Essay about Civil War Medicine

The army was undernourished and living in crowded quarters. They were also getting sick with disease such as typhoid, typhus, smallpox, dysentery, and pneumonia. These diseases contributed to the death of 2,500 soldiers by the end of winter. Women of enlisted men provided valuable services that the army needed,such as laundry and nursing.

Dysentery and diarrhea were a result of poor hygiene, close quarters with other sick soldiers and food not properly stored or prepared. Almost thirty percent of the population with chronic diarrhea died, while the survival rate for acute diarrhea was much higher. (Schoeder-Lein 86). Typhoid fever could mimic the symptoms of classic diarrhea and it was at times, hard to diagnose. According to CDC.gov, a person can get typhoid fever if they eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding Salmonella Typhi or if sewage contaminated with Salmonella Typhi bacteria gets into the water they use for drinking or washing food. Considering the sources of transmitting typhoid fever, it is understandable that this was one of the top killing diseases during the Civil War. Malaria and Yellow fever were both mosquito borne illnesses. Mosquitoes are a nuisance to us today, but during the Civil War they wreaked havoc on the population and caused widespread devastation across the entire land, but primarily in the South. Not just because of the warm climate but the lack of cold weather severe enough to kill the mosquitoes themselves. Yellow fever is a horrific illness that has multiple

The Civil War began because of uncompromising differences between free and slave states over the power of government, in April 12, 1861. Most people died in the Civil War because of deadly diseases. The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the most important event in the Civil War. Soldiers fought from July first to July third 1863. Do soldiers really know how to treat an injury during a war? In the book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara’s published in 1974, we are exposed to historical figures that could have treated their injuries and made them minor if they had modern medicine. With the medical training we have today the figures could have saved their limbs and known how to take better care of themselves in such uncomfortable situations.

Amongst almost 3 million Civil War soldiers, over 600,000 lost their lives defending their notions of freedom and liberty in America. Approximately two-thirds of these soldiers, nonetheless, died from disease rather than wounds received on the battlefield. Lack of efficient medicine and health care caused much more impacting damage, as well as scarce, not up-to-date resources, and social divisions between the soldiers. Typically, an average Civil War soldier could expect to face extreme hardships and difficulties in their wartime lifestyles, including bad weather, unprepared, inappropriate clothing, spreading infections, and tensions regarding race and gender. Across

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

With many soldiers dying from disease on the battlefield, the help of medical advances decreased the mortality rate of all soldiers on both sides. Before the medical advances of the Civil War, many soldiers died from wounds and diseases on the battlefield. In fact, for every soldier that died on the battlefield, two soldiers would die of disease. These diseases included some that appeared on the Oregon Trail and the expansion out West, such as dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid, and the dreaded malaria.

The medicine in Civil War was just becoming extremely primitive. Surgeons, doctors, etc never understood that there could be infections and they did very little to prevent these infections from happening. Dover’s Powder was a mixture of ipecac and opium and was not only used to treat pain but also treat severe diarrhea, pneumonia, and bronchitis. Quinine was to treat common deadly diseases and was another common drug at the time that was used to cure diseases such as malaria. Calomel. Hospitals were generally warehouses, churches, barns, or other buildings, but were rarely cleaned at all. The disease that were the soldiers greatest enemy were, Dysentery, Measles, Smallpox, Pneumonia, and

Civil War medicine had an overall, negative impact on soldiers during the American Civil War. During the Civil War, there were tragic experiences that happened to the soldiers, and some of them were for sure deadly. The soldiers dealt with outbreaks of measles, smallpox, malaria, pneumonia, or camp itch. Soldiers also came across malaria when in damp/wet areas which were likely to breeding mosquitoes.

Many men during the Civil War died from disease. For every three soldiers killed in battle, five more died of disease. Because the

The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 and ended on May 9, 1865, throughout those four years many men lost their lives. Operations during the war played a big role in the mortality rate of soldiers due to the fact that many physicians were not properly trained. “Of the approximately 30,000 amputations performed in the Civil War there was a 26.3-percent mortality rate” (Burns, n.d). At the time, becoming a doctor was no problem; one was expected to only take a few courses at a proprietary medical college and to have had some sort of training with a local physician (Burns, n.d). Many physicians had little to no surgical experience and had never performed a major operation, even dissections (Burns, n.d).

Many ailments plagued the camps and made the soldiers too sick to fight. Vaccinations were not introduced in the 1800s. Diseases like mumps, measles, and smallpox were present in the camps. An abundant amount of soldiers died of the diseases and only a handful were lucky to survive. The camps lacked a hygienic environment. Soldiers were provided little clothing. In addition, they were also feeding on unhealthy foods and drank unsanitary water. As a result, soldiers died from dysentery, cholera, and typhoid fever. In the camps, nurses and doctors participated in aiding the sick soldiers. However, they lacked the education of bacteria. They often treated sick soldiers that were shot. The bullet called the minie ball spreaded bacteria inside the soldiers. Bloodletting, purging and blistering were recommended as a remedy from the doctors without prior knowledge of infection. The doctor’s last resort was to amputate the soldier’s arms or legs to prevent the spreading. The instruments that were used on the soldiers were no clean. The soldiers would use the dirty instruments on the men which would spread more bacteria. They would not even wash their hands. By 1861, president Lincoln addressed the issue and created the sanitary commission. The sanitary commissioners provided nurses and ambulance drivers. In addition, they also provided the education for disease and hygiene. Doctors and nurses were trained in the

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.

In the South, medical treatment was not a highly sophisticated process. Depletion, the most popular method of care used for patients, included, among other things, draining blood out of the patient to remove impurities and rejuvenate the body. Even people of the south during that time period seemed more sensible than doctors stating, the cure was often equally as fatal as the disease doctors were trying to cure. The qualifications of a doctor were slim, and it showed in the people's view of them and in the treatment methods they provided.

The men fighting in the Civil War endured very harsh conditions. The soldiers on both sides not only had to witness bloody carnage on a daily basis, but also had to cope with subpar living conditions such worm infested rations and the spreading of diseases among the camps. Soldiers sometimes had to march hundreds of miles with 40 pound packs on their backs. I found very interesting through my reading of the material that soldiers only carried half of a tent and had to

During the civil war, approximately 620,000 soldiers died however many deaths were not associated directly to battle but linked to disease and medical practices during the time. Approximately two thirds of all deaths during the civil war was due to diseases running rampant and the lack of proper surgical equipment that resulted with diseases being able to further spread during the war. Four diseases that soldiers were susceptible to get during the civil war were typhoid-fever, smallpox, tuberculous, and dysentery were the diseases running rampant due to filthy camps, spoiled food and poorly prepared food.