Medicine is the science of preventing, alleviating, or curing disease. A "medic" is a physician or surgeon; usually in reference to a member of the military medical corps. The need for medicine and medics is never-ending, especially in structures such as the military. With a need greater than is realized, the creation of a medicinal corps of military services was sure to take place. How and when are exactly what I"m going to explain to you today.
The American military has used medics as far back as our birth, in the Revolutionary war. July 27, 1775, the Continental Congress named Dr. Benjamin Church director general and chief physician of a 20,000 man medical service. The first handbook for medical training in the military service came from a pamphlet published later that year by Dr. John Jones, entitled "Plain, Concise, Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures". In fact this pamphlet remained the standard up until the Civil War. Another medical first for the military was the concept of inoculation of troops on the mass scale. .
Post-war peace brought cuts in military services. Until 1813, when Dr. James Tilton was granted command of a medical service unit, the Army only 5 members; 1 surgeon as well as 5 surgeon's mates. In 1818, Congress created a permanent branch of military service dedicated to medicine. In 1836 Lovell started a collection of medical and scientific books that turned into the Army Medical Library. .
Medical breakthroughs of the 19th century were a major boost to the effective application of medicine in the military corps. In 1840 AMEDD published the country's 1st nationwide public health survey. Louis Pasteur published his first paper on Bacteriology in 1861, the year the Civil War began. Lt. Col. John Shaw Billings led the Army Medical Museum and the Medical Library at the same time. .
From the time of the Spanish-American War, until WWI, the medical corps experienced great growth.
