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Blake
 Post subject: Salute to the Sawbones
PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:56 pm 
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Location: Tennessee
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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Karl McEntegart
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2025 5:24 pm 
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<Salute> Sir,

A very fine observation in respect of the sawbones, Civil War medical facilities and indeed the family connection in saving lives.

I am pleased to hear of your recovery from the painful episode you endured and the wonders of medical excellence in our time, albeit doubtless, an expensive one.

On behalf of the members of the AoT we wish you a speedy recovery.

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Scott Ludwig
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2025 5:26 pm 
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Glad you were in, out & on the mend Blake!

I can't even begin to imagine Franklin, post battle. The officer corps losses alone. "Simply stopping the spread of infections" hit it right on the head.

That's great you have the picture of your grandfather, with his mother as well! :)

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Kent Scarbough
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 11:23 am 
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The advances made in the just 60 years after the war would have saved thousands, not to mention with current medical technology. It is still disturbing to read the first hand accounts of limbs thrown into piles due to the amputations. Gruesome and beyond what most men could handle, the sawbones as you say had to deal with it directly and I can only imagine the mental trauma they lived with for doing what had to be done.

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Quaama
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 4:47 pm 
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I'm sorry to hear that as no trip to the hospital is a fun experience but I'm glad everything went well.

One of the main reasons I chose to live where I do was the presence of a sizable public hospital. [It wasn't just the great climate, koalas, and coastal lifestyle.] I had to take my daughter to the hospital last month. After a nurse, doctor, senior doctor had checked her a surgeon was called in from home to also check her condition that night when it was decided to have her stay overnight for 'observation'. It turned out well and she was released the following afternoon. Such things are all free of charge here. I thought I might have to go myself about a week ago after a bad fall but was able to avoid it. No-one wants to go to hospital if they can avoid it.

Ahhh, beautiful.
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