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Title: Swamp Doctor: The Diary of a Union Surgeon in the Virginia and North Carolina Marshes by Thomas P. Lowry, William Mervale Smith ISBN: 0-8117-1537-X Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: July, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Swamp Doctor
Comment: Dr. Lowry's latest in a series of excellent books represents an edited version of the diary of Dr. William Marvel Smith, Surgeon of the 85th New York Volunteer Infantry (85th NYVI). Readers of this book will get a glimpse of the very private thoughts of a civilian doctor-turned-army surgeon doing the best he can to care for his men, while struggling with personal problems at home and in camp.
William M. Smith was born in New Jersey, the son of a practicing physician, and moved to southwestern New York State at an early age. After attending local schools until his mid-teens, he apprenticed himself to a local physician and studied medicine at Castleton College in Vermont.
He opened his own practice, and after some gaining some experience and success, Smith began to involve himself in local politics. He rose from being a local county supervisor, to election to the State Assembly, and finally as delegate to the 1860 Republican Convention in Chicago, where he cast a vote for the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.
Parallel with this success was tragedy: Smith's first wife died four years after the birth of their son, and his second wife died only months after the birth of another. In September 1861, Smith helped raise a company of the 85th NYVI and marched off to war, leaving behind his two sons and a new fiancée. The diary covers his service from June 1862 through May 1863, with entries for nearly every day.
Readers, perhaps lured by the title, should not expect a detailed treatise of the minutiae of battlefield medicine. After active participation in the Peninsula and Seven Days campaigns, Smith and the 85th spent most of their time "behind the lines" in Virginia and North Carolina. Indeed, many of the diary entries are simple recounting of daily sick calls or hospital visits. Still, there is plenty to satisfy the medical enthusiast.
The diary reveals that Dr. Smith had an excellent intuition regarding the dangers inherent in camping in the Virginia swamps. It was Smith's official report that finally convinced the brigade commander to allow the regiment to move to higher, and healthier, ground. An entry later in the diary, detailing an amputation procedure, shows that Smith was a capable surgeon as well. Other entries confirm the prevalence of venereal disease, especially among officers.
During his service, Dr. Smith was given the opportunity to appear before the Army Medical Examining Board in Washington, DC, to take a five-day test for promotion to a higher rank. The entire written part of the examination is reproduced in one of the appendices. Smith's detailed answers to the anatomical, medicinal, and surgical questions, provides an excellent perspective of the "knowledge bank" of a Civil War-era surgeon.
Dr. Smith had plenty on his mind above and beyond his medical duties. Indeed, Lowry contends that the diarist was fighting several "wars" at the same time: conflicts with officers in the regiment, struggles with political enemies at home, agony over leaving his young boys, and doubts about the fidelity of his fiancée; all compounded by idleness and loneliness when the regiment is not active in the field. These personal "battles" make for reading every bit as interesting as poignant as a combat diary.
Smith resigned from the service in mid-1863, returned home to marry his fiancée, and reopened his medical practice. His good reputation earned him the appointment of Surgeon General of the State of New York in 1872. In 1880 he was named the health officer of the Port of New York, a position he held for a dozen years. With more than a half million immigrants flooding the port each year, many disease-ridden, it was a position of immense responsibility. Smith earned praise for his work, a job made even harder by the scheming of politicians.
Dr. Lowry, best known for his own interesting and original works, such as The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell and Tarnished Eagles, has proven himself to be an adept editor. He is at his best when goes beyond merely providing geographical or biographical references to names and places in the diary. As an experienced clinical psychiatrist, he is uniquely qualified to evaluate Smith's emotional and psychological state throughout the narrative. He is not afraid to chide the diarist when he is uncharitable, or diagnose morose entries as symptoms of depression.
In the humble opinion of this reviewer, the book does suffer a few faults. Though the maps are generally well drawn, one entitled "The Siege of Washington, NC" shows the general theater of operations, but no siege lines, making interpretation of the narrative more difficult than need be.
The nearly two-dozen photographs are well chosen, especially those of officers mentioned in the diary, although some of the captions result in confusion (one caption introduces an incident that does not occur for another hundred pages). A photograph or two of actual diary pages would have helped to personalize the narrative even more.
The book is somewhat "end-heavy" with six appendices, only a few of which add substantively to the narrative (for example, several pages are devoted to detailed descriptions of each transport ship and gunboat mentioned in the diary). Nevertheless, these distractions are minor, and do not detract from the narrative itself or from this reviewer's hearty recommendation.
In a history of the 85th NYVI, a writer noted that the day Dr. Smith left the regiment, the men all felt they were losing a "royally good man." Fortunately, Dr. Tom Lowry has brought Dr. Smith's story to light by writing a "royally good" book.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Civil War Snapshot
Comment: Swamp Doctor is filled with tidbits of Civil War life in 1862-63. Here is a 36-year-old doctor from Western New york, already twiced widowed and two young sons at home with live-in caregivers. Dr.Smith is regimental surgeon for a while, then goes home for a while to check on his boys and court his third wife, and returns to the often slow-paced War of the Rebellion. Surgeon Smith is a captivating storyteller and once you get the vision of life in camp and at home, it is hard to put the book down. Author Lowry has enriched the story with historical events, which adds to the relevance of Dr. Smith's experiences. If you have a passion for the Civil War, or are interested in what it was like being a surgeon in the swamps of Virginia and North Carolina, or just enjoy good non-fiction reading, Swamp Doctor is a book for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb look at Civil War reality
Comment: This is my candidate for Civil War book of the year. Dr. Lowry, perhaps the most accomplished researcher in the field, has published a series of books on the period, all of which are worthwhile, but this time he's done something a bit different. Publishing, for the first time, the Civil War diary of a regimental surgeon, Lowry has shown admirable restraint in adding only the introductory and bridge material (as well as the best footnotes I've ever seen) necessary for all readers to follow the flow of events in the context of the greater war. Surgeon William M. Smith, having lost his first diary during the initial fighting on the Peninsula, began another in time to capture the frustrations and confusion of the first great struggle for Richmond; thereafter, his regiment was posted to the Carolinas, an under-studied, but fascinating theater of war. The diary's value lies in its straightforward readability, as well as in its frankness. Dr. Smith worries over the loyalty of a fiancee left behind in New York, and wrestles with his religious beliefs; he observes rarely-reported battles and skirmishes, such as the inconclusive operations on the Virginia-Carolina line in 1862, then the subsequent forays from New Bern. In between, the reader gets the best account I've seen of the routines of camp life, of daily behavior in occupied territory, of how officers amused themselves (reading Les Miserables, for one thing), and even what room and board cost in the low country. The political nonsense that penetrated even the lowest levels of both armies is there, along with a rich variety of personalities, from selfless patriots to drunks and whoremongers. Throughout, I felt as if I were seeing the real Civil War at last, not some historian's vision through a high-powered telescope. As trite as it is to say this, I could not put it down. This well-written, understated book offers an incomparable window into the times, and I, for one, am grateful to Dr. Lowry for making this diary available to the rest of us. Very highly recommended!
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