Medicine cup

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

The number of soldiers who died from sickness, disease and infection outnumbered battlefield deaths in the Civil War (1861-1865). A surgeon who lived to see the medical advances of the 20th century marveled at the primitive state of army medicine in the 1860s. “We operated in old blood-stained and often pus-stained coats…we used undisinfected instruments…we knew nothing about antiseptics and therefore used none.” The courage and fortitude of Union and Confederate soldiers began on the battlefield and continued in the hospitals. Menander Patrick of Massachusetts brought this medicine cup home from the South, a reminder perhaps of comrades who never returned.

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Details

Item typeMedical
Date1861–1865
TopicMedical, Health, Disease
EraCivil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
MaterialClay
Process/FormatCeramic
Catalog #1927.25.04
View this item in our curatorial database →
Medicine cup. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1927-25-04/. Accessed on December 8, 2024.

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