Book Review: Gettysburg Surgeons: Facing a Common Enemy in the Civil War’s Deadliest Battle

Gettysburg Surgeons: Facing a Common Enemy in the Civil War’s Deadliest Battle. By Barbara Franco. Essex, CT: Stackpole Books, 2025. $34.95.

Reviewed by Peter Vermilyea

Barbara Franco’s Gettysburg Surgeons arrives during what is clearly a golden age for the study of Civil War medicine. With renewed attention from institutions like the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, the Seminary Ridge Museum, and the George Spangler Farm, and recent works by scholars such as Shauna Devine, Jim Downs, and Ron Kirkwood, Franco’s book contributes a fresh, richly detailed perspective on the unsung heroes of Gettysburg: the surgeons.

Franco, the founding director of the Seminary Ridge Museum, challenges the long-standing image of Civil War doctors as crude “butchers.” Instead, she presents them as skilled, duty-bound professionals who faced the war’s horrors with courage and commitment. Drawing on the profiles of twenty medical officers and deep archival research, including over 100 published diaries, letters, memoirs, and regimental histories, she brings these men to life and highlights the enormous physical and emotional toll of their work.

Early chapters address medical education and enlistment motivations. Contrary to popular belief, most surgeons received formal training, including lectures and clinical experience. With the coming of the war, many joined the army out of a sense either patriotic or professional; some volunteered for adventure, while others saw it as an opportunity to learn from colleagues in a fast-paced environment far removed from their isolated hometown practices.

Franco vividly reconstructs the battlefield experience: triage under fire, surgeries in barns and churches, and makeshift hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. The work was brutal, with little rest and limited supplies. But the narrative is not overwhelmed by clinical detail; it remains rooted in the human experience.

The heart of the book centers on Gettysburg. Why Gettysburg, instead of Manassas, Antietam, or the Overland Campaign? After all, the literature devoted to Gettysburg dwarfs that of any other battle. Franco writes, “The 1,200 who worked in some capacity during and after the battle of Gettysburg represent a significant sampling of all Civil War physicians, estimated at 17,000, ”she writes. “Gettysburg was fought at a time when both medical corps were better organized and fully staffed with doctors who had been examined and tested by medical examining boards.” (viii) Therefore, Gettysburg offers a telling snapshot of how battlefield medicine had matured over the war’s first two years.

Franco recounts July 1–3, 1863 through the lens of the medical officers, detailing how sites were selected as hospitals, the distinctions between aid stations and field hospitals, and the contributions of volunteers and contract surgeons. Her portrayal of these scenes captures not just the logistics, but the moral weight of the work. This could be overwhelming; one hospital attendant from Pickett’s Division recalled: “The scene at our hospital is horrid beyond description & by far the worst I have ever seen.” (104)

Surgeons also faced dangers beyond the operating table. Some were wounded, captured, or even killed in the line of duty. The care extended to enemy wounded adds another layer of complexity. Franco documents how compassion could cross battle lines, even in the chaos.

In the aftermath, many of these surgeons continued in the military or contributed to medical research. Others carried the psychological burden of their service for the rest of their lives. Franco concludes the book with detailed profiles of twenty surgeons, grounding their wartime efforts in the context of full professional and personal lives.

Gettysburg Surgeons is a deeply researched and powerful tribute to the medical officers who served at Gettysburg. It will stand alongside Gregory Coco’s A Vast Sea of Misery (1996) in helping readers understand the medical response to the human tragedy at Gettysburg. In shining a light on the humanity and professionalism of Civil War surgeons, Barbara Franco adds a vital chapter to the story of Gettysburg.

 

Peter Vermilyea teaches history in Falls Village, Connecticut, and for the University of Connecticut. The co-director of the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute teacher program, his most recent book is Litchfield County and the Civil War (2024).