Undertakers in the 19th Century

[Rsmyth]

I believe the term embalming surgeon was given to anyone that posted the bond and received the federal permit to embalm during the war. Embalmers handed out vouchers to soldiers heading to battle and then searched the dead for the coupons. Henry P. Cattell who embalmed both the President and his son had no formal medical training. Rather he was the stepson of one of the founders of Brown and Alexander and had been trained in the procedure. After the war as business declined many left the field and the work was left to undertakers.