A Scarce Napoleonic Battlefield Medical Evaluation From Dominique Larrey, the First Modern Surgeon

Dominique Larrey, orphaned at age 13, was raised by his uncle, a surgeon.  Larrey served an apprenticeship and went on study under the noted anatomist and surgeon Pierre-Joseph Desault in Paris, before becoming surgeon in chief for Napoleon and his armies from 1797 through Waterloo.  During that time, he initiated the first modern system of army surgery and the creation of field hospitals.  He established "flying ambulances" for rapid transport of the wounded and created a system of triage that prioritized the worst wounds for first treatment.  He treated the enemy as well.  In 1807, Napoleon made him Commander of the Legion of Honor. He once said of Larrey, "If the army ever erects a monument to express its gratitude, it should do so in honor of Larrey."  Larrey is considered the first modern surgeon and his writings are valuable medical resources.  

The Battle of Wagram was one of the great Napoleonic engagements and took place outside Vienna, which Napoleon had occupied in May 1809.  Napoleon won and Vienna became the forward headquarters for his army and for Larrey, who was seeing patients.  One patient was Louis Stanslas Xavier Soyez, who was a Brigade General and also a Commander of the Legion of Honor. He had been injured in battle with the Austrians in Croatia and captured a few weeks later.   He was either sent home or escaped because a few months after his injury, he appeared before Larrey, who examined him and left this remarkably compelling testimony.

Document signed, Vienna, at the seat of Napoleon's armies, October 13, 1809, being a medical inspection and diagnosis of the first modern surgeon.  "I the Inspector General of the Health Service of the Armies, first surgeon of the Guard of His Majesty the Emperor and king, Commander of the Legion of Honor, Chevalier of the Order of the Iron Crown and Baron of the Empire, Certify: According to a thorough examination, that Mr. Soyez (Louis Stanislas Xavier), Brigade General, Baron of the Empire, carries a double wound on his left knee, which he told us was produced by a canon ball blow received during combat on the 21st of May near Gospich in Croatia.  This projectile having traversed the joint, there has resulted Ankylosis with swelling of joints and disturbance of its movement.  This can only dissipate through the use of the thermal waters of Barege.  As a consequence, we believe that he ought to be granted leave sufficiently long to be able to use these thermal waters in the coming season."
 
Letters and documents of medical pioneer Larrey are great rarities, and we have just seen a few over all our decades. This is our first.