View Full Version : Record keeping after battle

08-18-2007, 06:31 AM
I'm trying to learn more about medical paperwork which would have been done immediately after a battle, particularly on the Confederate side.

At the Regulations for the CS Army Medical Dept. at
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/regulations/regulations.html (http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/regulations/regulations.html) , there's a
distinct lack of information on what or how records were kept on a daily
basis beyond morning reports, especially when the enemy was being engaged.

On page 10 it says each regiment was to keep:

"A register of patients (Form 11); a prescription and diet book (Form 12); a case book; copies of his requisitions, returns of property, and reports of sick and wounded; and an order and letter book, in which will be transmitted all orders and letters relating to his duties."

What specifically was updated daily and/or immediately after a battle? Was it just Form 11 (register) plus Form 15 (morning report)?

Form 11 (page 46) looks like it could include the names of the wounded and their complaints, showing them admitted and then almost immediately transferred back to the general hospital. Would this be done at a location where the patients were going to a field hospital rather than directly to a general hospital, with the notation they were sent to a field hospital? Or would it not be done until they were at a field hospital going to a general hospital?

Form 12 (diet and prescription) seems even less suited to the field, since
surgeons would hardly be dealing with the patients long enough to set up a weekly diet and prescription schedule.

So where and how were names and/or numbers of wounded men first written down after a battle?

Also, was there a way to send information attached to individual patients, stating what immediate treatment or examination had been given on the field, so surgeons at the field hospital could benefit from it? Seems helpful to know if the semi-conscious patient being unloaded at the field hospital is that way because he was given laudanum before being put in the ambulance, or because of a head injury. But maybe that information just got lost in the confusion.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net (hanktrent@voyager.net)

08-23-2007, 09:12 PM
As a follow-up to Hank's question, they would have had 5 blank books to fill in this information. Does anyone know anyone selling acceptable blank books and have any examples of what they will look like filled in?


08-24-2007, 04:04 AM
I picked up my blank books from Office Depot in the accounting section. They have several journals and accounting ledgers. It was easy to create my own cover labels to apply over the gilt "Journal" stamped on the cover. The regs actually say to use a book. Makes it easier to hand over to the head of the next shift and esier to transport, too.

Kautz's "Company clerk" book has a Form 21 "Record of Killed, Missing and Wounded." Michael Schaffner recreated this form. It's supposed to be filled out after a battle and handed to the battalion commander.

I have a Patient Register ruled out over four pages based on Form 9 in the US Regs. Right after the patient's name I assigned a number. This number would be used to track the patient's entry into the other registers. This is for all patients, regardless of allegience, illness or wound.

I have a Treatment Book, where I detail what sort of treatment I did on the patient. It is based on an original I looked at from the Museum of the Confederacy. That book was from the Winder Hospital in Richmond. The entries were number indexed as well. Each entry listed the patient's name, age, occupation, regiment, company followed by a paragraph detailing the damage and the treatment administered. This is, of course for a general hospital, but I borrowed from it to create my treatment register.

I also use a Prescription Book which lists the various medications I administered to the patient. Same deal - number, patient's name, diagnosis, and your receipts you wrote.

It is best to use US Forms. The Confederacy saw no reason to reinvent the wheel and a lot of the paperwork they used (especially early in the War) was often US Army forms with the US scratched out.

You might check on the AC Forum for Michael Schaffner's 2007 edition of School of the Clerk, which has more than you everwanted to know on paperwork in general. There is a section devotedto Confederate clerks.

Casualty slips existed, and Tim Kindred showed an existing example form which he made a decent repro. The slip was filled out in ink, not pencil. This summer I discovered that two people working together - one diagnosing, the other writing that you can make up casualty slips in ink.

all that to get you started. Now it's a question of getting my ledgers scanned to show how I set mine up.