Civil War Era Surgical Set
date: label: date made
content: c. 1850s-1860s
label: date made
content: 1850s-1860s
name: label: maker
content: Gemrig, Jacob H.
notes: label: Description
content: This amputation set belonged to Lt. Col. William Irvin Wolfley, Surgeon in Chief of the 62nd Ohio Infantry. Dr. Wolfley was attached to DeRussey's Division of the Army of the Potomac, and was in charge of the convalescent camps along the Potomac from Chain Bridge to Alexandria, Virginia.
label: Description
content: This set has sixty instruments, the majority of which were manufactured by Jacob H. Gemrig of Philadelphia. Jacob Gemrig was a German immigrant who had experience as a cutler, an individual who made knives and scissors. After immigrating to the United States, Gemrig began making medical instruments in the 1840s. In the 1860s, he won a major contract to supply medical instruments to the Union Army. Twelve of the instruments in this set were made by Otto & Reynders which had a shop at 64 Chatham Street in New York City. One of these instruments was made by Codman and Shurtleff of Boston, Massachusetts. Sets containing different instruments from different manufacturers were common. If an instrument broke or was lost, it was simply replaced.
label: Description
content: The case is made of rosewood and has an oval brass medallion on the lid engraved “U.S.A./Medical Department” It comprises four compartments lined in red velvet, the first of which includes four large amputations knives, two retractors, artery forceps, tweezers and a tongue tie. The second tray has seven small knives, a hook, two pair of scissors, two saws, a straight trocar and cannula, a chisel, and bullet forceps. The third compartment holds a capitol saw, a trephine and wooden handle, two pair of bone forceps, silver and rubber ophthalmic probes and two thumb lancets with tortoise shell handles. The lower compartment contains graduated urethral sounds, a double-ended probe, one needle with an ebony handle, and catheters.
label: Description
content: The surgical set was donated by Wolfley’s daughters through Mr. Thomas J. Shannon, a museum guard at the Smithsonian and son-in-law to Dr. Wolfley. Subsequent donations of material related to Dr. Wolfley included a copy of <i>The Dramatic Works of Shakespeare,</i>, a microscope, and a medical officer's green sash.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
label: used
content: United States: Virginia
topic: label: associated subject; web subjec
content: Surgery
label: associated subject; web subjec
content: Surgical instruments
label: related event
content: Civil War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Civil War Surgical Sets
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. Elizabeth Wolfley, Mrs. Eleanor Wolfley Bisell, Mrs. Caroline Wolfley Shannon and Mrs. Elizabeth Wolfley Harmen.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.112986.01.01
label: accession number
content: 112986
label: catalog number
content: 112986.01.01
label: catalog number
content: M-02999
objectType: label: Object Name
content: case
label: Object Name
content: surgical set
label: Other Terms
content: Surgical Set
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rosewood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: velvet (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, open: 2 in x 16 3/4 in x 13 in; 5.11175 cm x 42.545 cm x 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, closed: 4 1/4 in x 16 3/4 in x 6 1/2 in; 10.795 cm x 42.545 cm x 16.51 cm