Wakeup Call

National Museum of Civil War Medcine

The nonprofit NMCWM, based in Frederick, Md., explores the world of medical, surgical, and nursing innovation during the Civil War. To learn more about the stories explored in this and future columns, visit civilwarmed.org. The museum also hosts walking tours to the city’s Civil War hospital sites on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. from April to October.

Philip C. Davis, a U.S. Army surgeon, looked at the mayhem around him in Springfield, Mo., and saw the wretched result of civil war. “The churches, hotels, court house, and nearly all of the private dwellings were filled with wounded of both sides,” he wrote. The previous day, a battle had raged along the banks of nearby