The Civil War birthed an amazing new topic that is extremely important to us in our daily life today. The Civil War made people create new ideas in the medical field that affect us in so many ways. Everything that these people discovered we still use now, but the ideas might be a little more advanced today. Many ideas and other advancements helped doctors treat soldiers faster, which was extremely important due to the Civil War’s amazingly high death toll. The death toll was the highest it had ever been in a previous war involving America. Because of this, new products, new ideas, and new ways to treat patients emerged from the terrible war that our country encountered. These ideas led me to think that medicine and other medical advancements were extremely important to the Civil War and still affect us today. Shifting gears a little bit, there were many people who were important to this time period of medical innovation. One man named Dr. Jonathan Letterman was responsible for many inventions like the Ambulance to ER System. On the same idea of ways to better treat civil war patients, a new idea was formed. Before the Civil War surgeons tried to save limbs that were shot, or completely useless. They would put maggots on the limb to eat of all of the infectious stuff that got on or into the limb. But, the amount of people that were dying, or not being saved, was unbelievably high. So, surgeons and doctors created a new idea on the battlefield that would save the soldiers lives faster. This idea had no specific name except amputation because the people would cut the limbs off to save the lives of the soldiers. The surgeons would first soak a cloth in chloroform to try and knock out the patient, which would dull the p... ... middle of paper ... ...evements still live today. If it weren’t for Dr. Jonathan Letterman, you wouldn’t be able to be taken to a hospital quickly and effectively. Also, our soldiers today would receive little to no care on the battlefield. To add everything up, Medicine and other medical advancements were extremely important to the Civil War, and these ideas and inventions still affect our lives today. Works Cited 1.http://news.discovery.com/history/us-history/civil-war-modern-medicine-110331.htm 2.http://mentalfloss.com/article/31326/5-medical-innovations-civil-war 3.http://www.civilwarmed.org/national-museum-of-civil-war-medicine/exhibits/ 4.http://www.pennlive.com/bodyandmind/index.ssf/2012/11/civil_war_medical_procedures_h.html 5.http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/quackery/quack8.html 6.http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/jonathan-letterman.html
The conditions in Valley Forge were terrible like ¨ poor food, cold weather, some of them would vomit half their time.” They really need help because soldiers were just getting sicker. Dr waldo suffered during his time at Valley Forge but stayed loyal to the continental army. He was like inspiring when i read how he stayed through all the pain at Valley Forge and he didn't quit.
The Civil War had a very large affect on all of the States. It changed men from gentlemen that went to church every Sunday and never cussed to people who rarely went to church and cussed all the time. Some of the people in the war were also very corrupt and did not do things as they should be done. The way that the enemy was looked at was even changed. All of these things were talked about in "The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd".
...the most horrifying part of the surgeries was the absence of anesthesia and antiseptics. Each hurt man would have to be held down as he experienced excruciating pain, but many passed out and later died of infection. Finally, I realized how much suffering two opposing forces can bring upon one country: dying soldiers, devastated country, and unbearable sadness. For example, Foote describes the mile-long lines of men from the South and North opposing each other. Each side would test the cannon's range, and, after a while, would be destroying huge groups of men and creating gaping holes in the earth. As a northern infantryman said as he watched the mini balls cut down his friends, "they died for nothing" (p.191). The front line would also shoot grapeshot that would burst into thousands of tiny pieces and destroy the other army's front line. All of Shiloh was about two sides of America fighting over slaver! y and secession. About 26, 000 men died without respect, a prayer, or a marked grave. Shiloh is a historically accurate book that would interest anyone who likes to read about the Civil War and wants to understand the pain and suffering our country went through on April 6-7, 1862.
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
Every war, though happens for a reason and bring a better change, is often gruesome. The Civil War broke America in two groups and, at the time, was the war with the most casualties and injured men. As the fight to preserve the Union progressed, so did a number of other areas, such as weaponry and artillery. The advanced technology produced through the Civil War assisted in increasing number of casualties. The North was more fortuitous than the South in multitudinous ways. One of which includes the fact that their industrial society allowed them to produce a larger amount of weapons of a higher quality. One of the major reasons the Union triumphantly defeated the Confederate army was because of their more superior types of weapons.
“War at its basic level has always been about soldiers. Nations rose and fell on the strength of their armies and the men who filled the ranks.” This is a very powerful quote, especially for the yet young country of the United States, for it gives credit where credit is truly due: to the men who carried out the orders from their superiors, gave their blood, sweat and tears, and in millions of cases their lives while fighting for ideals that they believed their country or government was founded upon, and to ensure the continuation of these ideals. Up until the end of the 20th Century, they did so in the worst of conditions, and this includes not only the battle scene, but also every day life. In this essay, I will examine the daily life of the Civil War soldier, including: identifying WHO he was, drill and training, camp life, supplies he used, clothes he wore, food he ate, on the battlefield, psychological aspects including morale and his attitude toward the war, and his sexual life. That’s right, you read it correctly: HIS SEX LIFE!
There is no doubt that these events have improved and advanced the science of medicine as a whole and that lives have been improved and saved through the availability of healthcare within the system that has been created. The introduction and availability of antibiotics alone has restored to good health countless individuals who in the century before would have certainly died from bacterial infection.
The Civil War in America was so much more than just a war. This event brought along with it so many changes. Changes like abolition of slavery, voting rights for all men, Medical advances like improved surgical skills, hospital organization, anesthetic and many more. The Civil War is at the center of the abolition of slavery although that is not the only advancement that America made toward the future during that time. The Civil War was a major turning point for America. It pushed America into the future and it couldn’t have happened without influential leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, and William A. Hammond. Each one of these influential and strong leaders made others see their great ideas and their strong leadership skills helped them to gain followers to implement these ideas and actions. All of those factors helped to advance American into the future in different ways.
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.
In 1865 before an operation, he cleansed a leg wound first with carbolic acid, and performed the surgery with sterilized (by heat) instruments. The wound healed, and the patient survived. Prior to surgery, the patient would need an amputation. However, by incorporating these antiseptic procedures in all of his surgeries, he decreased postoperative deaths. The use of antiseptics eventually helped reduce bacterial infection not only in surgery but also in childbirth and in the treatment of battle wounds.
The EMS system goes back to the Crusades in the 11th century. The Knights of St. John were instructed by Arab and Greek doctors for first-aid treatment. The Knights were the first medical responders of that time, treating both sides of the war. The injured were taken to tents to be treated further. In 1792, the chief physician in Napoleons Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, designed and created the “flying ambulance”, which was a special type of carriage staffed with a group of medical personnel made to access every part of the battlefield. Then, in 1797, he also instituted the first pre-hospital system designed to triage and transport the wounded in the field to proper aid stations. Larrey’s actions and groundbreaking ideas helped increase the chances for survival among wounded soldiers and ultimately benefitted Napoleon’s conquest efforts.
Although with everything this world has to offer, there are disadvantages, and modern medicine does not fall short but the fact is that there are a lot of advantages that accompanies this course of treatment for the entire society, starting from each individual to the economic state of the modern society, modern medicine is making its mark in a positive way. By identifying and preventing illnesses, modern medicine has greatly improved lives, improved the economy and also diagnosed underlying illnesses in the modern society.