Medical Practices of the Civil War

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.

Even though there was not any sanitation the chance of survival for stretched then pervious wars. Doctors had medical kits, which included different tool for cutting such as knives, scalpels, bone saws, chain saw, suture and bandages. Thermometers were rarely used. Doctors did have some painkillers, but they were not always given to all soldiers. The most effective were morphine and opium. What happened after the surgery? Soldiers were transported to a hospital by ambulance. Soldiers were normally in horrible pain making the trip almost unbearable to deal with. The greatest risks for soldiers were now infection.

The Civil War had a tremendous death toll. In fact, it had more deaths than any of the previous wars combined. At the time, it was thought that the soldiers in battle died from the wounds or amputations they received. The true cause of death came from disease. These harsh conditions were contributed by unqualified doctors and non-sterile equipment. During the Civil War, the true issue was not only the wounds received in battle but the infectious diseases that ultimately led to the soldier’s death. When this was discovered, doctors knew some action needed to take place. Hospitals and sanitation standards were improved. The Civil War contributed to an evolution of medicine and how to combat victims plagued with disease.

The medicines and medical techniques used during the Civil War were very primitive for their time. Extremely little was known about germs and the dangers of infections. In Recovery, it is stated that, “Treating wounds and illnesses with medication had become common—opiates, stimulants, sedatives, diuretics, purgatives, and more were widely available and used. The first pills had been made in the early 1800s. The stethoscope and the

On April 12, 1861 in Fort Sumter, SC Confederate troops fired the first shots of the Four Year American Civil War. After the first few battles were fought, both sides faced the realization of how they desperately needed doctors and nurses to care for the injured soldiers. (1) The first nurses were recuperating soldiers (rebel) however; their own illnesses prevented them from providing proper care or returning to full military duties. These soldiers resented being appointed hospital duty. (2)

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.

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.

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

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).

The number is astonishing on the amount of deaths that occurred during the civil war. I believe at that time due to the low number of trained doctors on both sides it was a lot of trial and error. As the article stated many doctors only training was a manual written by Dr. Samuel Gress furthermore people lied about being doctors (Civil war…, n.d.). It appeared there was no regulation at all however doctors did try and found ways to get men treated quicker with the creation of field hospitals(Civil war…, n.d). In addition amputations were done regularly to reduce infection. Therefore I believe without the civil war it would take more time for the cities and states to implement better conditions for the poor. Furthermore post war had important

Have you ever wondered how medicine during the Civil war is different than how it is now? During the Civil War there wasn’t much medicine. It was known as the Middle Age of Medicine. Diseases went through the camps really fast which was the main cause of death. Doctors didn’t know much about diseases and medicine at this time.

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

The Civil War era was a period of major medical advancement. New breakthroughs during this time period had a great effect on the results of the battles and the war as a whole. Advancements in medical procedures, sanitation, infection control, field hospitals and triage, nursing techniques, and the development of the American Red Cross all greatly impacted the mortality rates of soldiers in both the Union and the Confederate armies during the American Civil War in both positive and negative ways.

Military medicine had not changed much in the fifty years since the American Civil War. Nurses only had salt water to rinse wounds and there was no medication to stop infections once they started.Thousands lost arms, legs, and even their lives. Overtime, doctors developed new ways to treat burns, tissue damage, and contagious diseases. Doctors soon learned how to conduct blood transfusions

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.