Civil War Medicine
Civil War Amputations
The prevalence of amputation during the Civil War created a need for
prosthetic devices. In 1866 more than half of the entire budget for the state of
Mississippi was expended on artificial arms and legs. Because demand often
outstripped supply, some veterans designed their own mechanical limbs of metal
and leather; one of the most famous was Union veteran Sam Decker, who could eat
and write relatively easily with the prosthetic arms he and his wife created.
Surgery Devices
Early Capital Saw for amputation of leg or cutting of the bone.
Bone Hammer and Chisel to trim the bone.
Tissue Re-tractors to hold back muscle during resection of the bone.
Mini Ball
Doctors and Nurses
"Angel of the battlefield"; Clara Barton founded the Red Cross and served as a nurse in the Civil War. During this time, many woman did not usually work and often cared for the family. However, having their families gone led them to the battlefield to aid the sick and wounded. Barton was a pioneer of this era due to her passion and as she described it, her "duty" to go and take care of whoever might be injured. She later went on to be called the lady in charge, due to her leadership and attentiveness in hospitals and camps while directing nurses where to go and who to help, as well as her commitment to saving lives herself.
Dr. Jonathan Letterman, also known as "The Father of Battlefield Medicine", was an American surgeon who performed countless operations on soldiers during the Civil War. He is also credited as being the originator of the modern methods for medical organization in armies. What also made Letterman a popular man was his leadership, and his system of forward first aid stations he installed, along with the ambulance corp and the efficiency to deliver medical supplies to hospitals. All of these played a crucial roll in the advancement of medicine through the war and to civilians as well.
William A Hammond was an American military physician and neurologist. During the Civil War, he was 11th ranked of the Surgeon General of the U.S Army and the founder of the Army Medical Museum. Hammond was also responsible for producing a number of reforms while performing as a surgeon. For example, he raised the requirements for admission into the Army Medical Corps, increasing the number of hospitals for both armies. He also created Satterlee Hospital, which included over 4500 beds and tents. Also, he was responsible for creating records for patients and required that any nurse or surgeon performing on a soldier take down all information. His efforts led to some of the same procedures we use today.
Embalming
The embalming process was anything but pretty. During the Civil war, it had just started to evolve and was the next big thing, which was labeled as "A Good Death" compared to the usual ways soldiers bodies were handled. During battle, if a soldier was killed, his body was usually thrown into a ditch full of other deceased members and left to rot. Families never saw them again and were heartbroken, which is where embalmers came in to ease the pain, a little bit. Embalmers would set up shacks or tents near the battlefield (Seen here left) and wait for bodies to be left on the ground. He would then take the body and give it a proper cleaning, such as today, and for a fee, deliver it back to the families for their proper burial. However, there was much scandal behind this, as some embalmers would take bodies hostage and rise the price of cleaning the body of their loved ones, just to get more money. Some even threatened to dump the bodies in a remote location so the families would never see it again. Overall, their was progress made that led to the advancement of body care and the proper burial technique, along with caskets and cremation that took place in later years.
Scholarly
Articles
Flannery, Michael A. “Civil War Medicine: Approaches
for Teaching.” Magazine of History, 19.5, (September 2005): 41-43.
Gould, Allan B, Jr. “Civil War Medicine: Challenges
and Triumphs.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 78.1, (January 2003): 121.
Bollet, Alfred. “Civil War Medicine: Challenges and
Triumphs.” Galen Press, (2002): 521.
Ellis, H. “Civil War Medicine: Challenges and
Triumphs.” British Medical Journal, 325, (July 2002): 170
Rausch, David, A. “Civil War Medicine: A Patient’s
Account.” Pennsylvania Folklife, 26, (1977): 46-48.
Books
Edscorn, Steven R. The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine. Chicago: American Library
Association, 2009.
Mullner, R M.
Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American
Medicine. Middletown: American Library Association dba CHOICE, 2005.
Schroeder-Lein,
Glenna R. Love and War: The Civil War Letters and Medicinal Book of Augustus V. Athens: Southern Historical Association,
2012.
Cunningham, Horace H. The Journal of Southern History. Springfield: Southern Historical
Association, 1967.
Stowe, Steven M. Rehabilitating
Bodies: Health, History, and the American Civil War. Baltimore: John
Hopkins University Press, 2005.
Primary
Sources
Voelker, Rebecca. Civil War Stress. JAMA, February
10, 1999.
Gustafson, P Gomes. “Tuberculosis morality during
the Civil War.” JAMA, no.5, (August 2011): 599-603.
Owens, Patricia Ann. Primary Source Accounts of the Civil War. New York: Media Source,
2006.
"MEDICINE." Encyclopedia of the American Civil
War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO,
2000. Credo Reference. 7
June 2011. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. <http://www.credoreference.com/entry/abcacw/medicine>.
Reid, Richard M. Practicing Medicine in a Black Regiment: The
Civil War Diary of Burt G. Wilder, 55th Massachusetts. New York:
MLA International Bibliography, 2010.
