Health and healthcare in pioneer Pittsburgh -- Pioneer medical practices and medical training -- Pittsburgh's first medical practitioners : enter the physician-soldier -- Pittsburgh's first resident physicians -- Civilian health activists and the genesis of professional medical associations -- Yet another war : the state of military medical affairs -- Civil War physician soldiers -- Early hospitals and medical specialization -- Post-Civil War advances.

Frederick R. Gabriel graduated from medical school in 1940, entered the US Army, and was assigned to the newly-created 39th Station Hospital. His letters from the Pacific theater—especially from Guadalcanal, Angaur, and Saipan—capture the everyday life of a soldier physician. His son, Michael P. Gabriel, a professional historian, has faithfully preserved, edited, and annotated that correspondence to add a new dimension to our understanding of the social history of World War II, which he presents here in Physician Soldier: The South Pacific Letters of Captain Fred Gabriel from the 39th Station Hospital. Like most wartime hospitals, the 39th Station Hospital was positioned in a rear area and saw limited direct action. And like most wartime hospitals, the 39th Station Hospital spent each day confronting the injuries and casualties of frontline combat. Gabriel supervised a ward and oversaw the unit’s laboratory, serving a hospital that provided care to four hundred patients at a time. Gabriel’s letters home capture this experience and more, providing a revealing look into day-to-day life in the Pacific theater. He discusses the training of medical officers and female nurses, recreational activities such as Bob Hope’s USO show, and even his thoughts on the death of FDR, the end of the war in Europe, and ultimately the horrors of the atomic bomb.

In From the Steel City to the White City, Zachary Brodt explores Western Pennsylvania’s representation at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, the first major step in demonstrating that Pittsburgh was more than simply America’s crucible—it was also a region of developing culture and innovation. The 1893 Columbian Exposition presented a chance for the United States to prove to the world that it was an industrial giant ready to become a global superpower. At the same time, Pittsburgh, a commercial center that formerly served as a starting point for western expansion, found itself serving as a major transportation, and increasingly industrial, hub during this period of extensive growth. Natural resources like petroleum and coal allowed Western Pennsylvania to become one of the largest iron- and steel-producing regions in the world. The Chicago fairgrounds provided a lucrative opportunity for area companies not only to provide construction materials but to display the region’s many products. While Pittsburgh’s most famous contributions to the 1893 World’s Fair—alternating current electricity and the Ferris wheel—had a lasting impact on the United States and the world, other exhibits provided a snapshot of the area’s industries, natural resources, and inventions. The success of these exhibits, Brodt reveals, launched local companies into the twentieth century, ensuring a steady flow of work, money, and prestige.

Lured across the border by promises of opportunity and adventure, Francis M. Wafer - a young student from Queen's Medical College in Kingston - joined the Union's army of the Potomac as an assistant surgeon. From the battle of the Wilderness to the closing campaigns, Wafer was both participant and chronicler of the American Civil War. Cheryl Wells provides an edited and fully annotated collection of Wafer's diary entries during the war, his letters home, and the memoirs he wrote after returning to Canada. Wafer's writings are a fascinating and deeply personal account of the actions, duties, feelings, and perceptions of a noncombatant who experienced the thick of battle and its grave consequences. The only substantial account by a Canadian Civil War soldier who returned to Canada, A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac fills a critical gap in American Civil War historiography and will have broad appeal among scholars and enthusiasts.

Recounts the life of the Civil War surgeon and how he made battlefield survival possible by creating the first organized ambulance corps and a more effective field hospital system.

Excerpt from The Journal of Isaac Senter: Physician and Surgeon to the Troops Detached From the American Army Encamped at Cambridge, Mass;, On a Secret Expedition Against Quebec, Under the Command of Col. Benedict Arnold, in September, 1775 The desire to possess the autographs and portraits of distinguished individuals has led to discoveries of great value to history and letters, and helped to preserve, particularly in a country where the past has had too little reverence, the materials of history itself. It is not known how, or why the original manuscript Journal of Dr. Senter was left in Philadelphia, nor how it came to the hands of its possessor - its existence became known in consequence of inquiries made by Dr. Lewis Roper, of this city, who wished to add to his collection of autographs a good specimen of the handwriting of General Arnold. It was given to him, that he might extract from it an original note of that officer, which the reader will find printed at page 32. His perception of the value of the Journal induced him to communicate it to the Society by which it is published, with permission to print it. It is now given entire, and some few references have been added, to other collections, which form the scanty materials for a history of events, in which the troops of Pennsylvania and Virginia maintained their well-earned reputation for endurance and valor. The circumstances connected with the desertion of the expedition by Colonel Enos, and the return of most of the men of his command, are very little known, and light, of some importance, is shed on the subject, for the first time, it is believed. It is proper to add, that the words in brackets [ ] are not in the original manuscript, but have been added to complete the sense wherever omissions were palpable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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