Published in the Gloucester Times, September 23, 2011

A mayor's role as 'Civil War Surgeon'

by Nancy Gaines, Correspondent

The third mayor of Gloucester hasn't exactly gone down in history for that accomplishment.

But he warrants a far greater bow on the stage of endeavor as a key participant with a rare perspective on the grisly battlefields of the Civil War, which began 150 years ago.

"The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon," by J. Franklin Dyer — the library of the Cape Ann Museum has one private copy — came about after a University of Nebraska student in Michael Chessen's [sic] class on the Civil War asked if the professor might want to see some of his family's memorabilia.

The resulting trove, edited by Chessen [sic], was published in 2003 by the University of Nebraska Press.

As the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the onset of the Civil War, Dyer's journals represent "a fine example of an unusual genre," Chessen [sic] wrote in his introduction, among "only a handful" of memoirs from army surgeons. The Sawyer Free Library is attempting to get copies of the book.

Dyer was in the Union Army from July 1861 to August 1864 as surgeon of the 19th Regiment of Massachusetts — men from mostly Essex and Middlesex counties. His diary covers events in Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, Petersburg and more.

Oddly, but perhaps sparing the sensibilities of decorous family and friends for whom he wrote, Dyer says little about his actual surgery or even general battlefield medicine. For the squeamish, that may be fine, but others may well wish for more detail on that aspect.

From one entry: "I performed an amputation on the ground by the light of a single candle stuck in a bayonet, but had not sufficient time to perform all that were necessary when we were ordered to move."

Major Dyer does reveal his take on the doings and undoings of Generals Burnside, McClellan and Hooker — whose statue adorns the lawn of the State House in Boston — Meade and Grant, invaluable intel for any Civil War buff.

In modern prose, Dyer's reports are rich with observations on maneuvers ("10 miles in a drenching rain, the mud knee deep") and conditions:

"I cannot say how many thousand wounded are in this vicinity," he wrote, "but every house and barn for miles is filled with them ... the Rebel dead were lying as closely as if their line had laid down for shelter ... The odor is horrible. Hundreds of horses were killed."

On quarters: "The booming of cannon and whizzing of shell keep sleep away. During the intervals of firing, I hear the Rebel bands playing 'Dixie.' Frogs, whippoorwill, and owls put in the filling."

On gossip: "General Hooker rode a white horse and looked well, hair almost white and clean-shaven face, with an eye as keen as an eagle's. I do not think he is addicted to drinking as much as is generally believed. Those who have seen Hooker and 'little Mac' drink whiskey, think the 'little Napoleon' can hold his own with Joe."

In prose pragmatic and poignant, Dyer gives readers a front seat on history: "Mrs. Lincoln is a fat-faced, comfortable looking woman; the President looked thin."

Gettysburg, July 4, 1863: "Was up all night last night, our ambulances being at work continually, but we could not operate as the rain was falling in torrents and candles would not burn."

In Virginia: "I saw some fine-looking colored soldiers bring in a miserable wretch of a Rebel on a stretcher, and I thought at the time they were the better men. They could have easily saved themselves the trouble by putting a bayonet through him, but they brought a good many in."

"The Rebels put old men and boys in the works here, boys who were at school in the morning. An officer told me he saw one little boy, fourteen or fifteen years old, lying dead, neatly dressed, with white shirt and collar, and scarcely large enough to carry the large cartridge box strapped on him."

Known as Frank, Dyer was born in Maine of Mayflower descendants, graduated from the Medical School of Maine, studied and worked in Boston, then moved to Annisquam in 1851, where he practiced until he died in 1879 at age 52.

His family remained active in Gloucester well into the 20th century. When his widow, Maria, died in 1925 at close to 100, she was hailed as the city's "oldest resident."

Mixing profession and politics, Dyer was the city's postmaster in 1866, then state representative, member of the school committee, town physician, coroner, and medical examiner. He was elected an alderman, and then, in 1878, shortly before his death, as mayor.

In a city rampant with statues, however, Dyer is memorialized here by only a simple obelisk in Oak Grove Cemetery, with the dates and places of his birth and death.

Correspondent Nancy Gaines is a veteran reporter and editor of national and Boston publications. She lives in Bay View and is trying to be a constant gardener.