain (thank you morphine), then blasted the rather large stone with ultrasound waves to break it up (making it much easier to pass), and now I am already back home as if the last 24 hours were a minor inconvenience.
I can't even imagine the circumstances which faced Civil War soldiers heading to a field hospital after the Battle of Franklin. Medical supplies for the Confederates were basically out and the number of wounded was overwhelming. The modern-day Williamson County Hospital sits only about three miles from the famed charge made by Hood against Schofield. A doctoral student, taking a very deep dive into any and all medical records from the battle, could write an interesting dissertation on how many wounded soldiers might have been saved in 2025 as opposed to 1864. I would have absolutely no idea what the number would be but I imagine it would be very high due to simply stopping the spread of infections.
Anyways, here is to all the doctors, surgeons, and nurses out there! Whatever war you served in or wherever you work helping others, you are most appreciated!!!
A shoutout to my own grandfather pictured below with his mother in February 1943 (we would be 20 years old here). He would soon leave the states for service in England where he would serve as a surgeon's assistant aboard an LST during Operation Overlord. He would then be shipped to the Pacific to do the same off of Okinawa. He'd continue on with the Navy before retiring in the 1960s. He never discussed his service very much because it hurt him to remember. I've come to believe he very much hated wars and chose to work in the medical corps to do all he could to save lives rather than take them.
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