CIVIL WAR MEDICINE

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CIVIL WAR MEDICINE
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General Medicine and Surgery

• No one called anyone doctor, it was always
  surgeon.
• At the start of the Civil War, the Union Army had
  98 surgeons the Confederates had 20
• 10, 000 surgeons in the Union
• 4,000 in the Confederacy

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MEDICAL TRAINING

• Doctors attended medical school for only 3
  semesters for 13 weeks
• One year of book instruction with a few weeks of
  training could repeat the year if they failed
• Most doctors were under-qualified
• Surgeons were ill-prepared, they learned on the
  job more people died as a result

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IMPORTANT IDEA DEVELOPED DURING THE WAR

• Medical personnel were considered neutrals and
  should not fired upon or taken prisoner.

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DISEASE

• Disease killed more soldiers than bullets
• 2 out of 3 soldiers died from disease
• Measles, small pox, malaria and pneumonia,
  dyssentery
• Mosquitoes carried many diseases
• Poor sanitation rotten food, refuse, excrement,
  urine, blood and decaying corpses

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DISEASE

• Dysentery and diarrhea killed more soldiers than
  anything else
• 995 out of every 1000 soldiers had chronic
  diarrhea

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SURGERY

• Amputations was the most common surgery performed
• 3 out of 4 were amputations

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Minie Ball

• The minie ball could kill up to 1000 yards
• The minie ball caused large, gaping holes and
  splintered bones, destroyed muscles, arteries and
  tissue beyond repair

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Minie Ball

• Because the minie ball smashed the bone so badly,
  amputation was the only solution
• When the bullet hit the bone, it expanded
• Those shot through the body or head were not
  expected to live
• When it hit the gut (intestines) it tore it to
  bits

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Amputations

• 10-15 minutes of sawing
• Limbs dropped in a pile
• Amputations saved more lives than were lost (75
  of amputees survived)
• The closer to the torso an amputation occurred,
  the greater chance of death

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Amputations (cont)

• Surgeries were done quickly
• Lack of time and water meant that surgeons did
  not wash their hands
• Bloody surgeons fingers would prod an open wound
  and infect patients
• Blood poisoning and sepsis (puss in the blood)
  were deadly

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ANESTHETICS

• Most operations were performed with an
  anesthetic.
• There were no needles to deliver medicine,
  morphine was rubbed in the wound.
• Many soldiers became addicted to morphine and
  opium
• Surgeons placed chloroform on a rag and placed it
  over a patients mouth/many died from chloroform
  poisoning

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• "In the operating tent, the amputation of a very
  bad looking leg was witnessed. The surgeons had
  been laboring since the battle to save the leg,
  but it was impossible. The patient, a delicate
  looking man, was put under the influence of
  chloroform, and the amputation was performed with
  great skill by a surgeon who appeared to be quite
  accustomed to the use of his instruments. After
  the arteries were tied, the amputator scraped the
  end and edge of the bone until they were quite
  smooth. While the scraping was going on, an
  attendant asked 'How do you feel, Thompson?'
  'Awful!' was the distinct and emphatic reply.
  This answer was returned, although the man was
  far more sensible of the effects of the
  chloroform than he was of the amputation

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TRIAGE

• Helping only those who have a chance to survive
• Soldiers wounded in the head or belly were left
  to die.
• Surgeons would stand over the operating table for
  hours without a break
• Men screamed in delirium, crying out for loved
  ones others were in shock

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DENTISTRY

• Soldiers were turned down if they were missing
  more than six upper and lower teeth
• Soldiers needed their teeth to bite off the end
  of powder cartridges to load the muzzle of their
  rifle.

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Mutter Museum
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Embalming

• Embalming became a science during the war
  people wanted their dead relatives brought home
  in recognizable form.

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Civil War Casualties

• 624,511
• Dead
• 475,881 Wounded
• 80,000
• civilians killed
• 1,500,000 horses killed

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Nurses

• Clara Barton founded American Red Cross, nursed
  soldiers from Andersonville
• She worked to distribute stores, clean field
  hospitals, apply dressings, and serve food to
  wounded soldiers in close proximity to several
  battles, including Cedar Mountain, Second Bull
  Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.8

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Clara Barton (cont.)

• Friend of Susan B. Anthony Frederick Douglas
• The American Red Cross deals w/ refugees to
  natural disasters to all wars
• Died at 90 of TB

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Dorothea Dix
In a world where there is so much to be done, I
felt strongly impresses that there must be much
for me to do.

• Superintendent of Army nurses
• Founded the first mental asylums for the
  indigent insane
• Only wanted 30-50 and plain looking

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Andersonville CW Prisons

• Largest of all Civil War Prisons, and most deadly
•  more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined
  here. Of these, almost 13,000 died from disease,
  poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or
  exposure to the elements.

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Andersonville - Layout
Ft Sumner