Modern Day Embalming History

In modern day America, we unknowingly take countless things for granted on a daily basis. For example, we blatantly assume that privileges such as clean hospital rooms, trash services, and preservation have always been provided. In reality, at the time of the civil war, medical and hygienic methods were primitive compared to today’s technology in medicine. A significant difference was the process after death. Modern day embalming was created, as an innovative way to preserve the bodies of fallen soldiers, but has developed into a customary practice that accompanies contemporary mortality.

Modern day embalming may have started in the United States, but a different form was used in ancient times across the world. The most famous example of preserving

the dead was done in ancient Egypt. The Egyptian method consisted of removing internal organs and drying them out. The body was also covered in natron, a salt-like substance that dried it out to prevent rotting. Preserving the body was important to the Egyptian culture because they heavily believed in a theory of afterlife. If the body was not preserved, it could not be used in the after life. Some pre-Columbian civilizations and Aztecs also used the Egyptian method of preservation. During the Dark Ages, some embalming preservatives were used in order to perfect dissections.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a typical custom associated with death.

Without advanced medicine, Americans were familiar with death, as the common cold could easily turn fatal. After the death of a loved one, the family members would give the body a bath and store it in the coldest room of the house to prevent immediate decomposing. The body would only stay in the house until people had time to visit and say their goodbyes. The smell was unpleasant, so flowers would be brought in. This initiated the tradition of having flowers at a funeral. After that, the body would be buried next to other deceased family members in a simple, wooden coffin. For those that could afford it, an undertaker was hired to take away the body and hold a formal funeral. The undertaker would store bodies on blocks of

ice.
The Civil War saw more death than any other American war with over 750,000 casualties. It is a common practice to be buried in your hometown, but with the influx of bodies, deceased soldiers were laid to rest under the battlefield on which they died. This was hard for families who wanted to see their soldier one more time to say goodbye. Although bodies were often sent home, railroad companies began refusing to carry the bodies, as their smell of decay was almost intolerable.
The first military death of the Civil War was a Union colonel by the name of Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth. He was shot down while removing a Confederate flag from the roof of a hotel in Virginia on May 24, 1861. The fallen colonel was a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln. Soldier, Thomas Holmes, quickly spoke up about an embalming method he had been experimenting with prior to the war.
Thomas Holmes was an educated man from New York City. While in college, he voiced a strong detest about the ineffectiveness of the preservatives used on cadavers in his anatomy class. He began studying the works of Jean Nicolas Gannal, and experimenting with numerous chemical compounds and their result on the cadavers. Holmes also created an arterial method of embalming. After the death of Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, Dr. Holmes visited Lincoln and offered to use his embalming method to temporarily preserve his friend’s body free of charge. Holmes offered his service to other soldiers and received a commission from the army. He was also a captain in the Army Medical Corps. Holmes charged 100 dollars per soldier, and more for officers of distinction. Nearing the end of the war, only about 40,000 soldiers were embalmed due to the cost.
By the end of the war, Holmes claimed that he embalmed over 4000 soldiers and officers. Lincoln then ordered that all Union soldiers would be embalmed to allow the return to their families. Due to his legendary methods and practice, Dr. Thomas Holmes is often credited as the “father of modern embalming.” When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, his wife asked that he be embalmed. Lincoln’s preserved body was then able to travel through funeral parades until it was properly buried. News of the embalmment of President Lincoln helped the process to gain validity amongst Americans.
Holmes taught his method to other doctors who received the official title of embalming surgeons in the United States army. These doctors would find a location near the battlefield to perform the process. Often times, it was difficult for the surgeons to find the body of the soldier that had prepaid to be embalmed upon his death.
Embalming was somewhat abandoned after its high demand in the Civil War due to its excessive cost and a shortage of trained morticians. Many Christians opposed embalming because they believed it popularized an interest in the physical deceased body instead of its soul. Some religions such as Judaism even banned the burial of an embalmed body in a Jewish cemetery.
Although Thomas Holmes is called the “father of modern day embalming,” several other scientists and doctors have contributed to achieve the method that is used in funeral homes today.

Dr. Frederik Ruysch developed an early version of arterial embalming to prove his theory about valves. Wilhelm von Hofmann and Alexander Butlerov are also significant because they discovered formaldehyde, which became a particularly frequent chemical for embalming.

There are three main, practical reasons defending the significance of embalming. The first is to restore the body to a familiar state, which has been proven to help families mentally and psychologically cope with the loss. Another reason is to rid the body of hazardous elements that live and grow in decaying tissue. It is still unknown whether embalming is effective at complete sanitation and protecting the public. The last main reason behind embalming is to preserve the body so a proper service and burial can be held.

Embalmers in Civil War times used many toxic chemicals, which sometimes included arsenic and mercury. Another main chemical of the embalming fluid is formaldehyde. This chemical is a known carcinogen. Caskets in the 18th century were poor-quality compared to todays, so when they decomposed, the toxic chemicals used for embalming were then released into the soil. Comparatively, modern caskets are of higher ranking, and embalmers are more cautious with the chemicals used because of their effect of the

environment.
In conclusion, embalming may have been created, as a method to preserve the bodies of soldiers killed in battle during the Civil War, but it has advanced into a familiar practice affiliated with death and funerals. It would not have been possible without the studies of many scientists and doctors including Thomas Holmes. Embalming has many benefits that we take for granted. The origin of embalming is immensely fascinating but most often, unknown.