A photograph of a Union Army hospital tent on the battlefield at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, America, taken by an unknown photographer in July 1863. This photograph is from an album entitled 'Canada and the United States.1867' by John Downes Rochfort (1825-1885), who toured Canada and America in 1867.

A photograph of a Union Army hospital tent on the battlefield at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, America, taken by an unknown photographer in July 1863. This photograph is from an album entitled 'Canada and the United States. 1867' by John Downes Rochfort (1825-1885), who toured Canada and America in 1867.

Army surgeons are performing an amputation. The operation takes place on a table outside a hospital tent. Doctors were often overwhelmed by the numbers of casualties and the chances of surviving battlefield surgery were poor. The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, with over 50,000 men killed or wounded during three days of fighting.