http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/history/booksdocs/spanam/gillett3/default.h tm#cont CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D.C., 1995 http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/history/booksdocs/spanam/gillett3/ch1.htm The Civil War's chief legacy to the Medical Department was an increase in the traditional peacetime burdens of the Surgeon General's Office. In the years that followed the surrender at Appomattox, the office would be asked to create both a medical museum and a medical history, using specimens and case histories gathered during the conflict; in response to a congressional mandate, to provide Civil War veterans with prostheses and the information needed for pension applications; and, for a brief period, to manage the medical care of freed slaves. As a result, for decades after the end of the conflict, the Army's surgeon generals dealt with war-related challenges while carrying out the department's historic mission of guarding the Army's health. Rhonda Houston