His Sword a Scalpel

Charles Stuart Tripler built a sterling reputation in the antebellum US Army. Veteran of the Seminole and Mexican-American wars, chief medical officer on the typhoid-ravaged voyage commanded by U.S. Grant, Tripler studied and lectured on advances in military medicine and wrote a standard US Army guidebook. Appointed Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac after First Bull Run, Tripler confronted the daunting task of building a medical infrastructure for America's largest army. His leadership enabled the near-capture of the Confederate capital during the Peninsula Campaign. Instead of advancement, fame, and recognition, lobbying by the US Sanitary Commission torpedoed his promotion. He remained loyal, in uniform, launching a medical installation for veterans - regardless of race - that continues today as a university research and learning facility. Only a tragic death at age sixty put an end to his Army career. Recent scholarship has begun correcting the trope that the Civil War was a medical disaster rife with inexperienced surgeons hacking off limbs. Instead, many practitioners were unsung heroes in a conflict overwhelming in its scope and effect on health and welfare. Tripler is an exemplar, and this freshly researched volume illuminates how health issues can become embroiled in politics, as replicated during the Covid-19 pandemic.