what treatment did civil war soldiers recieve

During the Civil War, military hospitals considered opioids to be essential medicine. Doctors and nurses used opium and morphine to treat soldiers’ pain, stop internal bleeding and mitigate vomiting and diarrhea caused by infectious diseases.

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What was medical care like during the Civil War?

What was medical care like during the Civil War? Medical care was heavily criticized in the press throughout the war. It was stated that surgery was often done without anesthesia, many unnecessary amputations were done, and that care was not state of the art for the times.

What were the medical procedures in the Civil War?

Six Ways the Civil War Changed American Medicine

• Early Field Medics. When Hammond became surgeon general of the Union Army in 1862, he shook things up. ...
• Reshaping Surgery. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the most common surgeries conducted during the war was amputation. ...
• Prosthetics Boom. ...
• Airy Hospital Architecture. ...
• Ambulance Pioneers. ...
• Restocking the Pharmacy. ...

What medicines were used in the Civil War?

Medicine in the American Civil War

• Hospitals. At the onset of the war, makeshift camps and hospitals were set up to treat the injured. ...
• Transportation. The transportation of injured and ill soldiers went through many changes during the Civil War. ...
• Sanitation. ...
• Anesthesia. ...
• Amputations. ...
• Medications. ...

What was medical care in the Civil War?

Union medical care improved dramatically during 1862. By the end of the year each regiment was being regularly supplied with a standard set of medical supplies included medical books, supplies of medicine, small hospital furniture like bed-pans, containers for mixing medicines, spoons, vials, bedding, lanterns, and numerous other implements.

How were the soldiers treated in the Civil War?

The life of a soldier during the civil war wasn't easy. Not only did soldiers face the possibility of getting killed in battle, their daily lives were full of hardships. They had to deal with hunger, bad weather, poor clothing, and even boredom between battles. Soldiers were woken at dawn to begin their day.

What was the most common treatment in the Civil War?

Anesthesia was used as much as 90 percent of the time during surgeries such as amputations. The two most common types of anesthesia were chloroform and ether. Chloroform was used roughly 75 percent of the time during Civil War surgeries.

How did they treat injuries in the Civil War?

This last duty was important, since 95 percent of operations performed during the Civil War were done with the patient under some form of anesthesia, usually chloroform or ether. The most common amputation sites on the body were the hand, thigh, lower leg, and upper arm.

What did Civil War soldiers use for pain?

Opium pills, morphine injections, and laudanum (a blend of opium and alcohol) were some of the Civil War's most widely used medicines.

How was diarrhea treated in the Civil War?

When dealing with cases of diarrhea, Civil War surgeons were often close to properly diagnosing the problem, as they frequently associated diarrhea with scurvy – a disease caused by a vitamin C deficiency and widely acknowledged to be treatable with fresh produce.

Was anesthesia used in the Civil War?

In the Civil War, Albin estimates that anesthesia was used at least 125,000 times by surgeons for both the North and South who, before the war, had limited or no experience with anesthetic agents.

What treatment did injured soldiers receive?

The major areas of emphasis are medical evacuation and organization; wounds and wound management; surgical technique and technology, with a particular focus on amputation; infection and antibiotics; and blood transfusion.

How did they cut off limbs in the Civil War?

During an amputation, a scalpel was used to cut through the skin and a Caitlin knife to cut through the muscle. The surgeon then picked up a bone saw (the tool which helped create the Civil War slang for surgeons known as "Sawbones") and sawed through the bone until it was severed.

What is the white powder poured on wounds?

If you watch a World War II movie like Band of Brothers, you'll see medics sprinkling a yellow powder on wounds—that's sulfa powder, or sulfanilimade. The ubiquitous bandage packs given to soldiers in the war years were coated in it.

How did Civil War doctors treat most wounds?

It reports over 174,000 shot wounds of the extremities, 4,656 were treated by surgical excision and 29,980 by amputation. Of the approximately 30,000 amputations performed in the Civil War there was a 26.3-percent mortality rate.

How was syphilis treated during the Civil War?

According to the The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine by Glenna R Schroeder-Lein, the most accepted method was to look for small children to infect with cowpox. Once infected, doctors would wait seven or eight days for a pustule to fully form, puncture it, and take the lymph (fluid) from it.

How often was anesthesia used in the Civil War?

By the Civil War, the anesthetic qualities of chloroform and ether were well known, and anesthesia was used in approximately 95% of Civil War surgeries.

How effective was surgery in the Civil War?

A 2016 research paper found that Civil War surgery was effective at improving patient health outcomes. The study finds that "in many cases [surgery] amounted to a doubling of the odds of survival".

Why was the medical corps at a disadvantage during the Civil War?

The Confederacy was quicker to authorize the establishment of a medical corps than the Union, but the Confederate medical corp was at a considerable disadvantage throughout the war primarily due to the lesser resources of the Confederate government. A Medical Department was created with the initial army structure by the provisional Confederate government on February 26, 1861. President Jefferson Davis appointed David C. DeLeon Surgeon General. Although a leadership for a medical corp was created, an error by the copyist in the creation of the military regulations of the Confederacy omitted the section for medical officers, and none were mustered into their initial regiments. Many physicians enlisted in the army as privates, and when the error was discovered in April, many of the physicians were pressed into serving as regimental surgeons.

How many patients were in a field hospital?

Field hospitals were initially in the open air, with tent hospitals that could hold only six patients first being used in 1862; after many major battles the injured had to receive their care in the open. As the war progressed, nurses were enlisted, generally two per regiment. In the general hospitals one nurse was employed for about every ten patients. The first permanent general hospitals were ordered constructed during December 1861 in the major hubs of military activity in the eastern and western United States. An elaborate system of ferrying wounded and sick soldiers from the brigade hospitals to the general hospitals was set up. At first the system proved to be insufficient and many soldiers were dying in mobile hospitals at the front and could not be transported to the general hospitals for needed care. The situation became apparent to military leaders in the Peninsular Campaign in June 1862 when several thousand soldiers died for lack of medical treatment. Dr. Jonathan Letterman was appointed to succeed Tripler as the second medical director of the army in 1862 and completed the process of putting together a new ambulance corps. Each regiment was assigned two wagons, one carrying medical supplies, and a second to serve as a transport for wounded soldiers. The ambulance corps was placed under the command of Surgeon Majors of the various brigades. In August 1863 the number of transport wagons was increased to three per regiment.

What were the diseases in the South during the war?

Operations in the South meant a dangerous and new disease environment, bringing diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid fever, and malaria. There were no antibiotics, so the surgeons prescribed coffee, whiskey, and quinine. Harsh weather, bad water, inadequate shelter in winter quarters, poor policing of camps and dirty camp hospitals took their toll. This was a common scenario in wars from time immemorial, and conditions faced by the Confederate army were even worse.

What happened after the Battle of Bull Run?

After the Battle of Bull Run, the United States government took possession of several private hospitals in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, and surrounding towns. Union commanders believed the war would be short and there would be no need to create a long-standing source of care for the army's medical needs.

Why were the divisional hospitals placed in safe locations?

Although the divisional hospitals were placed in safe locations, because of their size they could not be quickly packed in the event of a retreat. Several divisional hospitals were lost to Confederates during the war, but in almost all occasions their patients and doctors were immediately paroled if they would swear to no longer bear arms in the conflict. On a few occasions, the hospitals and patients were held several days and exchanged for Confederate prisoners of war.

Why were army numbers small before the Civil War?

Before the Civil War, armies tended to be small, largely because of the logistics of supply and training. Musket fire, well known for its inaccuracy, kept casualty rates lower than they might have been. The advent of railroads, industrial production, and canned food allowed for much larger armies, and the Minié ball rifle brought about much higher casualty rates. The work of Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War brought the deplorable situation of military hospitals to the public attention, although reforms were often slow in coming.

Opioids as Wartime Medicine

Opioid use has a long history in the United States. Before the Civil War, doctors commonly prescribed opium pills and laudanum, which was a mixture of opium and alcohol. These opiates, or natural opioids, were available in many drugstores without a prescription.

Veterans Struggle to Quit Opioids After the War

When veterans returned home after the war, they continued taking opium and injectable morphine, which became much more accessible in the 1870s.

Where do Civil War veterans get medical care?

Civil War veterans receive medical treatment at the Bath Branch of the National Soldiers Home in Bath, New York. Courtesy of VHA Historical Photo.

How many veterans lived in the US before the Civil War?

Prior to the Civil War, an estimated 80,000 veterans from previous conflicts lived in the United States. Soldiers’ homes were organized in the 1810s and later the 1850s, had a board of commissioners, and existed under federal regulations. Yet, the system was not prepared for the mass of troops that would eventually need medical assistance.

What is the state of veterans healthcare?

In recent history, the state of veteran healthcare has received negative media coverage . The United States Department of Veterans Affairs suffered immense scrutiny for the deaths of at least forty United States veterans who died awaiting assistance. The deaths of these veterans prompted investigations and the eventual dismissal of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki in May 2014 because these veterans did not receive the timely access to medical staff they required. [1] In December 2016, shocking reports about maggots being found in the wounds of a veteran surfaced. [2] Just recently, federal authorities announced that they were ramping up investigations regarding the increase in opioid theft and unauthorized drug use by VA employees. [3] The U.S. Accountability Office provided a harsh critique of the VA’s handling of patient claims in 2014, and a year later the Center for Effective Government gave the Department of Veterans Affairs the grade of “D”. [4] The concern for the care of veterans among public officials, soldiers, and citizenry is prevalent. While there are current criticisms regarding the management of Veterans Affairs, and demands to provide better care for veterans is widespread, this is far from the first time that healthcare for veterans has concerned the public and initiated Federal action.

How many homes did the Union Veterans have?

The National Asylum ultimately expanded to eleven homes for veterans.

How many veterans were there in the Union after the war?

Yet, the system was not prepared for the mass of troops that would eventually need medical assistance. The Union had 1.9 million veterans after the war’s conclusion, and Congress began to take steps towards providing care for soldiers who would require care and places of rest. [5]

Why did the government drop the term "asylum"?

Quickly, the government dropped the term “asylum” because they did not wish to characterize the men receiving care at these institutions as being mentally unstable. [8] A detail of the Eastern Branch of the National Soldiers Home in Togus, Maine. The home today is the Togus VA Medical Center.

Did the Civil War change medical care?

Many Civil War veterans lived into the twentieth century, and with the United States’ involvement in World War I, medical care for a new batch of veterans brought forth changes. In the 1920s, medical care at the homes had transformed.

What were the conditions in the Confederate South?

Most of the poor conditions in Confederate South (CS) POW camps were NOT deliberate. Even in the worst of them, like Andersonville, prisoners received the same rations that their guards were issued. Most of the Union prisoners that died at Andersonville died of disease and NOT for lack of rations or shelter and their guards died of those diseases at the same rate the prisoners did.

What did the CS government do to help the prisoners?

However, as a general rule the CS government did what they could to alleviate the suffering of prisoners while the US government adopted deliberate policies of torture, starvation and exposure.

Did the CS refuse to exchange black troops?

Furthermore, the CS government did everything but crawl to Washington on hands and knees and beg Lincoln to exchange prisoners. Yes, I have heard all the Yankee excuses about the CS refusing to exchange black US troops. Initially, they did refuse to do this, but a few months later they offered to exchange black troops one for one the same as whites and they were STILL refused by ole Abe. Abe even refused the CS offer to exchange ONLY the sick and disabled and even refused to send medicine through the lines for the exclusive use of union POW’s. (But, he could shed crocodile tears for “Mrs. Bixby’s 5 sons” couldn’t he? And, actually that was a total fraud made up for propaganda purposes.)

What is war wound treatment?

The treatment of war wounds is an ancient art, constantly refined to reflect improvements in weapons technology, transportation, antiseptic practices, and surgical techniques. Throughout most of the history of warfare, more soldiers died from disease than combat wounds, and misconceptions regarding the best timing and mode ...

What was the treatment for gunshot wounds?

The development of firearms made cautery a universally accepted treatment for gunshot wounds throughout the 16th century. Gunshot wounds resulted in gross tissue destruction that was an excellent medium for infection. However, because surgeons of the era had no knowledge of bacteria, they concluded infection was the result of poisonous gunpowder, and sought to destroy the poison by pouring boiling oil into the wound [ 116 ]. The precise origin of this practice is uncertain, but it was widely popularized through medical texts written by an Italian surgeon, Giovanni da Vigo (1460–1525) [ 41 ]. During the siege of Turin in 1536, Ambroise Paré (1510–1590), a surgeon with the French Army, ran out of boiling oil and substituted a salve of egg yolk, oil of rose, and turpentine, which, to his astonishment, reduced inflammation and enhanced patient comfort, at least compared with “seething oil” [ 7 ]. He concluded conventional wisdom was incorrect and published his observations in his Treatise on Gunshot Wounds in 1545.

How many surgeons were in the regiment during the Revolution?

During the American Revolution (1775–1783), the Continental Congress authorized one surgeon to serve in each regiment. Few of the regimental surgeons, mostly trained through the apprenticeship system as there were only two medical schools in the United States (King’s College [now Columbia University] in New York, NY, and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA), had any experience treating trauma. The organization was minimal, and regimental surgeons tended to work for their unit instead of seeing themselves as part of the Hospital Department, which was rendered ineffective by bureaucratic infighting [ 116 ].

What is the need for surgical care of survivors of accidents or animal attacks?

The need for surgical care of survivors of accidents or animal attacks is part of the story of civilization, as is the story of medical care of those wounded in that other peculiarly human endeavor, warfare [41].

What was the role of surgeons in the American Revolutionary War?

During the American Revolutionary War, surgeons from the British and American sides emphasized conservative care . John Hunter (1728–1793), surgeon general of the British army, directed physicians to resist aggressive débridement in smaller wounds. Wine was applied topically to minor burns, and hog lard to full-thickness burns [ 96 ]. John Jones (1729–1791), a veteran of the French and Indian Wars (1754–1763) and Professor of Surgery in King’s College, New York, advised surgeons to delay primary wound closure and apply:

What was the first wound management?

Perhaps the earliest literary account of wound management comes from Homer’s epic poem The Iliad (circa 700 BCE), based on events of the Trojan War half a millennium earlier [ 70 ]. Combat during this period was chaotic, as opposing formations merged into hand-to-hand combat with edged weapons resulting in heavy casualties. The accounts depict surgeons as skilled and professional physicians who expertly treated wartime trauma. In the fourth book of The Iliad, surgeon Makaon treated King Menelaus of Sparta, who had sustained an arrow wound to the abdomen, by extracting the arrow, sucking blood out of the wound to remove poison [ 76 ], and applying a salve [ 70 ]. In the eleventh book, Achilles’ friend Patroclus extracted an arrow from King Eurypylus of Thessaly, when he “cut out with a knife the bitter, sharp arrow from his thigh, and washed the black blood from it with warm water” [ 70 ], which may have been the first record of débridement and soft tissue management (Appendix 2 ).

How many deaths did the Union and Confederate forces have?

Of the generally accepted number of approximately 620,000 deaths among Union and Confederate forces, about two thirds resulted from disease, most prominently dysentery and typhoid [104]. The most feared wound infections were erysipelas, presumably attributable to Streptococcus pyogenes, and hospital gangrene.

How did the Civil War amputation work?

During an amputation, a scalpel was used to cut through the skin and a Caitlin knife to cut through the muscle. The surgeon then picked up a bone saw (the tool which helped create the Civil War slang for surgeons known as "Sawbones") and sawed through the bone until it was severed. The limb was then discarded, and the surgeon tied off the arteries with either horsehair, silk, cotton, or metal threads. The surgeon then scraped the edges of the bone smooth, so that they would be forced to work back through the skin. The flap of skin left by the surgeon could be pulled across and sewn close, leaving a drainage hole. The stump was then covered with plaster, bandaged, and the soldier was taken aside for the surgeon to start on his next patient.

What was the most common wound in the Civil War?

The most common wounds suffered by Civil War soldiers were from the bullets fired by muskets. The typical bullet fired was called a Minnie ball, a conical bullet with hollowed grooves. Weighting 1 ½ ounces the large bullets (.58 caliber) were propelled relatively slowly by the black power charge.

Why did Minnie Balls have amputations?

As a result of the immense damage inflicted by Minnie balls, amputations were common during the Civil War. An amputation is a surgical procedure that removes a piece of the body because of trauma or infection. Over the course of the Civil War, three out of four surgeries (or close to 60,000 operations) were amputations.

What wounds were amputations?

There were several types of wounds that required an amputation according to medical military manuals, including “when an entire limb is carried off by a cannon-ball leaving a ragged stump; also if the principal vessels and nerves are extensively torn even without injury to the bone; or if the soft parts (muscle) are much lacerated; or in cases of extensive destruction of the skin”. However, when amputation was necessary, the limb was not simply “chopped off” as commonly believed. The procedure was sophisticated, and like most surgical procedures over the course of the war, were conducted with patients under anesthesia in the form of either chloroform or ether.

Why was a tourniquet tightened around the limb?

Before undergoing an amputation, a tourniquet was tightened around the limb in order to reduce bleeding when the damaged limb was removed.

How long does it take to survive an amputation?

They had a higher chance of survival rather than intermediary amputations which took place between three and thirty days. Poor nutrition, blood loss, and infection all contributed to the lower survival rates of intermediary amputations after forty-eight hours.

How much does a disabled soldier get a month?

If a disabled soldier decided to apply for a pension, the amount they received on a monthly basis depended on their rank and their injury. For example, a disabled private received just $8 a month (about $205 a month in 2020) from the first pension system.

Overview

Background

Union

Confederacy

Ambulance system

Soldiers

Women as nurses

Freed slaves and civilians