I just viewed the digital preview of episode 1 of a new PBS series about a Civil War hospital in Alexandria, Virginia entitled “Mercy Street.” I found it excellent. The creators of the series took great pains to adhere to historical accuracy, including medical procedures, style, etiquette and behavior. The series portrays life at the Mansion House Hotel and Carlyle House turned into a military hospital by the Union Army in 1861. The filming was done in Richmond and historic Petersburg, Virginia where much of the movie “Lincoln” was shot.
Visit Alexandria is one of the supporters of the series and is running several exhibits in the city to coincide with the debut of the series on 17 January. The exhibits will run through Spring. If Visit Alexandria is smart, they will contact one of their own sons, Colonel Lang, to incorporate his knowledge of the place and period as well as the “Strike The Tent” trilogy into their celebration of the “Mercy Street” series. One of the characters in “Mercy Street” is Frank Stringfellow, a Confederate spy and scout who “is on a covert mission in Alexandria disguised as a dental assistant.”
http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/home/
http://www.visitalexandriava.com/mercystreet/top-4-mercy-street-sites/
TTG
Fred,
I don't know about gangrene, but bone infections were a real problem at Tripler in 1980. They were reluctant to operate to fix fractures when traction could do the job. I knew a sergeant major who ended up with bone infections. They saved his legs, but they were a twisted mess.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 01 February 2016 at 01:03 PM
TTG
Yes, BG Tripler MC (if that is the historical Tripler) was allowed to take a couple of classes at WP. That was unusual since the place has no function other than to instruct cadets as undergraduates and officer candidates. They occasionally have exchange students for a year with other undergraduate military schools. The CT institute located on post is not part of USMA. The Green statement about slaves not being useful in industry was altogether anachronistic. There were a lot of Blacks both slave and free who worked in industrial plants in the South. The most prominent of which was the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, VA. In general White people did not free slaves voluntarily unless there was a reason to do so; personal feelings among people, a sale to a free Black, disposal of an estate after the death of the owner, commitment to abolition (John Randolph of Roanoke freed all 600 of his). We are talking a lot of money here and most people are not all that generous. Alexandria was stockaded by the garrison and all movement in and out was subject to the permission of the Unio military governor. There were many disadvantages in not taking the Oath of Allegiance and the great majority either took the oath or "refugeed" away to the South. There was no violence against oath takers within the defended city walls. The Union Army would not have permitted it. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 01 February 2016 at 01:18 PM
TTG
Gangrene seems to vary in speed of development. You sure can smell it as I have in places like Yemen. I have been operated on for fractures several times so I am surprised at the thing about traction rather that bone carpentry. I am sure that OM or some such person will explain the realities of above the joint or below it. Of course cutting what was left of a man's hand off under a shelter tent in Laos was not exactly like the Mayo clinic. Our problem was that sometimes we could not get people out of the field quick enough. IMO most of these brave little men would have been better off dead. there was no place for them in the society they would return to. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 01 February 2016 at 01:27 PM
pl,
Tripler AMC was an open air, tropical hospital except for the surgical suites. The views were magnificent, but it was like being in a tent on a hill. My tibial traction pin holes were cleaned and disinfected twice a day for seven weeks to stay ahead of infections. There must have been something unique in the air in Hawaii.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 01 February 2016 at 02:10 PM
Col.,
Regarding the "PC modernist crap". Those scenes you mentioned are certainly missed opportunities to show the complex reality of American cultural history. It reminds me of the actor who after the genealogy work was done for a segment of Dr. Gate's "Finding Your Roots" pressured the producers to edit the section rather than show the facts.
Posted by: Fred | 01 February 2016 at 09:14 PM
Fred,
As you said, the complex reality of our cultural history would make intriguing TV, much better than the predictable "PC modernist crap". A while back,I read a memoir of a black freeman traveling through Fredericksburg in the 1850s on a journey to buy a slave relative from a Virginia owner. He did not have enough traveling money and was also probably short on cash to buy his relative. The kindness and understanding he encounters along the way is surprising. Not angelic kindness, but human kindness. It was the restrained kindness that occurs between gentlemen. I found it riveting. I wish I bookmarked it.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 01 February 2016 at 10:08 PM
TTG
I have given up on this. there is no explaining the complexity of all this to an idiot public. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 01 February 2016 at 10:17 PM