At least 1,200 physicians who cared for the wounded during and after the battle of Gettysburg are included in the Gettysburg Surgeons databases that document their lives. Far from the unskilled butchers of popular stereotypes, most had received the best training available to them in the United States or abroad, and were able to pass qualifying examinations that required advanced clinical knowledge. Learning from each other and their shared military experience they acquired new skills and knowledge that would influence medical practice during and after the war.