create a vacuum. blood would come out. create blisters. that was coming. a mercury derivative. they are deadly poisons. the most common drugs we used to give to people. so much to so that mercury poisoning was so rampant in the military that they had to stop it and mercury poisoning is, as we all know, pretty severe. to the point that, you would -- have gangrene of your entire face and skin and mandible would slough off. so blisters amrid pplied to the of his neck. communication by a writing slate. etherization, confirm symptoms. somebody said, put the guy to sleep. talk to him as he is going to sleep. if he answers your questions we know he is not deaf and dumb. they etherized him. he could not talk. electric shock therapy. not quite like what you are

thinking. but they had beginnings of electricity. they would touch you with the, with the, wires, you would get a shock. nothing helped. so, results. december 10, 1862, this is now about -- six months after the -- the shell, wounded him. left leg decreased motion. face drawn to the right. two days later, he has a seizure. by mid december he remains perfectly deaf and dumb. intelligen intelligence, spirits, generally quite good. doesn't end there. outcome. year later. he is discharged with disability and pension. in 1876 his doctor in vermont says he is incapacitated. requiring the aide, to supply daily wants. a year later he is lame. in 1889 he dies. why is this important? it sort of shows you medical care as it existed at the time of the civil war. and more importantly -- that these are people that we won't get to read about. he didn't die during the war. but yet he really did die from

the war. so there are many statistics that aren't apparent. well the civil war was a dirty war in a literal and figurative sense. this is an example of savage station, which is in virginia. these are all the wounded. this is what was going on. they would lie on the ground. they did not understand anti-sepsis, bacteria, germs, bacteria didn't exist in their mind. it meant nothing. so we are going to look at this big bang theory. and there are three things that this big bang theory did. first was it provided physicians with clinical experience that they could never have gotten otherwise by just sitting around in an office in a little town in america. three years, tramping through the woods. camping, they learned about a lot of diseases. that's the first thing. clinical experience. second is, organization. they learned about how to organize things. they learned to organize ambulances, hospitals. we will see that. finally they had camaraderie. this national concept of -- i

need to be friends with the guy over there who is a doctor so we can get along and fix things. so there are all these different diseases. these diseases were seen by these men and they would nef have had a chance to see them. so this is this concept of clinical experience. this is a disease that doesn't exist anymore. hospital gangrene. finally, surgery. so here is a bullet wound. entry. exit. and here is the operation. that is the operation. that's how he was left. so you are looking at his femur, the patella is gone. there is no skin graft, no nothing. this is what he was left with. so, a morning's work. this is what the civil war was about. amputations and more amputations. a surgeon's hand kit. for operations. again these were not stair liesed. could not be stairstair -- coul

be sterilized. why do i show the picture, special specialization. they learned about diseases. surgeons at the beginning of the war, everybody was a surgeon. everybody was allowed to operate. that stopped by the middle of the war. and by, towards 1864, they said, you know this is really crazy. we need to have people who are specialized in surgery. this is the big bang theory for specialization in america. it started in the civil war. because jonathan letterman, a medical director of the civil war, said -- hey, no. no. we are having three people operate. the rest of you guys are not operating. so those three people became very, very tuned in to surgery. they learned to operate. oncen't w once the war was over the men, hundreds of them would go to towns and scatter throughout the country. that's how specialization surgery started. then there was this concept of the, of ambulances. we never had any ambulances during the war. initially. in fact, when the war started,

the idea was that the sick should take care of the sick. if i were wounded on the battlefield, it was very simple. i was sort of left on my own. maybe my friend who was also wounded would try to help me. but if i were sick, expendable. so this all changed during the course of the war. and, just some pictures of, of people learning how to run, how to take care of ambulances. doctors began to understand that on the battlefield, you have to take care of the wounded you. have to talk care of the sick. they learned how to dupe tho th. they learned the concept of organization. boats, to take, combatants wounded. up and down the rivers. these all be call floating hospitals. something that was introduced during the war. and then finally, the great hospitals of the civil war.

by the time of the civil war, growing emphasis on maximizing the circulation of air, along with the desire for cleanlinesc, pay sh spaciousness, found life in the form of civilian hospitals. that was the one william goodell went to. this is down in baltimore. pavilion plans called for multiable wards, ventilated by numerous windows and doors. if the meant, low sprawling hospitals. and in the best of circumstances there might have been a river nearby so that they would have breezes and fresh air going through. architects designed pavilion hospital complexes so accumulation of dirt was minimized. smooth surfaces, less right angles, all to lessen the presence of dirt. when you combined with high genic behaviors such as chamber pots emptied on time, drainage ditches dug for human waste it, changed the entire concept of

hygiene. although the civil war did not bring about great changes in therapeutics or diagnostics, the physical administrative structure of the american hospital was vastly changed during the course of the war. and the building of these homes. none of these pavilion hospitals exist any more today. there is no evidence of any of them. they are all gone. these had over 1,000 hospitals. and another had 3,000 beds. a 3,000 bed homes. the hospitals were triumphs of sanitary reason. doctors learned to understand that things needed to be clean. with more than a million men treated as inpatients and overall mortality rate of 10%, the army's general hospitals came to be regarded as invaluable and necessary public institutions. no longer were homes sanctuaries only for the destitute and the insane. for the first time, bankers and policemen and shop keepers and saloon keepers, who ever it might be, they experienced the positive realities of

institutional medical treatment. with massive wards, maintained, getting well, within a hospital became part of the american experience. and just some pictures of the various different hospitals. this is hairwood. more pictures of hairwood. and the patients inside. a recent military experience have done more for the cause of public hygiene in this country than any other agencies. this is john shaw billings. he designed the public library on 42nd street and became its president. public hygiene became very important during the course of the war. and these were members of the sanitary commission, i could spend the lecture talking about the sanitary commission, other than to tell you religion nated in new york city, it was a civilian relief agency. sort of look red cross and uso and whatever it might be in today's word. they were all rolled into one. a quasi-governmental agency. there have been great books written about it. but these men came and took care of -- the soldiers.

they themselves are not necessarily doctors. but they introduced this concept of cleanliness. and then finally, the sanitary commission and i put this slide up because of the home lodge for invalid soldiers. they begin to understand that you need to take care of the veterans. the big bang theory for the veterans' administration. starting back in the civil war. well, s.weir mitchell. talking about -- his recollections of the civil war. 1905. the constant mingling of men of high medical culture with the less educated had high value. and the general influence of the war was this and other ways great service. in other words, the men who were very well-educated, got to spread the word out to the men who were less educated. and this is just a picture of surgeons, and the idea is the camaraderie that was existing during the course of the war.

finally, i just want to say there were other big bang theories that happened during the war. one was nursing. i've don't have the time to talk about nursing. but obviously the beginning of nursing also came about during the civil war. so finally in sumg uming up -- n i will be happy to take your questions. america's physicians made no astounding technological breakthroughs during the civil war. it's not as if a surgeon operated son somebody's brawn during the course of the war and cured them. it did not happen. if you were shot in the abdomen, chest, the head. you were going to die. they did not have the capability of operating on you. if you got typhoid and cholera, you probably were going to die. no doctor introduced ingenious therapies to counteract disease. no surgeon claimed an enflaming victory. soldiers recovered from illness and injury, more from serendipity than possibility. the nation's physicians paint a

profound depth of clinical and organizational experience. this its what is most important. doctors learned about diseases and their clinical manifestations on a scale never before possible. they experience aid lifetime of practice and several years of camping and marching. the war created surgeons from physicians who previously had virtually no operating experience. america's healers, acquired administrative skills. physicians organized ambulance corps, answered questions of medical manpower, design staff and managed vast pavilion hospitals. doctors cam to understand that patient well being, depended on adequate cleanliness, controlled sanitation and natural ventilation. physicians grew to recognize mental health as a vital adjunct to physical health. i wrote in seeking the cure that

a physician's dedication to a military medical objective imposed much needed camaraderieship and dispalestinian. as a resul -- discipline. this is the big bang theory. i will leave us with the last sly. then i will fake your question. this is s. weir mitchell. he is older. sx he is examining a soldier. this is what he had to say. and heap is talking about hims and fellow physicians. we have served faithfully greater cause earth has known. we have built novel hospitals. organized ambulance service that had never before been seen. contributed essays on diseases and wounds. what has been our reward. countless statues commemorate in washington and elsewhere, the popular heroes. statues of generals are in every town. some of them memorials of men who were wise fire forget.

there is a not a state or national monument to a physician. at g what of the physicians who died? nothing. and that is med sicine during t civil war. i appreciate the fact that you came out on this code night. i look forward to your questions. thank you. [ applause ] >> they scant can't be too diff that i can't answer. >> the civil war happens less than a decade after the criminean war w, and florence nighti nightingale is writing about the hygiene lessons learned in that war, how much is that propagating? >> it had an impact on many individuals i did not get into.

with the nurses, dorthea dix, i did not mention her name. there is only oso much you can lessen. florence nightingale's book was throughout america. dorthea dix who started a nursing corps during the time of the civil war she read florence nightengale, so the effect was there. she was important. and it probably grew more and more as nursing grew larger. sir? >> question in the same vein. what if any influence did the teachings have on letterman and other members of the sanitary commission to your nol snknowle? >> that is an interesting. i am not sure any knew of samuel weiss. the type of research he was doing that was ongoing in the '60s.

they did not know anything about. it had minimal impact. virtually none. >> hi. >> hello. >> to dr. mitchell's quote, wasn't there a statue of samuel gross who wrote the field manual created in washington? and wasn't he the fellow who -- who at the philadelphia centennial in 1876, didn't he tell lister that -- that there was, no value to antisepsis and wasn't his statue taken out of washington and put back at his alma mater thomas jefferson? >> now i will make a confession. i do not know this gentleman. he is not my father. this is not a staged question. that is like my favorite topic. samuel gross is my favorite individual in american medicine. the answer is very simple. there was not a statue of him. don't know if it is in washington. his statue is by jefferson. on the courtyard as you walk into the medical school. yes he did tell lister that no

american wanted to listen to what he had to say. that was -- lister call over in 1876 and made a very important tour of america. it was in new york city. and i'm writing about it currently. and gross -- he did go to the, to the centennial celebration down in philadelphia. at the big banquet on the night that the thing was finished, friday night, lister was here, gross was here. gross was a very uppity individual, lister was a very important, more important individual than gross was. but gross was a very unassuming gentleman. and -- gross praised him left and right. and everybody in america who was sitting at the table knew that it was not true. because just, a month before, gross had written an article about the history of medicine and surgery in america. and he wrote that no intelligent american would ever listen to joseph lister. so the answer is everything that you said is absolutely true. it is a fascinating story with joseph lister and samuel gross

and his tour of america. i thank you for bringing that up. sir? >> thank you for your presentation. >> you are welcome. >> i am an anesthesiologist. i appreciate your wonderful photographs, or the types that you showed. there are statues to crawford long, who southerners believed discovered ether-anesthesia all over the south. not sure if they're coincidental with the civil war. certainly he is well recognized. my point is, america was known for yankee ingenuity, inventions discoveries in every field except medicine. when you compare what was known of scientific medicine in america, 19th century, and what was happening in europe with great discoveries, foremost medical schools, centers of

learning in england, france, germany, austria, america was way behind it wasn't until well into the 20th century that scientific medicine really acquired its reputation. >> yes. yes. that is an interesting phenomenon. it has been written about many times over and over again as to why that occurred. it is absolutely true what you just said. that science in america was underserved and, scum pair comp it was in europe. it is an interesting phenomenon. a subject i am interested in. i am writing something about currently. it went on for many years. america was a very raw country. and despite the fact that it is 1876 and 100 years later and we had this centennial celebration in washington it was still a very raw, undeveloped country. and that's just how it was. now, as far as crawford long who you mention, crawford long probably discovered anesthesia before anybody else, his statues were all after the civil war.

yes, he is the, the south's argument against the north's -- pardon? yes. yes. so, he was an important individual. yes, doctor? >> would you comment on what if any was the influence of the french especially the napoleonic war medicine on ambulance corps and others, a little bit surprising that we had nothing although it was well known in europe at the time? >> well, the flying ambulances that the french started in the 1850s and 1860s did have an impact on the civil war in the sense that we began to have ambulances and we began to understand that you need to take care of soldiers who were injured and wounded on the battlefield. so the impact was there. the specifics were not, it is not as if we used the specifics of their ambulances. the idea was there. specifics was not. so the answer is yes it did have an impact and would grow over the course of the 1870s and

1880s when the french became much more prominent with their flying ambulances. yes it was there during the civil war. >> as we talk of civil war medicine, we often talk of just the north. what about south?yes. >> what about the south? >> well, the problem with the south, at least for me, and, was that much of the southern medical records were destroyed in a fire. sherman marching through and everything. so they were all destroyed. there are many people who write about the south. i just don't in particular, but the south has a very rich tradition relative to civil war medicine. as rich as what the north had. they did not have the infrastructure. much of this big bang theory that i talked about happened more in the north than it did in the south, just because of logistics and the number of men, et cetera, but the south did have a very rich tradition during the civil war. they actually had the largest

civil war hospital during the war. larger than any of the northern hospitals. so, yes. it needs to be written about. it needs to be discussed, and should be presented. well, thank you very much, and i appreciate your coming. >> thank you for coming, and i encourage you to check our schedule for the remaining lectures in this series and for the entire series. thanks again. as commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the civil war continues, join us every saturday at 6:00 and 10:00 and

sundays at 11:00 for programs about civil war. for more information including our complete schedule go to c-span.org/history. to keep up with us dooring the week, follow us on twitter @twitter.com/cspan history. all weekend long american history tv is in oklahoma city, oklahoma, to explore its history. you're watching american history tv, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. well, we want to welcome you to the carl albert congressional research and study center. this is one of the largest congressional archives in the country. we hold the papers of 55 members, plus, of congress, as well as staff and other individuals, and it's sort of really a unique resource for scholars who are interested in representative government and the congress in particular.

my name is cindy simon rosenthal and i'm the director and curator of the carl albert research center. >> let's go inside i. want to walk in the back. this is really the heart and soul of the archives. essentially what is the finished product of the work that we do. the center has, really, a broad mission. the mission includes research and our archives play very significant role in that in that this is available to academic scholars, genealogists, interested in policies hadtry. and we have a public service mission as well which is, reaches out into the community to engage communities in discussions about public policy and just the health of our institutions, our representative government and the congress obviously being part of that, but we are also interested in state legislative bodies, city

councils, et cetera. when we get a collection from a member, it is deeded to us, and we, then, become the stewards of that collection, and we spend an enormous amount of time arranging, describing and then cataloging at the item, oftentimeses to the item level, but at least to the folder level the things that are of significance in a particular folder so that a scholar can go online and search our inventories and identify those things that they wish to have copies of, or if they're going to spend a significant amount of time here, they'll identify boxes that they want to look into as they come and visit the center to do the research. so -- >> how did this center get its name? >> a person named after, carl albert, who was the speaker of the house of representatives, the highest ranking position of

held by an elected official from the state of oklahoma. he was third in line to succession, and he served from, right after the war. after world war ii, he ran for the congress, and he served until 1977, and he rose throughs ranks of the leadership to be the whip, the majority leader and then speaker from 1971 to 1977. so the center is named after him, because we were established with a congressional appropriation as well as a state appropriation to be the repository for his papers and for other oklahomans over the years. so we have is a collection now that is probably among the largest in the country in terms of congressional papers that you can go into one place and do research on congressional history. let me show awe couple of the things. let's start with perhaps one of the older files. this would be from alfalfa bill

murray, and he was governor of the state of oklahoma. he also ran for president, and was a very interesting character, as his name might suggest. alfalfa bill. he was involved in the, a pre-statehood convention that was held at a time in which there was interest in the possibility that oklahoma would become an indian state as opposed to a free state in 1904, and then, of course, we became a state in 1907, and he was one of the first governors. this is from his collection. al fafalfa bill murray becomes governor of the state in 1930 and then he runs for president in 1932. here's a very interesting little

piece here. this is actually from his presidential campaign, and it's the candy wrapper from candy bars that he handed out on the campaign trail, 5 cents, and putting alfalfa bill before the voters. he also was quite the populist. here's a sample, really, of his -- his platform, what he called the murray doctrine. the first point he says here, i told that civilization begins and ends with the plow, that no government can stand without the freedom of the farmer, free from oppression of both physical and financial slavery. he goes on to talk about the federal reserve banking act and some of the financial institutions of the day. some themes that are probably reminiscent today as well. >> how was he reserved as a candidate?

>> he was seen of somewhat of a populist, more of a fringe candidate, if you will, than a mainstream candidate. he would have been running at the same time, of course, as franklin delano roosevelt was running for the presidency as well. you can tell, we have paper in a lot of different forms. we also have audiovisual materials in our collection. that's a newer development that we're having to -- to change some of our collection practices with, but we also have some memorabilia, which i think is oftentimes of great interest to people who are interested in the collection. for example, here we have some of our collection buttons, our political buttons. we were just talking about alfalfa bill murray, and this button is probably the oldest in

our collection. it says, the state of sequoia, which, again, was what was proposed as the name, should oklahoma have not entered as a free state but, rather, as an indian state. that's from probably around 1904, 1905, and you've got other, both presidential election campaigns that were, came as part of the collections, as women as some of our own senators. here we have the buttons of u.s. senator robert s. kerr. really, one of the very significant leaders in the history of the state, was very involved in after the depression era and the transforming -- literally transforming the landscape of the state with reservoirs and lakes throughout the state, and soil conservation initiatives that really underscore our agriculture