National Museum of Civil War Medicine

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine is the premier center for the preservation and research legacy of Civil War medical innovation.  Our main museum, located in historic downtown Frederick, Maryland, contains five galleries, over 1200 artifacts and knowledgable docents as well as a gift shop and research facility.  The National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) was established in 1990 by a group of scholars and medical professionals who desired to share their interest in Civil War medicine with the public.  What began as a private collection of medical artifacts from the Civil War has grown into an organization as vital and relevant as the plan that Dr. Jonathan Letterman developed nearly 150 years ago while at the Pry House on the Antietam battlefield.  The legacy of the Letterman Plan breathes life into the artifacts preserved and interpreted at the NMCWM. The Museum has expanded beyond the doors of our original site to include two satellite museums: the Pry House Field Hospital Museum and Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office; the Letterman Institute of professional development; and the NMCWM Press, a publishing center.