Monthly Archives: February 2012

Chris Pena – Medical Needs of Soldiers in Southeast LA during the War of the Rebellion

Chris Pena - Civil War ExpertMr. Pena was born in Houston, Texas and moved to Thibodaux with his family when he was eighteen.  Chris is a Nicholls graduate, and earned degrees in theatre, history, and nursing.  He holds a Master’s Degree in nursing form the University of Texas  He taught nursing at Nicholls for a number of years and is a retired member of the faculty;  now resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chris is an author, a playwright, an actor, a nurse and a Civil War expert.

 

Mr. Pena talked about the medical problems during the War of the Rebellion: Five battles, fifteen skirmishes, and countless hit and run raids and affairs were staged in the Lafourche district during May 1862 to May 1865 – conservative casualties (killed, wounded, captured or missing) -3,500 – 3,700. Among the five battles only: 230 killed, 631 wounded. Confederates underreported their casualties – for example, Battle of Koch’s Plantation (July 13, 1863) (CSA) Gen. Tom Green listed only 3 killed, 30 wounded. Union reports listed 56 killed, 223 wounded. Chief cause of death was from hemorrhage, and infection from small arms. If wounded in the head, chest or abdomen almost always mortal. doctors used bromine.

 

Bromine was applied to  the  surface of the wound or injected into the wound while the patient was under general anesthesia)  and iodine (disinfectant) as treatment for wound infections – the problem was that the treatment was  started too late. Doctors believed that bacteria came as a result of infections. They didn’t believe that bacteria caused infections. Between 1821 and 1846 only 333 surgeries were performed in USA. Surgery was the last thing opted for because of the pain.

Marcella Bienvenu, NSU-Culinary

Marcella Bienvenu is a cookbook author and food writer who has been preparing Cajun and Creole dishes since the 1960s. She is currently a chef/instructor at the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University.

 

She is the author of four cookbooks: Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic and Can You Make a Roux? (Book 1), Who’s Your Mama… ? (Book 2), Cajun Cook­ing for Beginners, and No Baloney On My Boat. She co-authored four cookbooks with renowned chef Emeril Lagasse. She also co-authored Eula Mae’s Cajun Kitchen with Eula Mae Dore, a longtime cook for the McIlhenny family on Avery Island, and Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine, with Carl A. Bras-seaux and Ryan A. Brasseaux. With Judy Walker, food editor for The Times-Picayune, Ms. Bienvenu co-authored Cooking Up A Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, which was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2009.

 

She talked about her interest in cooking and her contributions by writing books and stated: I spoke to a group in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, and one of the ladies in the audience asked me how “did you get into food?”  Well, I was born into it. My father’s family. – large family owned the newspaper, went home for lunch. My mother’s family – farmers – had pigs, chickens, cattle, garden, canned figs and pears, and made butter.

 

My experience in Washington, D.C. and my stint at the TP – living in New Orleans opened up a whole new world to me. I became infatuated with the history of why we eat what we eat – how did the cuisines of Cajun and Creole evolve? And now I’m somewhat of a culinary historian. I teach at  Nicholls – Culinary History of the American South. And now it appears that we’ll be having our own culinary building -33,000 square feet on a 6-acre site on Highway 1 on what used to be Acadiana Plantation.

 

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