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Civil War Surgical Sets
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Civil War Era Field Surgical Set
by Hernstein
From The Collection of Dr. Scott Watson. If you have sets you would like evaluated or would like to sell contact Dr. Scott Watson by clicking here.
Hermann Hernstein was born in Germany 1817 and immigrated to New York in 1841. He grew his surgical instrument business at many different locations during the 20 years preceding the war. He signed several large contracts with the military and is considered one of the major suppliers during the war. All manufacturers during the war imported some instruments to augment their inventory from Europe but Hernstein was considered the largest importer. He favored the French designs of Charriere. This gave his sets a more refined and elegant appearance. His locations during the war are shown below per Edmonsons Surgical Instruments:
1859-1861: 131 Mercer and 393 Broadway as Hermann Hernstein Surgical Instruments
1862-1865: 131 Mercer and 393 Broadway as Hermann Hernstein & Son
1865: 2 Liberty and 393 Broadway as Hermann Hernstein & Son & Co.
Dr Lucius Wadsworth Clarke (1831-1912) served as Assistant Surgeon of the 13th Connecticut Volunteers company F&S from 1863-1865. After the war he practiced in Cambrigde, WI. until his death. His original CDV and Discharge papers have survived. Also shown is a requisition form he used to request supplies from the surgeon generals office. This particular page shows books which could be ordered.
Major battles the regiment was involved along with casualties are shown below:
Battle Name Begin Date Union Casualties Confederate Casualties Total Casualties
Battle of Port Hudson
May 22, 1863 10,000 7,500 17,500
Battle of Opequon
September 19, 1864 5,020 3,610 8,630
Battle of Cedar Creek
October 19, 1864 5,672 2,010 7,682
Battle of Fisher's Hill
September 21, 1864 528 1,235 1,763
Battle of Fort Bisland
April 12, 1863 224 450 674
The surgical set of Dr Clarke is a three tier mahogany brass bound case with bilateral sliding military latches. The lid brass plaque is hand engraved " USA Hospital Dept." in the known style of Hernstein (see other examples on this site). Instrument layout is typical of a general purpose field set to be used on the battlefield with instruments for amputation, bullet removal, urinary catheterization. All instruments are civil war Hernstein and marked Hernstein or Hernstein & Son. The capital saw, Saterlee's bone forceps, Gullet forceps, and field tourniquet are marked USA Hospital Department. Bullet forceps are " U.S.A." type, see this article: Civil War Bullets . Middle tier has both large Petit's and smaller field tourniquet. Third tier has urinary sounds, catheters, and disarticulating gullet forceps. Several of the instruments show erosion due to salt from the blood staining left on them after use. The war occurred before sterilization so extensive instrument cleaning between use was not done. Despite obvious wartime use the set has remained in excellent condition.
The pictures below show the contents of this Hernstein Civil War surgical set:
Just a nice example of a Hernstein Civil War surgical set.
Civil War Surgical Sets by Hermann Hernstein & Co., Horatio G. Kern, George Tiemann, D.W. Kolbe Wade and Ford, Snowden, Gemrig, Kuemerle, Helmold, Otto & Reynders, Max Worcher, Brinkerhoff, Rees, Codman and Shurtleff, Tiencken. |
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