This small tin was used to store chloroform, one of the main anesthetics during the Civil War. Surgeons relied on it heavily during operations, especially amputations, to put soldiers to sleep and ease their pain. Before chloroform, surgeries were often done with little to no pain relief, which made operations extremely traumatic for soldiers and difficult for doctors. Chloroform was poured onto a cloth and held over the patient’s mouth and nose, causing them to lose consciousness in just a few seconds. This made it easier and faster for surgeons to work, especially when hundreds of wounded soldiers arrived from the battlefield. Despite the harsh conditions, the use of anesthesia showed that doctors were trying to be as humane as possible even in war.

This photograph shows rows of hospital tents stretching across a field, likely from the Army of the Potomac around 1863. Each tent served as a temporary ward for injured soldiers after major battles. The tents are arranged in orderly lines, reflecting the growing efficiency and organization of Civil War medicine. Early in the war, care for the wounded was chaotic where there was little coordination, sanitation was poor, and supplies were scarce. By mid-war, however, military medical departments began adopting systematic approaches inspired by figures such as Jonathan Letterman, who developed the first modern ambulance and hospital system.

This handwritten letter describes the conditions inside a Civil War regimental hospital and the efforts of nurses to provide care during widespread outbreaks of disease. The writer lists scarlet fever, typhoid fever, measles, and whooping cough as illnesses that filled the hospital tents, noting how the sick were “so dreadfully dirty” that it was “the most pitiful sight I ever looked upon.” Many of the soldiers she treated were young men far from home, and the emotional weight of caring for them is clear throughout her writing.