In this issue: feminine charms reveal Civil War strategies; a dismembered body linked to a racially charged love triangle; and the dicey dealings of early American anesthesiologists.
Two Women Who Spied During the American Civil War: Going Undercover with Belle Boyd and Pauline Cushman in the Archive of Americana
Bruce D. Roberts, author of Clipper Ship Sailing Cards
In July 1861—just three months after the bombardment of Fort Sumter—unabashed Southern sympathizer Rose O’Neal Greenhow of Washington, D.C., was already engaged in espionage on behalf of the Confederacy. Well-placed in Washington society—and adept at bleeding information from the many men who found her attractive—Greenhow learned that Union troops under General Irvin McDowell would attack Rebel forces in Manassas, Virginia, within days... > Full Story
A True Tale of Adultery, Murder, and Dismemberment in Black Women’s History
Kali Nicole Gross, Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of History, Rutgers University
The torso discovered on the bank of a pond just outside of Philadelphia was headless and limbless. The head had been severed at the fourth vertebra, one arm had been chopped off at the joint, the other cut crudely through the shoulder; the midsection had been sawed midway so that the distended bowels protruded. Blood leaked from the exposed orifices and the trunk had been wrapped in heavy brown paper marked, “Handle with care... > Full Story
Gas! Gas! Gas! Anesthesia History in Early American Newspapers, Pamphlets and Broadsides
A.J. Wright, former Medical Librarian, University of Alabama at Birmingham
In the past newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides have been underused sources for research in medical history. Digital access has made these materials much easier to find and use. This piece examines three significant documents and explains their value to the history of anesthesia: an 1800 newspaper article found in Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922, Series 1-14, and an 1860 pamphlet found in American Pamphlets, 1820-1922: From the New-York Historical Society...> Full Story
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