(Contributed photo.)
If you are a Civil War buff, then you will miss a great event if you do not attend the Dade County Historical Society event on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Dade County Public Library.
Dr. Anthony Hodges will share his vast knowledge of medical practices (and lack of them). You will be amazed and disgusted by the practices that were necessary to deal with the monumental number of injuries at each battle of the Civil War.
Here is some information about Dr. Hodges and the talk. Please join us on Thursday evening!
--Donna Street
donnam.street@gmail.com
Bite the Bullet: the Myths and Realities of Civil War Medicine
presented by Dr. Anthony Hodges
“Bite the Bullet” is an overview of the techniques used by the military physicians of the 19th century to treat battlefield wounds and disease during the War Between the States. Original Civil War medical instruments will be shown to illustrate the medical and surgical treatments used by the Union and Confederate military, the results of those treatments, and how they contrast with the techniques of the modern military medical system.
Additionally, Chattanooga’s role and history as a hospital and treatment center for both the Confederate and Union armies will be explored.
Dr. Anthony Hodges attended the University of Alabama and graduated from UT Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis with a D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degree in 1981. He is married to a dental school classmate, Dr. Jill Prichard Hodges, an orthodontist, and they have three grown children. They reside on Elder Mountain. Anthony recently retired from dentistry after 35 years of practice.
He became interested in early American and Civil War history as a young child due to oral family history passed down to him by elderly relatives in North Alabama. He began to collect Civil War artifacts as a young boy and items from his collection have been displayed in national parks and museums across the South. He served as a National Park Service living history interpreter for over 30 years.
Anthony began to study Civil War medicine in dental school and has lectured on the topic for nearly 40 years. He assisted Dr. James I. “Bud” Robertson of Virginia Tech and Broadfoot Publishing in the reprinting of the U.S. Army’s official 12-volume medical account of the Civil War, The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War. He has written numerous Civil War historical articles for The Chattanooga Times-Free Press during the war’s 150th anniversary and recently completed a series of “Civil War Trails” historical markers in the Chattanooga area at the request of the Convention and Visitors Bureau and State of Tennessee.
Anthony completed his fourth term as President of the Friends of Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park in 2017 and now serves on the Advisory Board of the National Park Partners (the recently combined Friends of the Park and Friends of Moccasin Bend). He also serves as President of the board of the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association, a statewide battlefield preservation group.
He is a longtime board member of the East Tennessee Historical Society and Museum of East Tennessee History in Knoxville; and serves on the Board of the Charles H. Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga. He is a past Commander of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars, as well as the Order of the Southern Cross. Anthony is a “Color Bearer” in the Civil War Trust, a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Civil War Surgeons, and the Company of Military Historians.
Comments