Civil+War+Medicine

Medicine of the Civil War toc

It is the most sickening sight of the war, this tide of wounded flowing back. -Surgeon William Morton

=Anesthetics= = =

An anesthetic is a substance that induces insensitivity to pain. This type of medicine was widely used on soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies. Common anesthetics used were chloroform, ether, and morphine. These substances were given to wounded soldiers to dull their pain and to knock them unconscious during surgery. The most common way to administer these medicines was through a cloth or paper folded in the shape of a cone, with a sponge in the apex. This device was first placed some distance from the nose and mouth of the patient,so that the initial inhalations of the drug would be diluted with air. It was then gradually brought closer to the patient's mouth until he was breathing the pure drug. This device was easy to construct in the field, but much of the substance was leaked into the air. The confederate armies had a very limited supply of chloroform, so to preserve as much as possible, Surgeon J.J. Chisolm invented an inhaler which would contain the drug until ready for use by the patient.

= Hospitals =

Many temporary, or "field" hospitals were created near battlefields. Soldiers wounded in battle were first cared for at a "field dressing station," where they were bandaged, given whiskey for shock, and morphine for pain. This station was located close to the fighting, and soldiers in need of assistance were usually carried to it by stretcher. If the soldier could not continue fighting, he was brought to a field hospital via ambulance wagon. These field hospitals were in most cases located in a barn or tent to the rear of the battlefield. On arrival the injured soldier was categorized as mortally wounded, slightly wounded, or a surgical case. Most surgeries in the war were amputations and took place in these hospitals. Such high amputation rates were the result of the use of __ [|Minié ball] __, a bullet which caused severe wounds because of its ability weight to shatter bone and destroy body tissue.



=Surgeons=

Civil War surgeons were often referred to as "butchers" by their patients and the press, due to the large number of amputations they performed in the field. Amputation was the only method they knew to prevent infection. The bullets used in battle often carried dirt and germs which could infect wounds. Many soldiers who suffered gunshot wounds to the extremities had that limb amputated. A gunshot to the head or abdomen was almost certain to be fatal. Soldiers who had been brought to a surgeon's tent were administered a sufficient dose of chloroform, then laid on a table to await surgery. A surgeon was outfitted with an amputation kit, consisting of several large saws and knives. A soldier described a common field hospital in this way: "Tables about breast high had been erected upon which the screaming victims were having legs and arms cut off. The surgeons and their assistants, stripped to the waist and bespattered with blood, stood around, some holding the poor fellows while others, armed with long, bloody knives and saws, cut and sawed away with frightful rapidity, throwing the mangled limbs on a pile nearby as soon as removed." The screams which this soldier described were more likely of the soldiers witnessing these amputations or awaiting surgery, as the amputees were in most cases under the influence of anesthesia.

=Disease=

Soldiers who had been operated on were not out of harm's way. Due to the almost nonexistent knowledge of sanitation, infection and disease was rampant among amputees. These common infections were known as "surgical fevers," and are believed to have been caused mainly by Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. These bacterial cells generate puss, destroy tissue, and release deadly toxins into the bloodstream. Another common infection after surgery was gangrene. This was caused by an obstruction of blood flow, and rotted away flesh. Many different illnesses befell soldiers, such as typhoid fever, diarrhea, dysentery, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. Younger soldiers who had not been exposed to certain diseases before the war contracted measles, chickenpox, mumps, and whooping cough. Illness transmitted by mosquitos such as malaria and yellow fever also occurred. Disease was so common among the soldiers mainly because of the filthy condition of camps. A health inspector in 1861 reported that most Union camps were "littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp." Contrary to popular belief at the time, disease was the main cause of death in the Civil War.



=Treatment of Disease=

The Civil War is considered to be the ending of "the dark ages" of medicine. Knowledge of how to treat disease and infection was primitive. Stomach illness such as dysentery, typhoid, and diarrhea were often treated with "blue powder." This substance was a mixture of mercury and chalk. It was not yet discovered that mercury was toxic to the human body. Opium, morphine, and quinine were also used to treat many various afflictions. To treat malaria, doctors and nurses prescribed whiskey and the bark of dogwood, poplar and willow. Cod-liver oil, cinnamon, and the syrup of wild cherry were used to treat fever.

=Nurses=

Being a nurse in a military hospital was one of the only ways a woman could be involved and contribute to the Civil War. There were over two thousand volunteer nurses serving in hospitals and on battlefields across the country. These dedicated women experienced the brutalities of battle firsthand. The average nurse would deal with amputated limbs, mutilated bodies, disease, and death. A dedicated nurse said about her colleagues: "They were gentlewomen in every sense of the word, and though they might not have remembered that "noblesse oblige," they felt and acted up to the motto in every act of their lives. My only wish was to live and die among them, growing each day better from contact with their gentle, kindly sympathies and heroic hearts."

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-To learn more about Civil War medicine in general [|click here]

-To learn more about Civil War nurses click here

-To learn more about The Minie ball [|click here]

=Bibliography=

1. "Civil War Medicine." //Civil War Medicine//. Web. 28 May 2012. .

2. "National Museum of Civil War Medicine." //National Museum of Civil War Medicine//. Web. 28 May 2012. .

3. "Minie Ball." //Minie Ball//. Web. 28 May 2012. .

4. "Spartacus Educational." //Spartacus Educational//. Web. 28 May 2012. .

5. "CIVIL WAR MEDICAL BOX." //CIVIL WAR MEDICAL BOX//. Web. 28 May 2012. .

6. "Medicine and the American Civil War." //Medicine and the American Civil War//. Web. 28 May 2012. .