EXTRACTS 
Of Letters received in relation to Circular No. 6, of the Surgeon General's 
Office, and the importance of the proposed Medical and Surgical 
History of the "War. 
[translation.] 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
Please to accept my warmest thanks for the fine work you have done me 
the honor to send me entitled "Circular No. 6, Surgeon General's Office, 
November 1st, 1865." 
American surgery has proved itself equal to cope with all the exigencies 
of a war of incomparable magnitude, undertaken for the defense of the 
laws, of liberty, and of the progress of humanity. 
Surgeons everywhere are proud of the marvels which you have accom- 
plished, in science and in self-devotedness, and your conduct will remain 
a model for imitation among the many other lofty examples which have 
excited our admiration and increased our sympathy for your national char- 
acter, your patriotism, and your noble destiny. 
Accept, Monsieur the Surgeon General, the assurance of my highest 
consideration, 
C. SEDILLOT, 
Medical Inspector of the Army, 
Director of the Imperial School for the Medical Staff of the Army. 
Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, IT. S. A. 
Strasbourg, March 29th, 1866. 
Dear Sir: 
********* * •,* * 
I hope that before this reaches you the grant of money necessary for 
the publication of the first volume of your Medical and Surgical History of 
the Rebellion will have been made by Congress. The materials at your 
disposal, as shown by the descriptive circular, are indeed immense, and of 
the highest interest to our profession in all parts of the world, and more- 
over, from the systematic manner in which they have been registered and 
classified, must be well under control as regards reference and arrange- 
ment. The plan upon which you have determined to publish the history 
appears to me well conceived, and I do not see how it can be improved upon. 
************ 
I must again thank you for sending me the Photographs and Circular, 
Begging you to believe me, most truly yours, 
Netley, England, 2nd April, 1866. 
THOS. LONGMORE, 
Deputy Medical Inspector General, 
Professor of Military Surgery in the British Army- 
Medical School. 
Bvt. Major General J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General, U. S. A. 2 
[translation.] 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
Paris, April 1st, 1866. 
I have received the kind letter which you have done me the honor to 
write me with the greater interest since it directly transmitted to me 
two copies of your important Circular No. 6. I shall send to claim them 
from the Embassy where they doubtless remain. But I have already 
become familiar with this remarkable work, which is already disseminated 
among our learned societies. Of the two copies which have not yet 
reached me, but which I shall undoubtedly receive, I reserve one for the 
Academy of Medicine and one for the Surgical Society according to 
your wishes. 
I am at your service also in regard to any other works you desire to 
make known in France, especially such as shall relate chiefly to the 
Medical Staff of the Army. The complete history of the bloody American 
War as well as all its details will possess the highest interest. 
You lead me to hope for the first volume in the course of the 
coming year. I would thank you for it in anticipation. I shall read this 
important work with the greater attention because, during the war or 
towards the close of the last campaigns, I had the honor of being consulted 
for the Government by one of the Ambassadors of the United States, Mr. 
W. Dayton, upon sundry questions relative to military hygiene, field 
surgery, the transportation of wounded, and retiring pensions for muti- 
lated men. This last question particularly brought me in relation with 
the delegates of a special committee who visited France with reference to 
this subject. 
I would say, finally, Sir, that my venerable friend, Dr. Valentine Mott, 
sent me at different times, quite to the close of his long career, Surgeons 
who had been his pupils, that I might put them in possession of such 
documents as were at my disposal, which is an additional motive that 
leads me to take an interest in the labors of the Medical Staff of the 
American Army. 
With assurances of my fraternal regard. 
BARON H. LARREY. 
Bvt. Major General J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General, U. S. A. 
[translation.] 
Paris, February 23d, 186(1. 
Sir: 
I have the honor to advise you of the reception of the volume entitled, 
"Circular No. 6, Surgeon General's Office, Washington, November 1,1865." 
Governments as well as science may greatly profit by your important 
labors, inspired as they are by the largest experience of war which has 
ever been acquired. 
Please to accept, Sir, the tribute of my thanks and of my high esteem, 
MICHEL LEVY, 
Senior Medical Inspector of the French Army, 
Director of the Imperial School of Val-de-Grace. 
J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General. 3 
[TRANSLATION.] 
Paris, April 9th, 1866. 
Monsieur et tr&s honore confrere: 
I have received through the American Legation at Paris, the Circular 
from your Bureau which you have done me the honor to send me. 
I have read with the liveliest interest the surgical and scientific portion 
of this document, which furnishes material on many points at issue among 
professional men, and it is with a feeling of surprise and admiration that 
I have read all that which relates to the organization and working of the 
Medical Staff in the Field. 
Without experience in the organization and construction of Military 
Hospitals you have taken common sense and logic for your guide, and 
from the outset, the practical spirit of your nation has appreciated the 
pressing demands of different situations, has realized them, and has 
deduced from them results which, as you say with just pride, have never 
been attained by any people at any period. 
Several weeks ago Medical Inspector General Levy and myself were 
directed by our Government to make a report upon your Circular No. 6. 
I need not tell you that we bestowed on it the eulogies it deserves. 
I should be happy, my dear and honored confrere, if you would send 
me the Circulars that may have preceded or which shall follow Circular 
No. 6, it being my intention to review this magnificent work in one of 
our Parisian Medical Journals. 
Please to accept, Monsieur my honored confrere, the tribute of my high 
consideration. 
L. LEGOUEST, 
Staff Surgeon of the 1st Class, and Professor of Clinical Surgery 
at the Imperial School of Military Medicine and 
Surgery of Val-de-Grace, at Paris. 
Jos. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General at Washington. 
[translation.] 
Paris, February 15th, 1866. 
Rue de Lille 91. 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
The parcel which you have done me the honor to transmit to me 
containing the publication entitled, Circular No. 6, War Department, has 
for me the highest interest as regarding the working of the Medical Staff 
in the Field. 
I should have the most earnest desire to see other publications of the 
same character or other numbers of the circular if I did not fear to 
trespass on your indulgence in asking you to send them. 
Please to accept, Monsieur the Surgeon General, the expression of my 
warmest thanks together with the assurance of my fraternal regard. 
BARON IIIPPOLYTE LARREY, 
Medical Inspector of the French Army. 
P. S. If you desire to send copies of the Circular to the Academy of 
Medicine and the Surgical Society you are at liberty to command my 
services with those learned bodies, over which I have had the honor to 
preside. 
Surgeon General J, K. Barnes, U. S. A. 4 
My sincerest thanks are due to the Surgeon General, U. S. A., for the 
transmission of the Reports on the Medical and Surgical History of the 
Rebellion, which are of the highest scientific value, and the results of 
which I will not fail to make known in German Surgical Literature. 
Berlin, March 3d, 1866. 
Dr. E. GURLT, 
Professor of Surgery in the University of Berlin, 
Editor of Von Langenbeck's Archiv fur Klinische Chirurgie.- 
Surgeon General Barnes, U. S. A. 
To Dr. Barnes, 
Suroeon General, 
Sir: 
I beg leave to return you my very sincere thanks for your favor which 
I received this morning. 
I had read in General Meade's copy, the War Department No. 6 Cir- 
cular, of the Surgeon General's Office; so that, before I had the honor to 
receive that which you sent to me, I had already been gratified with the 
perusal of a document so interesting as part of our National History and 
so honoring to the medical profession, in which I beg to act your most 
obliged and respectful colleague. 
Philadelphia, January 15th, 1866. 
C. D. MEIGS, M. IX, 
Emeritus Professor in Jefferson College, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Smithsonian Institute, 
Washington, January 10th, 1866. 
Dear Sir: 
I have examined with much interest and instruction the copy of the 
Report relative to the materials available for the preparation of a Medical 
and Surgical History of the Rebellion. This Report of itself is a valuable 
addition to science, and I doubt not will call forth, from every part of the 
civilized world, an expression of ardent desire to see published a full 
discussion of all the materials which have been so industriously and 
systematically collected. Indeed our government owes it to the cause of 
humanity to give to the world whatever knowledge may have been gained 
during the sanguinary confict, in which as a nation we have been engaged. 
Thousands of brave and patriotic men have periled their lives for the good 
of their country, and it would be an injustice to them as well as to the 
human race, if any results which have been derived from their sufferings 
should not be rendered available for the benefit of their posterity. 
I have the honor to remain, with much respect, 
Your obedient servant, 
To General J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General of the U. S. Armg. 
JOSEPH HENRY. 5 
[translation.] 
Library of Saint Genevieve', 
Paris, April 9th, 1866. 
Sir: 
The directors of the library of St. Genevieve are exceedingly grateful 
for the valuable contribution you have had the goodness to make them by 
sending them a copy of Circular No. 6, of the Surgeon General's Office. 
While regretting that they have not received the preceding numbers, they 
will present this one, of which the interest is obvious, to the students 
frequenting the library. 
Accept, Sir, the expression of my distinguished consideration, 
FERDINAND DENIS. 
J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General. 
Sir : 
I have the honor to enclose a formal acknowledgment of the receipt 
of a copy of your Circular, No. 6. Allow me to add to it an expression 
of my sincere thanks and of my admiration of the design and execution 
of the work. 
1 Harwood Place, Hanover Square, 
London, England, February 2d, 1866i 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
JAMES PAGET, 
Professor of Surgery, R. C. S. E. 
To the Surgeon General, U. S. Army. 
Sir 
I have received this day a copy of "Circular, No. 6, Surgeon General's 
Office, dated November 1st, 18G5. ****** 
Allow me to express my admiration of the work and delight at the 
appearance of so important a contribution to surgical literature. 
65 Piccadilly, Manchester, February 3d, 1866. 
Believe me, Sir, yours respectfully, 
To the Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 
THOMAS WINDSOR, F. R. C. S., etc. 
Washington, D. C. 
Sir: 
I have the honor to inform you that I have this day received one copy 
of Circular, No. 6. I beg to tender my best thanks for this most valuable 
contribution to Surgery, and for the honor done to me by sending it to me. 
37 Harley Street, London, 17th April, 1866. 
HENRY HANCOCK, 
Senior Surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital. 
To the Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 
Washington, D. C. 6 
32 George Street, Hanover Square, 
London, 18th April, 1866. 
Sir : 
I have the honor to inform you that I have this day received one copy 
of Circular, No. 6, and desire to express my thanks for this excellent and 
beautifully executed work, and for the compliment paid me in sending so 
valuable a present. 
RICHARD BARWELL, F. R. S. 
*To the Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 
Washington, D. Ch 
University of Aberdeen, 
Sir : 
1 have the honor to state that I cannot express how much I feel 
obliged by your causing to be sent to me Circular, No. 6, Surgeon 
General's Office. To me as a Professor of Surgery it is invaluable. 
Scotland, April 23d, 1866. 
I have the honor to remain, Sir, 
your most obedient and obliged, 
WILLIAM PIRRIE, 
To the Surgeon General, U. S. A., 
Professor of Surgery, University of Aberdeen. 
Washington, D. C. 
Sir : 
I have the honor to inform you that I have received a copy 
of Circular, No. 6, with my warmest thanks for this very interesting pro- 
duction, to which the medical world will certainly ascribe a very great 
importance. 
Toulon, April 23d, 1866. 
JULES ROUX, 
Professor of Military Surgery. 
To the Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 
JFasAinyZon, D. C. 
Imperial Surgical Society of Paris, 
Paris, April 26th, 1866. 
Monsieur et tres honabe confrere : 
I hasten to thank you in the name of my colleagues of the Surgical 
Society for the magnificent work which has been delivered to us, in your 
behalf, by Dr. Larrey. Our excellent colleague explained what interesting 
documents were included in this memoir, and concisely enumerated the 
most important points contained in its two sections, and his analysis was 
listened to with the greatest attention. 
I am happy, Sir, my much esteemed confrere, to be the interpreter of 
the sentiments of the Surgical Society towards you. 
Accept, I beg you, the assurance of my distinguished consideration. 
The General Secretary, 
Dr. J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General of the Army of the United States of America. 
MARJOLIN. 7 
[translation.] 
Sib : 
I am extremely flattered by your kindness in causing a copy of the 
Circular from your Office to be addressed to me, and I have to-day the 
honor to advise you of its reception, and to beg you to accept my sincere 
expressions of thanks. 
I have reason to hope that Baron Larrey will review this interesting 
treatise in our Official Journal of Military Medicine and Surgery ; but I 
propose myself to prepare a bibliographical notice of it for insertion in 
M. Bozier's "Army Surgeon's Review," in order to draw the attention of 
all the members of the Medical Staff to the documents inducted in this 
work, which have such an important bearing upon the progress of our 
Art and upon the improvement of our organization. 
I have the honor to remain, Monsieur the Surgeon General, with pro- 
found respect, your devoted servant and colleague, 
Marseilles, France, April 29th, 1866. 
Surgeon of the 1st Class, 
in charge of the Military Hospital. 
Surgeon General, U. S. A. 
A. DIDIOT, 
[TRANSLATION.] 
Montpellier, France, 23d May, 1866. 
Sir: 
I have the honor to inform you that I have this day received a copy 
of your Circular, No. 6, and that I most cordially thank you, my much 
honored colleague, for transmitting to me this excellent work of 
which the general utility cannot fail to be appreciated. 
Very devotedly yours, 
J. BOUISSON, 
Professor of Clinical Surgery 
of the Faculty of the University of Montpellier. 
To the Surgeon General of the U. S. Army. 
[translation.] 
Doctor : 
Among the very precious and important documents which were 
courteously given to us at Washington during our too short sojourn in your 
beautiful country, those for which we were indebted to the kindness of 
your chief, Surgeon General Barnes, occupy a most conspicuous place. 
All these documents were placed by us in the hands of Lieutenant General 
Baron Chanal, our Minister of War, who, appreciating their great value, 
transmitted to Monsieur Merchie, Inspector General of our Medical Staff, 
those which appertained to his department. They were received with 
interest and gratitude by that official, and their great importance induced 
him to communicate their contents immediately to a large number of the 
Medical Officers of our Army. 
Brussels, 27th May, 1866. 8 
Monsieur Merchie is just now on an Inspecting Tour. On his return 
he v ill receive certain documents which he is anxious to send to Surgeon 
'General Barnes, together with his personal acknowledgments, and the 
assurance that he would be happy to enter into correspondence with your 
Medical Staff, whose labors during the glorious strife maintained for the 
integrity of the Union, as well as the work to which you have applied 
yourselves with so much assiduity and intelligence since the close of the 
war, are subjects of admiration in Europe for all those interested in the 
fate of the victims of war. We beg you, Doctor, my traveling companion, 
Captain Von den Bogart, and I, to carry to the Surgeon General onr 
grateful sense of the kind welcome we received at his hands, and we beg 
you equally to accept our sincere thanks for the cordial and gracious 
reception for which we were indebted to you and your colleague, Dr. 
Woodward. 
We shall preserve our enduring recollection of this kindly greeting and 
of the very interesting objects which you pointed out to us. 
Please to accept, Sir, with our expressions of gratitude the rssuranee 
of our sentiments of esteem and devotion. 
J. C. DUPONT, 
Major of Artillery, Army of Eelgium. 
Doctor Otis, U. S. A. 
Prussian Legation, Washington, June 16th, 1866. 
Sib.: 
I have been instructed by His Majesty's Government to express to you 
its grateful acknowledgment for the very interesting work, entitled: 
Circular, No. 6, Surgeon General's Office," on the Medical and Surgical 
History during the war in the United States, of which you had the kind- 
ness to send me several copies in January last. The three more copies 
sent to me a few days ago from your Office were also forwarded to the 
respective Royal Authorities at Berlin. 
I have the honor to he, Sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 
Major General Barnes, 
FR. GEROLT. 
Surgeon General of the U. S. A.