chapter11lerner


 * __ Civil War Medicine and Causes of Death __**









Infections during the Civil War caused more deaths than actual deaths on the battle field. Wounds weren't kept clean once they were opened and the knowledge of germs and how easily they spread was not known at the time. If a soldier was shot in the leg for example, the wound would become immediately infected because the bullet itself was swarming with germs and infection causing diseases. To try to stop the spreading of the germ, surgeons who were extremely inexperienced would amputate the limb. This would work except for the fact that from one patient to another, the utensils used were never sterilized and the doctors never washed their hands after operations. Disease would also spread because of the pile up of limbs after they were amputated. The limbs would pile up and eventually be buried, but they couldn't bury them fast enough. After Fort Sumter fell, the US gov't set up the United States Sanitary Commission. This organization helped train surgeons on how to become more sanitary and it proved to be worth the time because deaths due to infection after this introduction were greatly decreased. A way surgeons would calm their patients would be with opium. It eased the pains and worries of the injured soldier. They also had a 24 oz. canister of Whiskey in all medical kits to numb the body. Morphine was around at this time period but was not as common on the battle field because to successfully treat the wound, they would needs syringes and those were scare. During the Civil War, close to 10 million pills of Opium and over 29,000 oz. of morphine were administrated by the US gov't. Most patients wouldn't know their limbs were being cut off because they were either high or drunk on the "pain killer".

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Sources:

McDougal, Holt. The Americans 2012. 1 of 1 ed. EPub: n.p., 2012. Print.

Springfield-Greene County Library. "The Impact of the CIvil War in Ozarks." Ozark Civil War. Springfield-Greene County Library, n.d. Web. 17 Sept.2015. .

Wikipedia. "Medicine in the American Civil War." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web.17 Sept. 2015. .

Freemon, Frank R. "Gangrene 'The Disease of the Civil War.'" Civil War Health Care. Frank R. Freemon, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. .

The National Historical Society's The Image of War. "The History of Civil War Medicine." Caring for the Men. The National Historical Society's The Image of War, 14 Apr. 2004. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. http://www.civilwarhome.com/medicinehistory.html>. Street, James, Jr. "OPIUM IN THE CIVIL WAR." fourth US. Ed. James Street, Jr. N.p., May 1988. Web. 17 Sept. 2015. .