Dr. Oscar Reiss’s, M.D., Medicine and the American Revolution is a complete history of revolutionary medical practices, medical leadership, and common diseases that plagued the army. Additionally, Reiss included medical evaluations on the leaders of each side, to give the reader further insight into the medical side of war. With nine times as many people dying from disease than from fighting, medicine played a key role in the American Revolution Reiss, a World War II veteran, is familiar with the tactical side of warfare. However, in his writing, Reiss examines war from a physician’s perspective, looking at how diseases and medicine impacted the war.
To familiarize the reader with military medicine, Reiss begins his book with a brief overview of the history of military medicine. From the Greeks and Romans to the mercenaries of Carthage, Reiss gives important background on
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In these chapters Reiss limits the non-medical information to a minimum only giving what is necessary to understand the disease filled city of New York. Which helps readers get to the information they need while maintaining clarity of the background situation. With such a crowded city disease was inevitable. However, continental leadership tried to minimize the spread of disease. The most devastating disease to the continental army in New York City was syphilis, but Washington attempted to control this issue by fining the soldiers who contracted the disease. Unlike the previous disease, dysentery was uncontrollable and rampant aboard prison ships.
In Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine Reiss explores the effects of typhus, scabies, and malaria. Reiss notes that all three of these diseases affected the army while in camp or in hospitals. These diseases affect the army greatly especially scabies in Valley Forge, which if left untreated and allowed to become infected a simple itch can turn