Matchless Organization

Guy R. Hasegawa, a retired pharmacist and editor, is the author of Villainous Compounds: Chemical Weapons and the American Civil War and Mending Broken Soldiers: The Union and Confederate Programs to Supply Artificial Limbs.

“Guy R. Hasegawa has truly created a masterpiece of Civil War medical literature. His insight and incredibly thorough research of primary material is combined with a unique ability to present the complex and evolving Confederate Army Medical Department in an understandable and logical manner. This author draws the reader through the series of events that highlight the contributions of surgeon general Samuel Preston Moore and his staff’s critical work apparent in directing the remarkable success of this department.”—Jonathan O’Neal, MD, vice president, board of directors, National Museum of Civil War Medicine“The story of the Confederate Army Medical Department has finally risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the great Richmond fire of April 2, 1865, which consumed the enterprise’s voluminous and historically rich records. Matchless Organization, is a tour de force recounting the organization, function, and fate of the Confederate medical service. Had other branches of the Confederate war machine worked as well as the medical department, the conflict’s outcome might have been different.”—Bill J. Gurley, coauthor of I Acted from Principle: The Civil War Diary of William McPheeters, Confederate Surgeon in the Trans-Mississippi “Hasegawa has made another important contribution to the study of the medical aspects of the Civil War. Using new sources, Matchless Organization offers new insights into the operations of the Confederate Medical Department managed by Samuel Preston Moore. Hasegawa’s important work on the Confederacy’s medical corps will stand for many years to come.”—Kevin R. Pawlak, author, Shepherdstown in the Civil War: One Vast Confederate Hospital  “Matchless Organization fills a much-needed role in the study of Civil War medicine, since it enables historians to better compare and contrast the Union and Confederate medical departments. The use of a wide variety of primary source material to reveal the workings of the Confederate Army Medical Department sheds new light on its organization and staffing. Hasegawa’s latest book covers a broad range of subjects from personnel to the hospital and ambulance systems to the examination of surgeons, and also brings home the huge loss to history of all of the tabulated data from the Confederate Surgeon General’s Office.”—Terry R. Reimer, author of One Vast Hospital: The Civil War Hospital Sites in Frederick, Maryland, after Antietam  “Well researched and well written, Hasegawa’s book provides a scholarly account of the Confederacy’s medical department under the leadership of General Samuel Preston Moore. Organized thematically, it offers an insider’s view into the department’s operations and the versatility of its management. It is both innovative and thought-provoking.”—John S. Haller Jr., author of Battlefield Medicine: A History of the Military Ambulance from the Napoleonic Wars through World War I  “Hasegawa’s overview of how the Confederate medical system developed and functioned (or not) over the course of the Civil War is concise, clear, and as complete as available sources allow. This is information that anyone who studies, or even encounters, Confederate medicine in any way will want to have at their fingertips.—Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, author of Confederate Hospitals on the Move: Samuel H. Stout and the Army of Tennessee

• AcknowledgementsForeword by F. Terry HambrechtPrefaceIntroduction1. Medical Department for a New Nation2. The Surgeon General and His Office3. Medical Directors4. Medical Inspectors5. Medical Purveyors6. Importation of Medical Supplies7. Turning to Domestic Resources8. Care on and near the Battlefield9. General Hospitals10. Prison Hospitals11. Striving for Quality in Medical Personnel12. Adding to Medical Knowledge13. Examining for Disability14. War’s End and Beyond15. ConclusionAppendixesA. Selected Individuals in or Influencing the Confederate Medical DepartmentB. Staff of the Surgeon General’s Office, November 1864C. Surgeon General Moore’s Proposal for a Medical Evacuation SystemBibliographyNotes