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Virtual Tour: Medical Field Tent

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Doctors performed all types of procedures during the Civil War, from treating common ailments to amputating limbs. Often churches, private homes, or other buildings would be converted to makeshift hospitals and morgues near the site of a battle. Many medical procedures were performed in field tents.

This wall-tent was once owned by surgeon John Wiley of the Sixth New Jersey volunteers. Measuring 9 by 9 by 13 feet, the tent is made of army duck and has its original wooden poles. Wiley served with the Army of the Potomac from 1862 to 1864 and his regiment saw heavy action at Gettysburg, where this tent most certainly was used. The tent is part of the collection at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland.

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