A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. LordOf the three physicians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Doctor George Edwin Lord (1846–76) was the lone commissioned medical officer, an assistant surgeon with the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry—one more soldier caught up in the U.S. government’s efforts to fulfill what many people believed was the young country’s “Manifest Destiny.” A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn tells Lord’s story for the first time. Notable for its unique angle on Custer’s last stand and for its depiction of frontier-era medicine, the book is above all a compelling portrait of the making of an army medical professional in mid-nineteenth-century America. Drawing on newly discovered documents, Todd E. Harburn describes Lord’s education and training at Bowdoin College in Maine and the Chicago Medical College, detailing what the study of medicine entailed at the time for “a young man of promise . . . held in universal esteem.” Lord’s time as a contract physician with the army took him in 1874 to the U.S. Northern Boundary Survey. From there Harburn recounts how, after a failed romance and the rigors of the U.S. Army Medical Board examination, the young doctor proceeded to his first—and only—appointment as a post surgeon, at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory. What followed, of course, was Lord’s service, and his death, in the Little Big Horn campaign, which this book shows us for the first time from the unique perspective of the surgeon. A portrait of a singular figure in the milieu of the American military’s nineteenth-century medical elite, A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn offers a close look at a familiar chapter in U.S. history, and a reminder of the humanity lost in a battle that resonates to this day. |
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A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord Todd E. Harburn Limited preview - 2023 |
A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord Todd E. Harburn No preview available - 2023 |
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Army Medical arrived assigned assistant surgeon August battle Board born Boundary Bowdoin College brother Buford buried camp campaign Captain Cavalry Cemetery City Civil Colonel Column command Commission Company Custer daily Dakota death Department DeWolf died duty enlisted entry established examination expedition Fort Buford George Lord graduated Heitman Hill Historical Historical Register 1903 hospital Indian initially James John July June known later letter Library Lieutenant Little Big Horn located Lord’s Maine Major March Massachusetts Medical College Medical Log Medical School Medicine Michigan miles military Missouri Montana month moved North Northern noted occurred officers Orders original Paul physicians Porter Post Returns Powder River Private Publication received Records regiment remains Reno Report River roll scouts served Seventh Sioux Sixth Infantry soldiers supplies surgeon Survey Territory Thomas Thomas Lord troops U.S. Army University Washington West wife Yellowstone York
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Surgeon George E. Lord |
| Author | Todd E. Harburn |
| Contributor | Paul L. Hedren |
| Publisher | University of Oklahoma Press, 2023 |
| ISBN | 0806192453, 9780806192451 |
| Length | 260 pages |
| Subjects | › › Biography & Autobiography / Medical (incl. Patients) Biography & Autobiography / Military History / Military / United States History / United States / 19th Century |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |