Todd Quintard: Civil War Doctor, Preacher, and Soldier

Introduction: A Remarkable Man of Two Callings

Charles Todd Quintard was born in Stamford, Connecticut, on 22 December 1824. His father, Isaac, was born in the same house and died there in his ninetieth year. Todd was a pupil of Trinity School, New York, and studied medicine with Dr. James R. Wood and Dr. Valentine Mott. He graduated from the university in 1847 and afterward removed to Georgia, where he began to practice medicine in Athens (Elliot, 2003). In 1851 he accepted the chair of physiology and pathological anatomy in the medical college at Memphis, Tennessee, and became co-editor with Dr. Ayres P. Merrill of the Memphis Medical Recorder.

In 1855 he took orders as a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was advanced to the priesthood the following year, and in January 1857 became rector of Calvary Church, Memphis (Wilson and Fiske, 1999). Trained as a physician and ordained an Episcopal priest, Quintard was a remarkable man by the standard of any generation. When Tennessee seceded from the Union in May 1861, Quintard joined the Confederate 1st Tennessee Infantry Regiment as its chaplain and, during the maelstrom of the Civil War, kept a diary of his experiences. He later penned a memoir, which was published posthumously in 1905.

Quintard was a unique man. One of his fellow churchmen described him this way: "He was a man of striking personality, of immense force, whom to see and talk with once was to remember forever. This clean-carved positive individuality gave him great power as a preacher, but even more power in private conversation. His heart was so tender and sympathetic, and his faith was so strong and entire that his consolations were to the suffering and sorrowful a message from God. Few men have combined such gifts of the mind and heart." (Gailor, 1937)

After the war, Quintard became the prime mover in the revival of Leonidas Polk's dream of an Episcopal Church-sponsored University of the South, and in 1865 he was consecrated bishop of Tennessee, a position he held until his death. His interesting and lively wartime remembrances shed new light on the little-known western theater's military, civilian, and religious fronts.

Context of the Work

Quintard's work offers a unique perspective. Perhaps his viewpoint was a product of his education. Because Quintard was both a doctor and a pastor, he was allowed to move through the ranks of the military without the pressure of winning the war bearing down on his every thought. His work was one of winning people, not winning political disputes. As he practiced medicine and offered spiritual guidance, he was free to reach into the hearts and souls of the soldiers. Their lot was to kill, to take the next hill without being cut down by a surprise flanking attack. The freedom with which Quintard could observe the war allowed him to record the personal reality of the conflict.

Civil War narratives often focus on the North versus the South and on how the conflict divided families, with fathers fighting on one side and sons on the other. But Quintard walked with men who were his friends. He watched them become wounded, and many die, while his work was thankless and demanding. In his memoirs, Quintard was able to capture all the emotions of the battlefield without becoming overwrought or overly philosophical about the meaning of their struggles. The soldiers were people as well as fighters. They often did not know the meaning of their commanders' orders — to hold, advance, or fall back. They knew only the reality of the battlefield. Quintard captured these images and recorded them in his journals, a snapshot of ordinary people caught in a struggle that was tearing apart the nation.

In his writing, and in other historical records of the Civil War, individual members of the Confederate medical corps were sometimes singled out for special praise. Surgeon Edmund Burke Haywood in Raleigh, North Carolina, was commended as being "constant, kind, and indefatigable in the discharge of his duties." An occupant of the Third Georgia Hospital in Richmond acknowledged that his surgeon treated him as kindly as his own parents would have. The death of Dr. W. J. McCain, a Texas surgeon, early in the war called forth this tribute from a fellow soldier: "a good Physician, a true friend and a Christian Soldier; all that knew him, loved him."

The surgeon who received the highest praise of all was Dr. Quintard, who served the First Tennessee Regiment as both medical officer and chaplain. It was said of him: "During weekdays he ministered to us physically, and on Sundays spiritually. He was one of the purest and best men I ever knew. He would march and carry his knapsack every day the same as any soldier. He was a good doctor of medicine, as well as a good doctor of divinity, and above either of these, he was a good man per se. He loved the soldiers, and the soldiers loved him, and deep down in his heart of hearts was a deep and lasting love for Jesus Christ, implanted there by God the Father Himself." (Cunningham, 1958)

Confederate medical officers met the demands imposed upon them as courageously and as effectively as could have been expected. Their formation of medical societies indicates a genuine desire for professional improvement. In field hospitals, disease was their greatest enemy. Troops often camped in wet and damp conditions found in America's wilderness in the 1800s. These conditions brought on diseases like malaria. Poor or uncooked food caused dysentery and diarrhea. The trinity of malaria, dysentery, and diarrhea claimed many lives. "Camp itch" was the result of insects and unsanitary living conditions. These illnesses occurred at a time before antitoxins, and bacteriology was unknown to medical authorities. The experimentation with different herbs and treatments by Civil War doctors greatly aided later development in pharmacology. By today's standards, Civil War medicine was medieval.

Quintard was present during the early fighting in Virginia, marched into Kentucky with Braxton Bragg, attended to the wounded at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, witnessed two Confederate retreats from Middle Tennessee, and watched the Federal armies overrun the Deep South in the spring of 1865. He met such diverse figures as Robert E. Lee and Federal Major General James H. Wilson; prayed with Bragg, Leonidas Polk, and John Bell Hood; shared a bed with Nathan Bedford Forrest; and performed the sad duty of conducting the funerals of friends killed at Franklin, Tennessee. Throughout his military service, he organized hospitals and relief efforts, served as a parish priest, and acted as chaplain at large of the Army of Tennessee.

Purpose of the Memoir

While understanding Quintard's personal purpose for this memoir is difficult, one can discern from the information he captured the things that were important to him. From understanding the man and his values, we can construct a case for his purpose in writing. Quintard was himself an educated man and a leader in his field, moving from medicine to the pastorate to head rector in a new state he had come to serve. He obviously took his vocation very seriously, or he would not have risen to a position of leadership so quickly.

While serving as a chaplain in Nashville, Quintard was appointed chaplain of the military "Rock City Guard" stationed there. He records that he was neither fond of nor familiar with military life, but served nonetheless, often delivering sermons encouraging unity and upright living within the nation. His talks were considered by some to be exceedingly pro-Union (Elliot, 2003).

When war erupted, Quintard was asked by the same Rock City Guard to accompany them into battle and tend to their spiritual needs. In a document reprinted in the first appendix of the book, each member of the "Battalion of Rock City" pledges his own life in support of Quintard's, in order to allow him to continue his duties as military chaplain during the war. He agreed to serve the men commissioned to fight. His concerns were for both the physical and spiritual wounds of his new flock. Quintard tirelessly pursued his goals — not of winning the war, but of winning the man.

Conclusion

The significance of Quintard's book is that he stands as evidence of the power of a unified life — one that selects the principles it wishes to live by and then follows through on those principles. He could not stop the war that raged around him, and he could not save every dying soldier. But he did help those within the scope of his reach. His work is also significant in showing that war is not merely a matter of military commanders, dramatic action sequences, and soldiers rushing into and out of battle, as Hollywood might portray it. War is a cultural upheaval that tries men's souls. It does not halt culture and society from operating while it rages. Ultimately, war changes the culture and changes the person — in the same way Dr. Quintard helped them, one person at a time.

Resources

Noll, A. (ed.). Doctor Quintard, Chaplain C.S.A. Sewanee, Tennessee, 1905.

Cunningham, H. Doctors in Gray: The Confederate Medical Service. Louisiana State University Press, 1958.

Quintard, Charles Todd. 1824–1898. The Confederate Soldier's Pocket Manual of Devotions. Charleston: Evans & Cogswell, 1863.

Linderman, G. Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War. 1989.

Wilson, J. and Fiske, J. (eds.). Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887–1889. Edited by Stanley L. Klos, 1999.

Gailor, T. Some Memories. Kingsport, TN: Southern Publishers, 1937, pp. 81–82.

Elliot, S. (ed.). Doctor Quintard, Chaplain C.S.A., and Second Bishop of Tennessee. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 2003.