The Civil War Monument, Beverly, Massachusetts photographed on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2011 |
When we think of the US Civil War one of the first injuries we think of is amputation. Movies like Gone With the Wind all have bloody scenes portraying the military surgeons as butchers, chopping off limbs with abandon. However, the truth is that these doctors had no choice. The minie bullets used in the 1860s caused catastrophic injuries, and cannon balls blew off parts of men’s bodies so horribly that the surgeons had no choice. Amputation was the only way to treat these injuries.
Amputation was the most common surgery during the Civil
War. There were amputees among the
officers, like Stonewall Jackson, down to the lowest enlisted men. It is
estimated that the Union suffered 30,000 amputations. The very first Civil War amputation was
performed on a young man from Beverly, Massachusetts named Moses Stevens
Herrick. I recognized this name right
away.
My great grand aunt Mabelle Cloutman Hitchings married a
Moses Stevens Herrick in Salem, Massachusetts on 12 December 1900. This Moses was born on 28 July 1880 in
Beverly, and a quick look at the vital records showed me that his grandfather
was the Moses Stevens Herrick who had served in the Civil War. (See the genealogy chart below)
The American Civil War stated with Fort Sumter on 12 April
1861. The 8th regiment in
Massachusetts, often known as the “Minute Men of ‘61” was one of the first
regiments to respond to this event. They
quickly gathered into companies on 15 April 1861 and traveled to Washington DC
to defend the capitol. Moses Steven Herrick
of Beverly was a member of company E. My
2nd great grandfather, Abijah Franklin Hitchings (1841 – 1910) of
Salem, was part of company I. The amputation happened on 26 April 1861, just
after the Riot at Baltimore.
“EIGHTH REGIMENT MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEER
MILITIA (INFANTRY)
THREE MONTHS
The 8th Regt. Mass. Vol. Mil.,
"Minute Men," was called to Boston by Special Order No. 14, issued on
the afternoon of April 15, 1861, by the Adjutant General of Massachusetts. Having only eight companies, one company was
added from the 7th Regt., a Salem unit, and one from Pittsfield, taken from the
1st Battalion of Infantry. Leaving the State April 18, it proceeded to
Annapolis, Md., on its way to the national capital. At Annapolis two companies
were placed on the frigate CONSTITUTION, guarding her until she was safely
removed to the harbor of New York. Another company was detached to do guard
duty at Fort McHenry near Baltimore, Md.
The remainder of the regiment, after
repairing the road-bed from Annapolis to Annapolis Junction and restoring the
rolling stock of the railroad, proceeded to Washington, arriving April 26. Not
until April 30 were the men mustered into the service of the United States. On
July 2d the entire regiment was ordered to Baltimore, Md., the left wing
arriving in the morning and the right wing in the evening of the following day.
On July 29 it was ordered to
Boston, Mass., and here on August 1, 1861, it was mustered out of the service.
My 2nd great grandfather, Abijah F. Hitchings, was in the regiment that moved the USS Constitution to safety. His granddaughter, Mabelle, married Moses Hitchings grandson, Moses. You can read all about that story at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/old-ironsides-during-civil-war.html
Here is more:
See page 732 History
of Essex County, Massachusetts
“The first man of the
regiment injured was Lieut. Moses S. Herrick, of the Beverly Company, who was
shot in the foot by the accidental discharge of a musket, in the rotunda of the
Capitol. The muskets, loaded with ball
cartridges, were stacked around near the wall, and as some men were bringing in
mattresses, they knocked a stand down, one of the guns being discharged into
Lieut. Herrick’s foot, mutilating it terribly.
The limb was amputated by the surgeon of the Sixth, and Lieut. Herrick
bore his great misfortune bravely, only lamenting that he could not have
received the wound while fighting in the field.
Attentions of every sort were showered upon him as he lay in hospital
and also en route home and in Beverly.
He is residing in Beverly, in the Upper Parish, the house of the
Chipmans and Herricks.”
See page 178 of the A History of Massachusetts in the Civil
War, Volume 2, by William Schouler (available on Google Book Search)
Resolved, " That
our warmest sympathies be tendered to Lieutenant Herrick, in his misfortunes, and
that we pledge ourselves to him, and to all his associates in our Beverly
company, and our other Beverly soldiers, and to their respective families, to
render unto their necessities all the material aid and comfort that we can
legitimately bestow."
In the resolve,
chapter seventy-two, in favor of Moses S. Herrick, for injuries received in
military service, the sum of three hundred dollars.
I also found this in the The Statutes at Large, The United
States of America from December 1895 to March 1897, Volume XXIX, Page 800
February 9, 1897
Harriet F. Herrick Pension
Chap 210 – An Act Granting a pension to
Harriet F. Herrick.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the
Secretary of the Interior be, and is hereby, athorized, and directed to place
on the pension roll, at twelve dollars per month, the name of Harriet F.
Herrick, of Beverly, State of Massachusetts, widow of Moses S. Herrick,
deceased, late a member of Company E, Eighth Regiment of Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry.
Approved, February 9, 1897”
In Beverly you can find the Grand Army of the Republic Hall
on Dane Street, next to the Congregational Church. The GAR was a nationwide fraternal
organization of Civil War veterans.
Inside the hall hung the portraits of members, including a portrait of
Moses S. Steven, my 2nd great
grandfather Abijah Hitchings, and other ancestors, such as my 2nd
great grandfather Samuel Mears. These portraits are now stored at the Beverly
Historical Society. You can find the
photograph of Moses in the GAR
Portraits: Box 3, No. 6, Moses S. Herrick (1831 – 1894) Beverly Historic Society, GAR finding aid.
Dr. Norman Smith, the military surgeon, was from the 6th
Massachusetts Regiment. If you want your
hair to stand on end, then you can read all about this amputation and the
surgeon that performed it at this website, including photos of the actual
amputation surgical kit: http://www.medicalantiques.com/civilwar/Surgery_Sets/Norman_Smith_MD_Tiemann_Civil_War_set_c1861.htm
Click here to read more about Civil War Battlefield
Surgery https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/amputations
Click here to read more about Moses Stevens Herrick and the
first amputation of the Civil War
Herrick Genealogy
Chart:
Gen. 1: Henry Herrick (1604 – 1671) m. Editha
Laskin
Gen. 2: Zachary Herrick (1636 – 1695) m. Mary Dodge
Gen. 3: Henry Herrick (1672 – 1747) m. Susanna Beadle
(my 7th
great aunt)
Gen. 4: William Herrick (1709 – 1783) m. Mary Tuck
Gen. 5: William Herrick ( b. 1736) m. Mary Wallis
Gen. 6: John Herrick (b. 1781) m. Lydia Butman
Gen. 7: William Herrick (1802 – 1861) m. Harriet
Ayers
Gen. 8: Moses Stevens Herrick (1832 – 1894) m.
Harriet F. Burnchstead
Gen. 9: Frank B. Herrick (b. 1856) m. Isabelle A. Sias
Gen. 10: Moses
Stevens Herrick (1880 – 1922) m. Mabelle Cloutman Hitchings
(my great aunt)
-----------------------------
The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-first-amputation-of-us-civil-war.html
Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Great article Heather.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a distinction I bet our Herrick cousin would have much rather avoided. On the other hand, he might have suffered worse had he not been wounded before the real fighting started.
ReplyDeleteAnd later in the war there were so many amputees that he would have been forgotten in the shuffle. It's a good thing it was just his foot and not his entire leg!
DeleteFascinating, Heather!
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Heather. Amazing history right at our back door. Hoorah for the Beverly boys and their bravery.
ReplyDelete