Medical Roots: The Evolution of Modern Support Doctrine in the American Civil War
Abstract
The author's thesis is that the fundamental principles of current US Army Medical Support doctrine, from field medical service to strategic support, evolved during the American Civil War. It is essentially a linear support scheme which employs a concept of minimal necessary treatment toward the front with increasingly sophisticated care rearward. Tactics, organization, and logistics evolved to support this concept and are in all essential features the same today. Three key battles of the Army of the Potomac are used to depict the evolution of service from the early days of the war to the final campaign in the east. The major forces which caused the system to change are isolated to show how medical service must accommodate to a rapidly changing and different environment. The author concludes that modern doctrine is indeed rooted in the Civil War and the student will profit by studying it. Further, he poses the question that since forces at work in the Civil War have continued in even greater magnitude, are the precepts of contemporary doctrine suspect in view of the realities of modern warfare?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 25, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA130108
Entities
People
- Milton E. Turner
Organizations
- United States Army War College