Medicine Civil War

Health had to do with their diseases, personal hygiene, and injuries. Some of the diseases during this war that were majorly impacting the soldiers were Typhoids, Pneumonia, Measles, Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Dysentery. These diseases were not just in the Battle of Gettysburg, they were in the whole Civil War and affected everyone. The personal hygiene during the 1800’s left much to be desired. On the battlefield, conditions the soldiers had to live in were gross. They lived in filth and allowed garbage to pile up in their camps. Sometimes when their clothes were infested with lice, they would boil them in pot and then cook with the same pot. During the Civil War there were only 2 major injuries. The 2 main injuries and they were gunshots and

They didn’t know about germs or anything like that. All they knew was that people were getting sick and dying, about 2/3 of people died from disease (civilwar.org). They didn’t even keep hospital reports until later in the war. Probably the most important nurse in this time was Clara Barton, she was also known as an angel. For instance she was the founder of the American Red Cross in 1881. She was the one who also wanted to clean up the horrible, terrible mess of the hospital (civilwar.org). Example they started to clean themselves and their equipment more often. Also they cleaned up the limb pile, and they started to keep records of their patients’ and what they did to them. Lastly they started to give their patients’ clean bandages and they gave them more water. Giving them more water just helped them stay more hydrated thus making them heal faster. There were three categories of wounded soldiers. There was mortally wounded, slightly wounded, and surgical case (civilwar.org). For instance if they got hurt on the battlefield they wound be given whiskey to help sooth the pain. Well at least until they got to a hospital. The Union army could get to the hospital by horseback or train, while the Confederate army only had horseback. For the Union army there was about 10,000 doctors, while for the Confederate army there was about 4,000. They treated about 10,000,000 people during the civil war (pacivilwar150.com). Their assistants were the ones who gave them their equipment, and they were the ones who had the chloroform. One of the military hospitals were called Fairfax Seminary and it housed over 1,700 sick and wounded soldiers right when it opened

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

“Approximately 620,000 soldiers died from combat, accident, starvation, and disease during the Civil War,” (http://www.civilwar.org/). In the book Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen, a young boy fights among grown men in a war that divides a nation. Charley Goddard, just fifteen years old, signs up to join the war effort, looking for adventure. Quickly, he realizes the Civil War is bloodier, harsher, and more gruesome than he can ever imagine. As part of the Minnesota Men fighting for the North, Charley endures hardships no man should have to endure.

Disease, including smallpox, cholera, and venereal diseases, remained one of largest reasons for sickness and death among soldiers and other patients. For soldiers, diseases killed more numbers than wounds received in combat. Such aliments happened due to infected or improperly treated wounds, poor bathing facilities, prostitutes, air borne sicknesses, and several others.

The civil war was known as the bloodiest war in the history of the United States and it was fought over 10,000 places. And more than two percent of the population died during the war, and more people died during the civil war than in all wars put together. Twice as many soldiers died during the war than in combat and it was marked improvement compared to the Mexican war that was from 1846 to 1848 where there were 7 to 10 deaths from diseases for every death in the battle and it wasn’t until World War II that weapons killed more Americans than diseases. And this was because a lot of soldiers died from either injuries from the battlefield or

The Civil War was the deadliest war in america because of the death, destruction, and the technological advances. Many people died in the war just to try and end slavery. President Abraham Lincoln was president at this time and he was leading the fight against slavery from behind his desk in the White House in Washington D.C.. About 2.75 million soldiers fought for the Union Army under President Abraham Lincoln , and 75,000 to 1 million fought for the Confederacy under Jefferson Davis

The U.S. Civil War was the deadliest war in United States history up until that time. The Civil War caused the deaths of over 600,000 people. The reasons for this are slavery, tariffs, and the Fugitive Slave Law. Slavery was a something that Southerners wanted, however most people in The North were not in favor of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law let the people in The South search people’s homes for their missing slaves. This led up to The Civil War because of how unfair and pathetic the law was. Tariffs were passed in 1828 and 1832, which “raised the issue of the states’ rights. The next thing that was passed was the Fugitive Slave Law. This law made the people in The South able to “decide for themselves whether to be a slave or free by a vote.”

This is why I think that we should not have had another civil war because according to https://www.civilwar.org/ ,“Approximately 620,000 soldiers died from combat, accident, starvation, and disease during the Civil War.” This quote explains that the war was cruel, harsh and, scarring. The war also had effects on people who did not fight in it . For example many of the wives and children of soldiers had nightmares about their loved one dying. Also many of the commoners had nightmares because their town was attacked and their homes, lives, and livings, were

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.

Even through the Civil War was very bloody and gruesome, there were some positive effects on America’s medicine. This may include medicine in the pharmacy, performing surgerys, and Prosthetics. During the war the most injuries were resulting in amputation because soldiers were shot by “Minie Ball” bullets which would shatter bones and limbs.(pbs.com) Anesthesia was commonly used during surgeries. The top two types of Anesthesia was Chloroform and Ether.

In conclusion, the Civil War was the bloodiest war for Americans. Many men died of disease and injuries, or just straight gunshots. It was a period of time where people started to realize medicine mattered. Yes, both sides were devastated by battle and disease, but the Civil War advanced medicine into the modern

The Medical Field in the Civil War is where they stepped up and took the challenge on healing the nation and approach medicine into the Modern Age. What I mean by that is that where Doctors, Nurses, Surgeons, and Physician took care of bullet wounds, diseases, and missing limbs. The diseases

The Civil War was fought with much carnage, and was one of America’s most ‘uncivilized’, wars with a soldier’s chance of survival about twenty-five per cent. While many were killed by other soldiers, usually through bullets, a large portion died as a result of disease such as: dysentery, mumps, pneumonia, typhoid fever, measles, and tuberculosis, diseases that are curable today. These diseases were spread through the horribly sanitized camps found on both sides of the war: Confederate and Union. And while many died from disease, some died from other soldiers’ bullets; these deaths may have been prevented if the technology, or overall techniques used by surgeons, during this time period were more up-to-date, as amputations were the main procedure

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