Anesthesia During The Battle Of Shiloh

Medicine played and still plays a major part in the world. However, modern medicine did not prosper until long after the civil war, which we can assure are some of the reasons many soldiers and residents lives were compromised. From amputations, sanitation, a lack of surgeons and supplies with, contagious fevers and diseases a great deal of people went long winters and summers suffering from things that doctors were incapable of curing solely based on the fact medicine had not reached the level of quality and quantity it needed to be at the time.

John Burford, a Brigadier General, had received a bullet to the knee during the Second Battle of Manassas. Luckily Buford’s bullet wound wasn’t too serious. If the wound had been serious, it would have been treated with amputations and since there were no anesthetics back then, the person getting amputated on would feel all the pain. Surgeries during the Civil War were performed unsanitary. Surgeons would not wash their hands before operating and would wear blood splattered clothing. The instruments used for operating were never disinfected properly. Instead, they would dip their instruments in cold water, often bloody from the prior operation. Buford had died in December 1863 of

During the Civil War, they had to have many medicines, operations, and surgeries done to themselves or others in order to survive (Jenny Goellnitz, Paragraph 1). Some of these medicines we still use today. Medical technology and scientific knowledge have changed dramatically since the Civil War, but the basic principles of military health care remain the same. The deadliest thing that faced the Civil War soldier was disease. For every soldier who died in battle, two died from disease.

Doctors and surgeons involved in the war were high in demand and were often sent to the battlefields untrained lacking the fundamentals of medicine and understanding of the importance of sanitation. “It was the tragedy of the era that medical knowledge of the 1860’s had not yet encompassed the use of sterile dressings, antiseptic surgery, and the recognition of the importance of sanitation and hygiene".2 This made it extremely difficult for doctors and surgeons treating injured soldiers because outbreaks of diseases spread quickly and easily due to lack of implementing basic sanitation rules. Things like changing clothes with vomit or bile on them, having clean water and food, sterilizing equipment, or keeping the treatment areas clean could have prevented many deaths. Unfortunately, because the doctors of the era were lacking the knowledge and expertise we have now, many soldiers with gunshot wounds would have had an amputation. Since there were no antibiotics during this time, it was easier to amputate an arm or leg than treat a gunshot wound to the area because the bullets were made from a solid ounce of lead and would shatter into many small pieces on impact. Performing amputations allowed for surgeons to move quickly from patient to patient and treat a larger number of soldiers increasing the number of lives

When Walt Whitman wrote that he believed the "real war" would never get into the books, this is the side he was talking about (Belferman 1996). Yet, it is important that we remember and recall the medical side of the conflict too, as horrible and terrifying as it was (Adams 1952). Long before doctors and people knew anything about bacteria and what caused disease was the time of Civil War medicine. Doctors during the Civil War (always referred to as "surgeons") were incredibly unprepared. Most surgeons had as little as two years of medical school because very few pursued further education. At that time, Harvard Medical School did not even own a single stethoscope or microscope until well after the

One of the major events of the American Civil War is the Battle of Shiloh, which took place on August 6 and 7th in 1862. The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle at that point in time in the Civil War. There were more than 23,000 combined causalities. The Battle of Shiloh not only was an important victory for the Union, but a point that changed the dynamics behind soldiers’ fighting. There are multitudes of primary sources along with many secondary sources on the Battle of Shiloh. Both types of sources have their advantages and disadvantages. Primary and secondary sources each offer their own distinctive perspectives on the Battle of Shiloh.

It’s crazy to think that the Civil War had so many deaths, but most of the deaths were not caused by getting shot or etc. Roughly 620,000 soldiers died during the Civil War. Two thirds of the soldiers died of diseases, not from wounds. What kind of diseases did most soldiers get? Well the most common ones were Dysentery, Typhoid Fever, Ague, Yellow Fever, Malaria because the camps were not clean, the water got infected because they either dug there bathroom hole to close and it got in the water, and the camps were crowded with so many soldiers that the disease just got passed around really quick. Some other diseases that soldiers got were Scurvy, Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, SmallPox, Other. The crazy thing is is that for every time a soldier died in battle, two soldiers would die from diseases.

Medical and surgical treatment was not as advanced as it is today. Imagine bleeding or having a cut while suffering through the pain and passing out while getting treated. During the period of the Revolutionary War, most deaths occurred due to an illness rather than soldiers being in a combat. Smallpox, dysentery, pneumonia, and fever are the illnesses that caused many deaths. This happened because of the unsanitary conditions and untrained medical staff. Women mainly had medical knowledge so they were responsible for the healthcare of the family. These mothers served as doctors even though they only had been trained by past mothers.

In Ina Dixon’s article about “Civil War Medicine,” she said that the heavy and constant demands of the sick and wounded sped up the technological progression of medicine, wrenching American medical practices into the light of modernity. Field and pavilion hospitals replaced makeshift ones and efficient hospitalization systems encouraged the accumulation of medical records and reports, which slowed bad practices as accessible knowledge spread the use of beneficial treatments.Several key figures played a role in the progression of medicine at this time. Jonathan Letterman, the Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, brought “order and efficiency into the Medical Service” with a regulated ambulance system and evacuation plans for the wounded. As surgeon general of the Union army, William A. Hammond standardized, organized and designed new hospital layouts and inspection systems and literally wrote the book on hygiene for the army. Clara Barton, well-known humanitarian and founder of the American Red Cross, brought professional efficiency to soldiers in the field, especially at the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862 when she delivered much-needed medical supplies and administered relief and care for the wounded. Disease and illness took a heavy toll on soldiers, but as these historic characters show, every effort was made to prevent death caused by human error and ignorance through the

During the Civil War, There some change that occurred affecting either side in various forms and ways. Significant changes in the medicinal field occurred. “At the start of the Civil War, medical resources, supplies and knowledge were hardly up to the intense danger posed by the wounds, infections, and diseases which plagued millions on both sides”. Some treatments caused the conditions to become worse than originally. SOME soldiers survived treatments and went

The American Civil War was a horrible time of pain and suffering, especially to those who fought in the war. The Civil War caused hundreds and thousands of deaths, yet many of these were not the result of battle wounds. About two thirds of deaths from the Civil War were attributed to disease. Of course, even though the majority of soldiers that did not die during the war left without limbs, and left with trauma and disabilities, the results could have been much worse without the medical advancements we gained during the war. Technical advances in hygiene, surgery, and medical efficiency all became substantial outcomes that furthered medical practices and helped shape medicine in the modern age.

One good thing that resulted from the Civil War was the rise of knowledge and use of modern anesthesia. This anesthesia came in two forms, chloroform and ether. Those patients that anesthesia was used on had a higher survival rate than those where it was not available. Before the war, alcoholic drinks, opioids and bite blocks were used to keep a patient controlled during surgery. These options did not completely eliminate pain causing stress and trauma. At the time of the Civil War, it was considered cowardly to undergo surgery using anesthetic. Anesthesia was usually used for women and children. Use of anesthesia did not go without risk. Surgeons had to practice to figure out adequate dosages which took a period of trial and error sometimes resulting in overdose and death. Although uncivilized at times, medical care during the Civil War helped bring on a new age of modern medicine.

In the Civil War, hospitals were unsanitary and crowded with many hospital beds full of patients. The army relied on male nurses more than female nurses even though most of them were untrained ("Hospitals, Surgeons," 2002). Surgeons in the Civil war usually didn’t really have clue what they were doing. Nobody knows what antiseptics were used, or that they know the relation of dirt to infection ("Hospitals, Surgeons," 2002). “Most physicians had a very limited understanding of the importance of sterilization and the risks of infection, and little practice treating the kinds of major cases seen during the war.” ("History of Medicine," 2011). Plus, anesthesia came into use halfway through the Civil War, and some drugs were inadequate ("Hospitals, Surgeons," 2002). “Perhaps the least unreliable statistics for the Union armies give 67,000 killed in action, 43,000 died of wounds, and 224,000 died of disease; an additional 24,000 are listed as dead from other causes-doubtless either wounds Or disease.” ("Hospitals, Surgeons," 2002). The hospitals beds were packed so close together that disease that was caught by one veteran could have been caught by another and passed on. The sanitation of Civil War hospitals and the lack of medicine needed for veterans was abysmal. But for these hospitals being in the condition they were in, lives were still able to be saved and recover from their

Throughout the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, doctors gave little attention to individual patients which resulted in the death of many soldiers. Dr. Gregg Baran, a physician and reenactor asserted, “At the time of a battle its important to realize there’d be one surgeon and one assistant for perhaps as many as 1000 soldiers,” (PBS Video). How can a doctor be effective if they have that many patients to take care of? Statistics show they weren’t. After being hit with a musket ball, there was a

According to mentalfloss.com article “ 5 Medical Innovations of the Civil War”, the war was the bloodiest wars of the country, with over a million casualties. Before the war, medical people would try to TLC a bullet infected limb, but as the injuries were more frequent, they discovered the best way to save the limb, and a life, was to just amputate the limb, going as far from the heart as possible, and not cutting at joints, this lowered the death rate to thirty percent compared to the usual seventy- five percent. Unfortunately, they didn’t discover and use anesthetic inhalers, later and more often. Although that was one of the discoveries, along with closing chest wounds, and facial reconstruction. The number of casualties from this war was overly devastating, although with many to treat, surgeons and medicine, came a long