Frontier Medicine at Fort Davis and Other Army Posts: True Stories of Unglamorous Maladies

Download or read book Frontier Medicine at Fort Davis and Other Army Posts: True Stories of Unglamorous Maladies written by Donna Gerstle Smith and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2022-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a headless burial to cocaine toothache drops, the true stories hidden in the Wild West's medical records are a match for its tallest tales. In the 19th century, when dying young was a fact of life, a routine bout of diarrhea could be fatal. No one had heard of viruses or bacteria, but they killed more soldiers on the frontier than hostile raiding parties. Physicians dispensed whiskey for TB, mercury for VD and arsenic for indigestion. Baseball injuries were considered to be in the line of duty and twice resulted in amputations at Fort Davis. Donna Gerstle Smith explains how an industrious laundress could earn more than a private, how a female army surgeon won the Medal of Honor and how a garrison illegally hung the local bartender.