MEDICAL CARE

3rd US COLORED INFANTRY

RATHER DIE FREE MEN THAN LIVE TO BE SLAVES

MEDICAL CARE

Medical Care of US Colored Troops

Medical Staff of the 3rd US Colored Infantry

Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons, and dates of service.

John N. Lyman [ Surgeon] August 4, 1863 Resigned December 19, 1863
Granville M. Veeks [ Surgeon] January 31, 1864 Discharged by Special Order, July 22, 1864
Alonzo M. Barnes [ Surgeon] September 15, 1864 Mustered out with Regiment, October 31, 1865
Charles G. Polk [ Assistant Surgeon] December 28, 1863 Discharged on Surgeon's Certificate, January 18, 1865
Watson Porter [ Assistant Surgeon] April 3, 1864 Mustered out with Regiment, October 31, 1865
Jas. B. Farrington [ Assistant Surgeon] August 5, 1865 Mustered out with Regiment, October 31, 1865

Medical Care of US Colored Troops

Medical care for US Colored Troops as well as White Troops was at the least primitive by
today's standards. Sanitation and antiseptic practices were not to be found in the surgeon's operating tent. There was little or no understanding of infection and communicable diseases. Medical instruments were not cleaned or sterilized. In many cases, they were just whiped off on a dirty, blood stained apron or rag, prior to being used on the next patient. Many more soldiers died from diseases and infection than on the field of battle. In most instances black patients received poor medical treatment. There were very few black doctors and many white doctors did not wish to work on black patients. The Catholic Sisters of Mercy, black and white volunteer nurses and black US Navy nurses all treated both black and white soldiers and many men were saved by their efforts. Black sailors faired much better because they in most cases, received the same care as white sailors. The Navy trained surgeons and assistant surgeons in what was the state of the art medical school of the era. The Navy had been racially integrated since it's beginning and a Naval Department policy of fairness was practiced by most Naval Commanders.

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