The Fighting Doctor

The Fighting Doctor by Helen Reimensnyder Martin is a historical novel that tells the story of Dr. Jonathan Ferrier, a young physician who becomes embroiled in the American Civil War. Set in the mid-19th century, the novel follows Ferrier as he leaves his comfortable life in Philadelphia to join the Union Army as a surgeon. As Ferrier travels from battlefield to battlefield, he witnesses the horrors of war firsthand and is forced to confront his own beliefs about medicine and morality. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters including soldiers, nurses, and civilians who challenge his views and help him grow as a person and a doctor. The novel is based on the true story of Dr. Jonathan Letterman, a Union Army surgeon who revolutionized battlefield medicine during the Civil War. Martin's vivid descriptions of the medical procedures and conditions of the time bring the story to life and provide a fascinating glimpse into the history of medicine. Overall, The Fighting Doctor is a gripping and thought-provoking novel that explores the intersection of medicine and war, and the human cost of both. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the Civil War, medical history, or historical fiction.1912. Martin is also the author of The Snob: the Story of a Marriage; Tillie, the Mennonite Maid, The Crossways, etc. The story begins: Doctor Thorpe was taking a hasty dinner before his evening office hour, which of late had actually begun to be rather filled with patients, although the young physician was having a long, hard struggle among the rural Pennsylvania Dutch to overcome their prejudice against the modern method of dispensing with drugs in favor of sanitary living; not to mention the much deeper prejudice against a doctor who was a city stranger and who did not mind his own business, but went about trying to stir up the whole sleepy township with his howl for good roads and no graft. Also the rumor, spread abroad by his prying and loquacious, albeit loyal, housekeeper, of his tony ways and other eccentricities, such as his insisting upon his meals being served in the dining-room instead of the kitchen; his daily (not weekly) baths; his having the parlor shutters open on week days as well as Sundays; his motor runabout; his sleeping on a cot on the roof of the porch; these and other madnesses had served to intensify the local prejudice against a towner.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.