Benjamin Franklin Gardner papers, approximately 1865-1870s

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Summary

Creator:
Gardner, Benjamin Franklin, 1836-1919 and History of Medicine Collection (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library)
Abstract:
Benjamin Franklin Gardner was a white doctor and surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. This collection primarily contains the manuscript of field notes written by Gardner about his time as a Civil War battlefield surgeon from 1861-1865. Also included are Civil War certificates, photographs and photocopies of biographical information.
Extent:
0.25 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13089

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the manuscript of field notes written by Benjamin Franklin Gardner about his experience as a Confederate Army Civil War battlefield surgeon from 1861-1865. A transcription of the manuscript is available. Also included are Gardner's Provost Marshal's Office certificates from 1865, photographs of Gardner and photocopies of various biographical sources and photographs.

In the manuscript Gardner documented his time as a surgeon during the Civil War, primarily in Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and ending in North Carolina. He begins with his first battlefield surgery experience at Arkansas Post where he was taken prisoner and then exchanged. Gardner was at the Battle of Murfreesboro and then sent to Chattanooga, TN with the wounded. He cared for the wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga, then worked at various hospitals in Georgia. He was sent to Howard Grove Hospital in Richmond, VA and was at Wayside Hospital in Raleigh, NC when the war ended. Gardner discusses the battles he was involved in, battlefield injuries and patients, travel to different hopsitals, his encounters with prisoners and hospital infections and diseases like gangrene.

Biographical / historical:

Benjamin Franklin Gardner was born on January 20, 1836 in Salem, Massachusetts to Simon Gardner and Hannah Swan. He moved to Texas and at the start of the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate Army medical corps where he remained until the end of the war in 1865. On January 10, 1866 he married Ida Pennington. They had three children, Katherine, Frank and Leroy. He became the chief surgeon for the Alabama and Great Southern Railroad while they built a railroad from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Meridian, Mississippi. In the 1870s, he worked as a physician in Chattanooga until moving to Bloomberg, Pennsylvania in 1874 where he practiced medicine until his retirement. Ida Gardner died on February 3, 1895 and Bejamin Franklin Gardner died December 9, 1919 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.

Source cited: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148162700/benjamin-franklin-gardner

Acquisition information:
The Benjamin Franklin Gardner papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2024.
Processing information:

Processed by Lisa Duncan, June 2024

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2024-0086

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged alphabetically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Benjamin Franklin Gardner papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1k74g