Civil War at Gettysburg - Canadian Doctors

Dr. Francis was 32 when he served at Gettysburg and Solomn 

Secord was 29.

Secord and Wafer, both products of Canadian Medical Schools, were 

highly sought by recruiters. Canadian schools, patterned on British 

and European systems, were at the forefront of medical science, with 

curriculums that included surgical and dissection classes.

As Wells notes: "Even though Wafer had just one year under his belt 

at Queen's, he was already more qualified than many practicing 

American doctors." Secord, with six years practice, was pure gold. 

Both men arrived at Gettysburg early on the morning of July 2nd. 

Secord on the Confederate right near Devil's Den.

While Wafer experienced the horror of battle first-hand, Secord had 

his own front-row seat to the nightmare at the 20th Georgia hospital 

on Plank Farm, southwest of town. He was the man at the end of the 

line, carrying the weight of life and death decisions that came with 

triage.

Dr.'s had about a minute to decide a man's fate, and many of these 

men he knew personally. If a soldier was hit with an arm or leg, 

changes for survival were good if an amputation was performed within 

24 to 48 hours. A good surgeon like Secord could remove a limb in 10 

minutes.

But if a man had suffered a shot to the gut or chest, he was set aside 

to pass on quietly. It was a simple and brutal process. A surgeon with 

Secord at Plank Farm recalled: "The surgeons (looked like) butchers, 

with their blood spattered white shirts and navy trousers. To one side 

lay a pile of amputated, mangled limbs, stacked like cordwood."

By the end of the battle, 1,542 wounded men flooded division 

hospitals around Plank Farm, overwhelming Secord and a handful of 

surgeons. On July 3, while Wafer bore witness to Pickett's Charge, 

Secord had been amputating limbs for 24 hours straight, hearing only 

the distant sounds of the final battle. Secord and the Confederate 

soldiers around him knew their world had changed. 75 per cent of all 

operations during the Civil War were amputations, including more than 

15,000 at Gettysburg, a sleepy town of 2,400 in southern 

Pennsylania.The three-day Battle of Gettysburg resulted in 51,000 

casualties, making it the bloodiest engagement ever on a North 

American Battlefield. Among the 165,000 Confederate and Union
troops who fought at Gettysburg,some 3.000 were Canadians
mostly on the Union side.  

On July 4, Wafer marched with the 108th in pursuit of Confederate 

Gen. Robert E. Lee and his retreating men. Secord remained behind 

as a prisoner, caring for 20,000 wounded (6,000 Confederate, 14,000 

Union).

After the war, both returned to Ontario, practising medicine for the 

remainder of their lives.