Lee,

I think you are correct in saying the Medical School at Virginia Commonwealth is actually the Medical College of Virginia.

Dr Alfred Jay Bollet, in Civil War Medicine Challenges and Triumphs, describes a "typical" preparation for a doctor as two years of lectures and perhaps dissections. The material was the same both years, but repeated with the hope the students would absorb more of it. Formal clinical training did not exist at the schools, but would-be doctors could get some by apprenticing themselves to experienced doctors. Bollet estimates there were at least 42 medical schools by 1850, and 87 by 1861. Bollet is the only serious looking reference I have on Civil War medicine, so as I rattle off his info, I hope it's good.

I keep finding more and more men identified as "doctors" and serving in the ranks. I haven't spent any time trying to track down their credentials, but you've got to wonder. It's disturbing to see all of the "surgeons" who failed the Examining Boards, then read about an infantry Captain switching to regimental surgeon literally on the battlefield, during his regiment's first battle. I guess that's what it sometimes took to find a good surgeon

Andy