Medicine+of+the+Civil+War

= Medicine of the Civil War  =







During the Civil War there were approximately 620,000 deaths. That's a 1 in 4 chance of death. However, the interesting thing is that 2/3s of those deaths were not caused during conflict, but through disease. The medicine of the civil war was not known for its success. However, the Civil War was a pivotal moment in the progress of modern medicine. Due to the massive amount of injury and the many diseases spread, medicine was given the chance to evolve as more and more theories were created and revised. Many diseases ravaged the soldiers including dysentery, typhoid fever, pneumonia, mumps, measles and tuberculosis. Unfortunately, the medicine during the Civil War was still pretty rudimentary and was not advanced enough to cure such problems. This led to many deaths especially through infection. Amputation was a common practice as most body parts become to infected and without the means to cure it, they had no choice but to remove the source completely. Unfortunately, not only was the medicine heavily outdated and ineffective but many hospitals and medical camps were heavily understaffed. Eventually, it got so overcrowded that many had to split up into groups depending on how fatal their wound was. However, despite their efforts, a lot of troops left untreated which, and with the already very overcrowded and heavily unsanitary hospitals, led to a massive spread of disease. Despite the dangerously high mortality rate of soldiers wounded on the battlefield, the field medics and doctors came up with new and innovative theories on how to keep the soldier alive. The way the civil war's massive casualty count pushed medicine to evolve was detrimental towards the development of modern medicine.

media type="youtube" key="B6du2B10K2w" width="560" height="315"

Images from: "Civil War Medkit." //Wordpress //. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. .

"Clara Barton." //National Park Service //. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. .

"Wounded Soldier." //Yale //. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. .

"I Love Being a Nurse." //Pinterest //. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. .

Info from: <span style="background-color: #fff9e5; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">"Civil War Medicine." //<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Civil War Trust //<span style="background-color: #fff9e5; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-medicine/ civil-war-medicine.html?referrer=https?referrer=http://bpushistory.wikispaces.com /Medicine%20of%20the%20Civil%20War>.