Ronald S. Coddington CollectionCivil War doctors Washington Benson “Ben” Trull and Jerome Keating Bauduy
These doctors were at the start of their careers: fellow Union army assistant surgeons meeting the new field of neurology. Graduates of medical schools in Philadelphia, they served in military hospitals in Union-occupied Nashville, where they treated soldiers with severe battlefield wounds, particularly head injuries.
Washington Benson “Ben” Trull, left, from Massachusetts, was descended from a Revolutionary War hero: His great-grandfather, John Trull, led a company of minutemen against the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Ben joined the Union army soon after his graduation in 1863. Assigned to Nashville, one of his most notable cases involved a soldier with devastating facial injuries who begged to be euthanized before death could claim him. The soldier’s cry for release raised questions for Trull about the physical and psychological effects of trauma—what we recognize today as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trull returned to Massachusetts after the war; he practiced there and served as a surgeon in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). He died at 85 in 1925.
Jerome Keating Bauduy, born in Cuba to a wealthy Philadelphia family, served alongside Trull in Nashville and met his future wife there. His service ended after about six months because of his own health issues, experiences that inspired him to became a pioneer in neurology. His practical experience treating soldier-patients and postwar cases and research led to the publication, in 1876, of the clinical textbook Diseases of the Nervous System. The book launched him into the spotlight as a leader in the field. Bauduy later struggled with his own mental health and died in an asylum at 74 in 1914. 
Ronald S. Coddington is publisher of Military Images, a magazine dedicated to showcasing and preserving photos of Civil War soldiers and sailors.
Related topics: medical care
