In the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, a thousand surgeons faced an unprecedented medical catastrophe: 25,000 wounded soldiers needing immediate care with only primitive tools and their own determination to save lives. At Gettysburg's makeshift hospitals-set up in barns, churches, and blood-soaked fields-military and civilian surgeons from both North and South worked around the clock performing life-saving operations under fire. Drawing from a decade of meticulous research, historian Barbara Franco reveals how these courageous medical professionals revolutionized battlefield medicine and established principles still saving lives today. Through vivid accounts and previously untold stories, readers will discover:

• How surgeons improvised new techniques that became standard trauma procedures
• The harrowing reality of Civil War field hospitals during the three days of battle
• How lessons learned at Gettysburg transformed American military medicine
• The lasting impact on modern emergency and disaster response

Barbara Franco is an independent scholar and nationally recognized leader in the museum field. She has served as executive director of the Historical Society of Washington, DC, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum, where she was founding director. She is past chairman of the American Association for State and Local History. Franco lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.