 He was taken prisoner, but afterwards exchanged, and was then appointed as surgeon to a field hospital.During the truce of 1849 he qualified as "Privatdocent" at Kiel, but on the fresh outbreak of war he returned to the troops and was promoted to the rank of senior surgeon.In 1854 Esmarch became director of the surgical clinic at Kiel, and in 1857 head of the general hospital and professor at the University of Kiel.