Army regulations specified that men
selected as
hospital stewards had to be of good
character:
"temperate, honest, and
in every way reliable, as well as
sufficiently
intelligent, and skilled in pharmacy.
Temperance was
an important quality
since one responsibility of the
hospital steward
was controlling and dispensing medicinal
whiskey. As
he was responsible
for keeping many medical records, the
steward also
needed to be literate and
intelligent.
His other duties included assisting the
field
surgeons in operations, supervising
hospital cooks
and nurses, and even
prescribing drugs and performing minor
operations
during emergencies.
Regulations called for Union hospital
stewards to
wear the red trimmed uniform of
artillerymen. Their
uniform insignia
consisted of an emerald green, yellow
edged,
half-chevron that bore a two-inch-long
yellow
caduceus (staff with two
entwined snakes and two wings at top).
Hospital
stewards of volunteer regiments,
however, were known
to wear a variety
of different uniforms and insignia.
Confederate
hospital stewards' uniforms and insignia
were not
officially regulated,
but one surgeon recalled that on the
uniform many
wore, the chevrons on the coat sleeves
and the
stripe down the
trousers very similar to those worn by
an orderly
or first sergeant, but were black in
color.
The lowest ranking members of Union and
Confederate Medical Departments during
the Civil War
were usually hospital
stewards, noncommissioned officers who
received the
pay and allowance of a sergeant major.
Each regiment
was authorized
to have one hospital steward, who was
often chosen
by the regimental surgeon from the
enlisted men in
the unit.