Where did our current medial technology and equipment develop from? From the gruesome Civil War, many of the base models to our current medical proceeders were produced. During the Civil War, brother verses brother were fighting against one another. Over five hundred men lost their lives fighting in one of the nations biggest, bloodiest battles. Obviously, the leading factor in deaths during the Civil War was wounded soldiers. Limbs were being shattered and wounds were becoming infected and spreading through out the body. Even though the Civil War was a gruesome time, many lifesaving procedures were born through it. Because of the high medical need during the American Civil War, necessary advances such as medical inventions, lifesaving procedures,
Ambulances were further developed from the base model which already existed during the war. The ambulance’s main purpose was to speedily take injured soldiers from the battlefield to the medicine and doctors in order to receive appropriate care. Jonathan Lettermen created the ambulance that was used during the Civil War; this ambulance could carry three injured people at a time along with all the supplies necessary. This ambulance was not the ideal ambulance: the ride was extremely bumpy and unstable, but they accomplished their job of taking people from the battlefield to the hospital area. Incredibly, during the Civil War there were multiple “trains” of ambulances; each train consisted of forty ambulances, and there were always forty trains on call at a time (Frederick). They were stocked with supplies and stretchers for those unable to get in unaccompanied. The ambulances were exceptionally helpful during the Civil War. The battle of Antietam was considered the bloodiest day of the Civil War. There were over twenty three thousand casualties during the Antietam battle, and in twenty four hours the ambulance corps had all the dead men off the field (Kagan 164). At the end of the war, the ambulance was widely recognized as a significance lifesaver (Oshinsky
Amputations were nothing new, but became increasingly popular during the Civil War. Before the Civil War people would receive infections in their injured limbs causing death. The book Eyewitnesses to the Civil War stated, “The grisly procedure of amputation became emblematic of the Civil War medicine because it was often the only option for saving a wounded soldiers life” (Kagan 344). Frank Freemon in his book Gangrene and Glory stated: “Surgery was quick, bloody, and brutal… Taking the knife in his [Surgeon] bloody hands he called out ‘Next’. Another soldier was lifted and placed, not too gently on the operating table” (Freemon 109) Amputations became popular during the Civil War because of the large number of injured limbs. After preforming so many amputations, Civil War surgeons were able to complete an amputation in just fifteen minutes, and luckily, patients were now given chloroform pain killer through the inhaler (Kagan 342). Amputations were life savers, because without amputations a wounded limb would become infected and spread throughout the body causing infection and leading to death. Amputations took the limb off to prevent infection, allowing for many lives to be
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman's tale is not unusual. Wakeman was one of many who died from chronic diarrhea. Eventually dysentery would kill nearly half a million soldiers during the war. The Civil war was a terrible, bloody war, and many facts are still unknown or unconfirmed, Wakeman’s letters offer a rare glimpse into civil war life that is confirmed and accurate. This is true simply because her letters were written during her serving actively in the army, rather than a set of memoirs or stories compiled after the fact for publication purposes.
Medicine has developed so dramatically over the last century that it is difficult to imagine a world in which its many benefits did not exist. Even as humans manage to eradicate some diseases, a look at history reminds us that there was a time when these and other diseases were rampant, and good health was the exception rather than the norm. There are many comparable time periods that medicine was needed and was used. With each, there were drastic changes to medical procedures and medical rules. Of the many different time periods that medicine was used; the comparison of medical care during the American Civil War and medical care during World War I is the most interesting. How did Civil War battlefield medicine compare with World War I battlefield medicine? That's a question that cannot be simply answered, but can be broken down into the overall sanitation of individuals, medical techniques, and overall medical staff for armies.
Most people in the beginning of the war; thought it was only going to last a few weeks or months, so not much effort was put into recruiting doctors or surgeons. Even so, surgeons really didn’t have formal training in medicine. They did not know much about bacteriology and were ignorant of what caused diseases. Most Civil War surgeons also had never treated a gun shot wound or performed surgery, which led to the fact that they were not qualified at all. They would usually have 2 years of schooling, with only bookwork in the first year, and the second year would usually just be a repeat. However, doctors tried the best they could at treating the wounded and injured, and knowledge of medicine improved a little bit more each year.
Resection was a process that “involved cutting open the limb, sawing out the damaged bone, and then closing the incision” (Jones, 1). Resection allows the patient to keep his limbs but it requires a great ordeal of time and skill. This also contributed to the common practice of amputation during the war. But there were cases where surgeons did use this method. Terry J. Jones said in his NY Times article, “resections were used more frequently after surgeons learned that amputations had a much higher mortality rate” (Jones, 1). In another article by Corydon Ireland, it describes Mitchell Adam’s, a Harvard lecturer, grandfather who served as a volunteer surgeon during the Civil War. In the article, “Adams was not a champion of hasty amputations, but argued for excision and other limb-saving measures. And he describes the everyday pressures of a country practice in Framingham, Mass” (Ireland, 1). This meant that not all surgeons at the time only wanted to amputate but strived for alternate methods. This new knowledge shows that some surgeons were more dedicated to thinking about the well-being of their patients than others and this opens up to other possibilities that may have occurred during the war. This allows an image to come to mind of a surgeon diligently operating on a soldier with care and compassion. However, even though there may be many possibilities, we can’t truly know every event that occurs during a
“No, I never had any experience in nursing,” said one; “but one just nurses, doesn’t one?” (pg 139). This quote would give readers an idea of what kind of aid that was given to the injured. The inexperienced nurses do not have proper training in safety and may cause the injured to only get worse. This would then lead to infectious diseases, such as smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria and more. “ Smallpox, scarlet fever, scarlatina, diphtheria rated along the great roads and in far villages, and already there were cases of cholera, which was sure to spread with the coming of the summer in the that devastated land; where battle fields, villages, and roads stank with lightly buried dead, and the streams were polluted with the bodies of men and horses,” (pg 143). Thus this would cause readers to have a negative view on the war due to lack of trained nurses and infectious diseases spreading.
Medical procedures and inventions are constantly being developed and made better. World War 1 was a time in which many of the procedures used today were first thought of and used. It was a time that inspired the doctors and nurses working today, not to mention the fact that it’s a topic that still affects everyone in the world today. Medical advancements made during World War 1 had a major impact on the world as evidenced by those advancements still in use today.
Most of these medical advances were a result and were an influence of World War I. Probably one of the most important medical advances was the discovery of penicillin in 1928 by a Scottish, microbiologist named Alexander Fleming, he had actually accidently discovered it, when he noticed that a bacteria culture he had been growing, had stopped, he realized that it had been contaminated by a rare form of mold called Penicillin and that it had killed the bacteria.
Have you ever wondered what life would be like in the Civil War? What soldiers went through? How they dealt with wounds and the medicine? Many of which lead to death because medicine was not advanced as it is now. Medicine has come a long way, since the days of the Civil War. In the book, The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, explains the life and how it went for people in the war. There are 3 people: Robert E. Lee, John Buford, and Buster Kilrain. These 3 characters faced medical problems and with very little medicine specialties it was very difficult for their health.
Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.
The scars of hard fought battles that destroyed businesses, homes and lands were a constant image in the south. Thousands of Union and CSA maimed amputees returned home with their physical damage clearly seen. The invisible scars on the hearts and bodies of the men weren’t as discernible. The hidden scars of seeing lives extinguished and the cries of the dying left scars that would make the able bodied weak.
We are all aware of the tragedy that took place in our nation from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War resulted in needless, devastating deaths of thousands of soldiers. What we might not be aware of, however, is the number one killer throughout those years. More soldiers died from this single calamity than battle wounds or blood loss. The catastrophe that tragically affected more soldiers than any other element of the war was disease.
All Americans, soldier or civilian, are benefiting from the medical services introduced during the Civil War, historians said(“Civil War helped”).
As America became involved we realized our medical strategy was practically non-existent, so we copied France and Britain’s plans. Our new medical strategy still contained problems that were in need of fixing. Some of these problems included sanitation and blood loss. Sanitation levels were dangerously low, baths were rare (as was laundering) , and the drinking water was contaminated with who-knows-what. But, we did know that this was causing rapidly-spreading diseases throughout camps. When a soldier would suffer a wound or was operated on there was often a decent portion of blood lost. But fear not, for solutions to these problems were soon discovered!
The first documented air ambulance was in 1910, and helped evacuate World War I soldiers who were wounded on the front.
During the Civil War they really worked towards building more hospitals and it drove the nursing profession to grow and have a large demand for nurses, but they were more like volunteers, such as wives or mistresses who were following their soldier men. Being a war nursing at that time was seen as a job for the lower class and no “respectable” woman could be seen in a military hospital. During the Civil War Phoebe Levy Pember, a young widow, went north to the confederate capital of Richmond. She eventually ran the world’s largest hospital, where on an average day she would supervise the treatment of 15,000 patients who were cared for by nearly 300 slave women. The war then led to a greater respect for nurses which was noticed by Congress. They then passed a bill providing pensions to Civil War nurses, but more importantly this led to the profe...