Treating War's Wounds: Innovations in Medicine from the Civil War
Disease and Amputation
Disease
| Battlefield injuries claimed less than one of three lives during the Civil War. Disease was responsible for more than 400,000 of the 618,000 soldiers who perished during the war. Due to poor sanitation, crowded living quarters and a lack of adequate nutrition, typhoid, dysentery, smallpox and measles were widespread among Civil War camps. More often than not these afflictions proved to be fatal.
To help remedy this, the U.S. government created the U.S. Sanitary Commission in June, 1861. Advocating virtues of clean water, nutritious food and fresh air, the commission set out to build large, well-ventilated hospitals and encouraged women to join the newly-created nursing corps. Most importantly though, the commissionŐs work encouraged the enforcement of sanitary standards among camps to reduce the spread of disease. |
4. Civil War arm prosthesis
Pvt. C.M. Wolff wearing an arm prosthesis for an
injury sustained in battle August 25, 1864 at Ream's Station.
Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine |
The Lesser of Two Evils: The Civil War Amputation
Following a significant wound to an extremity, a soldier's best chance for survival was to amputate the injured site without delay. By today's standards this kind of treatment seems rather drastic; however, most deaths in the Civil War, and those prior, were due to infection and disease. Sterile surgical conditions did not come into general medical practice until sixty years after the Civil War. A timely performance of a primary amputation was a procedure that reduced the risk of fatal infection for many Civil War soldiers, saving many lives.
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5. Operating Case
1852
Donated by John Compton MD |
Key
1. Saw
2. Gauge
3. Bone Cutter
4. Trephine
5. Tissue Forceps
6. Brush
7. Scales and Spatula
8. Tenaculum |
9. Scalpel
10. Heyn's Saw
11. Metacarpal Saw
12. Amputating Knife
13. Lancet
14. Tourniquet
15. Reflex Hammer |
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Bromine
Bromine was the drug of choice for the soldier who had contracted gangrene. Ideally, a patient would first be rendered unconscious with anesthetic prior to cleansing the infected site with a solution of bromine and water. A caustic substance, bromine caused much pain and had only limited success at ridding the patient of infection. However, in retrospect its use was unwittingly a move in the right direction toward improved treatment and prevention of infection.
6. Leather Case and Vial
circa 1860
From the estate of Dr. Frank Haven McClurg |
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