Drs. Chamberlin and Lyford demonstrate the embalming technique to two officers. Note the two previously embalmed soldiers in wooden coffins.

This photograph was taken on July 5th. 1863, by T. H. Sullivan on the field at Gettysburg. Consider the number of casualties that were listed for each battle. It was not the mere four seen in this photograph, but hundreds upon hundreds more that would be lying on the field. Some would be crying out in anguish. It would be among those who had given up their last breath among which the undertaker would search in silence for the few he would embalm and return home to their families for burial.

Dr. William J. Bunnells' Embalming Shed, Army of the James before Richmond, advertised "Embalming Free from Odor or Infection", December 1862.

Trivia Question: What is the difference between a coffin, a casket, and a sarcophagus?

Arsenic and Other Toxic Metals Used for Embalming are Contaminating the Groundwater near Historic Cemeteries Arsenic-based embalming process used from 1856 until through 1910 (and possibly later). There are at least 10 patents for embalming with arsenic. Up to 13 lbs of arsenic was used per body. Tissue samples from a Civil War soldier contained 2.8% arsenic (4.2 lbs for 150 lb corpse). If there are 1,000 similarly embalmed bodies in a cemetery, there could be 4,200 lbs of arsenic released to the underlying soil and groundwater. Other embalming agents included mercury (and other toxic metals), creosote, cyanide, and nitrocellulose (gun cotton).