Friday, April 26, 2013

The Civil War and Prosthetic Limbs: 2/2

Jocelyn has returned for Part II in this series on Civil War medicine and amputees. Check out Part I here.

As an added bonus, Jocelyn has graciously offered to give away a personalized copy of her latest novel, Widow of Gettysburg, to one commentor. To enter, leave a comment on any of her posts over the next three weeks WITH your e-mail address. Must live in the USA. Winner drawn midnight, Saturday, May 11th, 2013 and announced here at Redwood's on May 12th, 2013.

Jocelyn has also graciously said she'll send you a signed bookplate if you have any of her novels and would like one. Again, MUST have your e-mail. 

Good Luck!

Jocelyn appeared before at Redwood's and you can read those posts here and here.

Welcome back, Jocelyn!



Many entrepreneurs who developed artificial limbs were Civil War veteran amputees themselves. In fact, one of the most successful pioneers in prosthetics was Confederate veteran James Edward Hanger, whose amputation in West Virginia was the first recorded amputation of the Civil War. He was 18 years old at the time. Union surgeons discovered him wounded and performed the amputation, giving him a standard issue replacement leg: a solid piece of wood that made walking clunky and difficult. 

Hanger’s adjustments included better hinging and flexing abilities using rust-proof levers and rubber pads. He also used whittled barrel staves to make the limb lighter-weight. He won the Confederate contract to produce limbs, and by 1890, had moved his headquarters to Washington, D.C., and opened satellite offices in four other cities. The company he founded – Hanger, Inc. – remains a key player in prosthetics and orthotics today.

One of James Hanger's early patents from 1891. Courtesy of Hanger.com.


The Civil War-era commitment to support veterans continues today through programs of the VA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to ensure ongoing progress in prosthetics design. The war set the prosthetics industry on a course that would ultimately lead to today’s quasi-bionic limbs that look like the real thing and can often perform some tasks even better.

To see just how far we’ve come in the realm of prosthetic limbs, I invite you to take a look at the video below. This is a brief look at the story of Taylor Morris, the fifth quad amputee veteran in the U.S. Army. You will see Taylor, who is from my hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa, go from the hospital bed shortly after his surgeries, to dancing with his girlfriend again at the end of the video. (Have a Kleenex handy!)




For further reading:

Hasegawa, Guy R. MendingBroken Soldiers: The Union and Confederate Programs to Supply Artificial Limbs. Southern Illinois University Press, 2012.

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A former military wife, Jocelyn Green authored, along with contributing writers, the award-winning Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and Faith Deployed . . . Again. Jocelyn also co-authored Stories of Faith and Couragefrom the Home Front, which inspired her first novel: Wedded to War. She loves Mexican food, Broadway musicals, Toblerone chocolate bars, the color red, and reading on her patio. Jocelyn lives with her husband Rob and two small children in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

15 comments:

  1. What a story! The strength and endurance of this man is incredible.

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    1. I completely agree, Vera. His story really puts my own life in perspective. My problems don't seem like problems at all anymore! Everything is relative!

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  2. That's an incredible story of courage and perseverance! Talk about inspiring. My son is in the National Guard and brought a friend home to dinner one day--a woman. We didn't know that she had a prosthetic leg until she told us. I was stunned, and her story amazed us. She lost her leg in a motorcycle accident, right after surviving a year in Iraq.

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    1. Vickie, that's so interesting! So sad she lost her leg in a motorcycle accident after her deployment. It is very common for veterans to have motorcycle accidents after deployment, some of them with truly devastating consequences. The reasons and statistics on this topic could be another blog post for another day!

      I'm glad you found Taylor's story inspiring. Thank you for stopping by!

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  3. I've seen this video before, but I lost the link. So glad to find it again!!

    Loving this series of posts, and your other two-parter on amputations.

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    1. Thanks so much, Virginia! I had been following Taylor Morris's story on FB for a while before I realized he was from my town! So when he came home-and you saw downtown Cedar Falls lined with people in the video-my kids and I were there with our flags cheering for him! (Not that we made the cut in the video!)Talk about a town unified in support of its hero.

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  4. Wow, that's so interesting to see the artificial arms that were used back then... it's crazy how much things have changed since the Civil War!

    Thanks for the great giveaway!!!

    lubell1106(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Yes, it is crazy! World War 1 brought about another round of huge developments in artificial limbs. Can you imagine what those veterans would think to see our veterans of today with their prosthetics? Unbelievable.

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  5. Wow, what this man has gone through, but he has not let it stop him. Thanks for sharing this video, you do need tissues handy.

    Your book sounds like a good book. Please enter me into the contest/giveaway.

    blessings ,Tina Rice
    tfrice@comcast.net

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    1. Hi Tina, I'm so glad you were inspired by Taylor's story. Thanks too for your interest in Widow! Good luck in the drawing and thank you for stopping by!

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  6. Wow! This is extremely interesting! A secondary character in my post-Civil War WIP is temporarily lame from broken legs, but if I make him an amputee, it could be a major point of conflict and growth when he is hero in book #2. Hmmm. I love to read blogs that get the creative gears turning. :) Thanks for these amazing research facts!

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    1. Hi Natalie! YES make him an amputee! Much more conflict there! :) So glad this could help you think through your character a bit more. Keep coming back over the next two weeks as I share about opium abuse among Civil War soldiers/veterans and phantom limb pain --both of which your character may experience! (Almost every amputee gets phantom limb pain, so that one for sure!)

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  7. I guess all I can say is WOW! And also thank you for sharing all of this with over the last couple of days.
    Jasmine A.
    montanamade(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Forgot to mention that I would love a bookplate! Thank you!

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    2. Jasmine, I'm glad you are enjoying these posts! Hope you'll keep coming back because I have plenty more to share with you! :) I will gladly send you a signed bookplate, and will email you in a moment for your mailing address. Thanks for dropping by!

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