Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, was responsible for creating the first organized transport of the wounded during the American Civil War.
During that time, ambulance units usually consisted of a ragtag group of soldiers who were otherwise unfit for fighting. Letterman innovated and regimented the process to be the most efficient for saving lives and protecting the men gathering the wounded.
He had the ambulances of a division move together under the direction of a line sergeant, with two stretcher-bearers and one driver per ambulance. They would go into the field, pick up the wounded, deliver them to dressing stations and then to field hospitals. To this day the military bases its ambulance system on Letterman's methods.
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