Hospital steward

In the Union army each regiment had a hospital steward, appointed by the colonel on the advice of the senior surgeon. He cared for the sick and wounded, arranged their transport to a general hospital and kept the hospital's property and medicines.

General hospitals had stewards too, who supervised the staff under the doctors. From 1898 the Navy also used hospital steward as a rating in its new Hospital Corps. The Adjutant General's records at NARA include separate files on army hospital stewards, among them carded medical records and papers on their assignments and discharges.