Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion , 1861 - 65 ( the MSHWR ) was a U . S . Government Printing Office publication consisting of six volumes published between 1870 and 1888 and “ prepared Under the Direction of Surgeon General United States Army , Joseph K . Barnes ” . The history was divided into three parts , each consisting of a medical history volume and a surgical history volume . The works detail tens of thousands of surgical cases and diseases occurring during the American Civil War ( 1861 – 65 ) . The MSHWR included numerous statistical summaries relating to diseases , wounds , and deaths in both the Union and Confederate armies , almost all of the material formed from the reports of U . S . medical directors , surgeons , doctors , and hospital staff . The accounts are a basic source for medical data on the War and also comprise an important source of information relating to individual soldiers . The names of the surgeons who submitted these case studies are almost always included , so the books can be helpful in tracking where an individual surgeon was at various times . Hundreds of etching s , wood engraving s , charts , and tables , as well as many photographs and color plates ( lithographs , chromolithograph s , albumen photograph s , heliotype s , and woodburytype s ) accompany the approximately 3 , 000 pages of densely printed text . ( Almost every reproductive process available at the time can be found somewhere within the six volumes . ) Publication of the MSHWR was preceded by publication of " Reports on the Extent and Nature of the Materials Available for the Preparation of a Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion " ( Surgeon General ' s Office ; War Department , J . B . Lippincott , 1865 ) . The MSHWR was reprinted ( 1990 – 92 ) as " The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War " ( Broadfoot Publishing Company ; editor , James I . Robertson , Jr . ) . In addition to original printings and the reprinting , the MSHWR is also available on CD and on the internet ( see External links ) . Prepared under the direction of Joseph K . Barnes , Surgeon General United States Army , by J . J . Woodward , Assistant Surgeon United States Army . Consists of a series of statistical tables summarizing the monthly reports made to the Surgeon General regarding the Sickness of the Army , Deaths , and Discharges and is arranged into two groups : Part I refers to " Sickness and Mortality of White Troops " and Part II to " Colored Troops . " Prepared , under the direction of Joseph K . Barnes , Surgeon General United States Army , by George A . Otis , Assistant Surgeon , United States Army . Covers wounds and injuries of the head , face , neck , spine , and chest . Includes a chronological summary of engagements and battles . Prepared under the direction of Joseph K . Barnes , Surgeon General , United States Army , by Joseph Janvier Woodward , Surgeon , United States Army . Covers diarrhea and dysentery ; Case studies and heliotype illustrations of diseases and sections of tissue , etc . Prepared under the direction of Joseph K . Barnes , Surgeon General United States Army by George A . Otis , Assistant Surgeon , United States Army . Covers injuries of the abdomen , pelvis , flesh wounds of the back , and wounds and injuries of the upper extremities . Prepared under the direction of Surgeon General John Moore , United States Army , by Charles Smart , Major and Surgeon , United States Army . Covers medical statistics ; camp fevers [ typhus , etc . ] and other miasmatic diseases ; scurvy ; diseases attributed to non - miasmatic exposure ; and other diseases such as nostalgia , army itch , poison ing , alcoholism , and venereal diseases ; Includes one small folding map . Prepared under the direction of Joseph K . Barnes , Surgeon General United States Army by George A . Otis and D . L . Huntington . Covers " Wounds and Injuries of the Lower Extremities , " " Miscellaneous Injuries , " " Wounds and Complications , " " Anesthetics , " " The Medical Staff and Materia Chirurgica , " and " Transportation of the Wounded . " External links . The MSHWR at the Internet Archive :