Polk facilities stabilized, now restoration
begins for Main Street Perryville group

Sometimes, everything seems to be right with the world and pieces start falling into place.

Vicki Goode had one of those days recently.

After two years of struggling to raise money to stabilize the historical office and home of Perryville Civil War physician Jefferson J. Polk, a donor wrote a check for $1,500 in late June to put the $3,500 fund-raising effort over the top.

Goode, executive director of the Main Street Perryville project, obviously was elated and thrilled to learn that the Danville donor once lived in the house that Dr. Polk had occupied. Polk was Perryville’s only physician during that community’s 1862 Civil War battle.

The house and the office next door were built around 1840. When the Battle of Perryville erupted 22 years later on Oct. 8, Dr. Polk brought wounded soldiers from both sides – Union and Confederate – into his facilities for treatment. Sixty years old and retired as a result of pulmonary difficulties, Dr. Polk was among those who worked tirelessly to treat the wounded. He personally hosted some 10 soldiers in his home and ministered to 40 more at another location.

As part of Perryville’s historic Merchants Row, the Polk house and office are a vital part of the community’s history and heritage, Goode notes. Stabilization of the structures was a must, she added, and, now that has happened, it has enabled Main Street Perryville to take the next step in “totally restoring the buildings to their 1862 status.”

“The total restoration project has a goal of $135,000,” she added, “and we’re already hard at work to raise those funds. Our goal is to have the money in hand after the first of the new year, early April at the latest.”

* * *

Polk, as the only physician in Perryville when the Civil War battle erupted, was quickly classified as a Union Army Surgeon and, to take care of the wounded, he converted a barn into an emergency hospital.

The individual who owned the barn served as Dr. Polk’s assistant. As such, he had two tasks. First, he gave the wounded whiskey until they were thoroughly intoxicated, then he played the fiddle while Dr. Polk performed surgery.

Polk practiced medicine during the week and preached on Sundays. His interests, obviously, were varied, as noted in his autobiography:

“Fortunately, while I was an Apothecary and Book Merchant, I had read law and medicine. My purpose was fixed. I would be a doctor, except when preaching. I constantly read medicine for 12 months, and then advertised that I would attend to calls in the neighborhood.

“The first week after the announcement, I had several important cases committed to my care. The symptoms of disease I was familiar with; but the application of remedies – there was the rub.

“However, I was studious, and generally successful. But, I plainly saw that in order to comply with old physicians around me, I must undergo a more thorough training. For this purpose, I made every arrangement; and in November 1839, matriculated in the Medical College in Lexington. On my return in the spring (sic), I entered into active practice.”

Wallace Green, who operated the only drug store in Perryville, inadvertently became a partner in Polk’s practice when the Battle of Perryville began.

A Union general rode his horse into Green’s establishment and personally supervised, from horseback, the confiscation of all drugs and medical supplies for the Union Army. He then inducted Green into the Union Army and ordered him to procure all medical supplies in the surrounding towns and take them to the emergency hospitals.

One of the wounded Dr. Polk treated was Dr. Karl Langenbecker, a Confederate surgeon of the 13th Louisiana Infantry, who remained behind after the battle to provide medical treatment. The Prussia-born Langenbecker died some two months later in Polk’s home from a disease he had contracted. He’s among those buried in the Perryville Cemetery.