Embalming Surgeon
![Picture](/uploads/3/5/5/2/35522910/2223182.jpg?168)
Portrayed by impressionists Ralph Aitkin, he provides an informative yet respectful insight into the techniques of embalming. Demand for the practice grew significantly during the Civil War when there was a need to preserve the dead for a long journey home.
When the embalming was complete, the body was placed, along personal belongings, in a wooden box usually lined with zinc. A civilian embalming surgeon would often “set up shop” near field hospitals. Early fees for embalming were $50 for an officer, $25 for an enlisted man, but as demand increased, those figures rose to $80 and $30. Making far more in this “private practice” than military surgeons, distain and rivalry between these practitioners grew. Doc Peters and Surgeon Aitkin will sometimes do a play act on this historic tension to the amusement of spectators.