Medicine during the Civil War Chris Shrader Dr. Powell English 241 – Survey of American Literature 1 25 November 2014

Painkillers used by medics:  Chloroform was a new style of painkiller created in the 1840s that worked as an anesthetic.  Morphine, opium, and whiskey were the old-style painkillers used for wounded soldiers.  These were used to prevent the soldier from going into shock from the pain of battle wounds. historynet.com and civilwaracademy

Calomel Calomel was essentially a compound made actively with mercury that was used by doctors to treat a wide variety of problems with soldiers. Antibiotic cream for wounds. Diarrhea and dysentery. Used for many years as people did not know the adverse effects of mercury on the human body. There was not a traditional dose, so many patients received mercurial gangrene, which is the death and infection of cheek and mouth tissue. Pus was often thought to be a sign of healing and doctors would transfer pus from patients who had it to other patients in order to heal them. civilwartalk and civilwar.org

Pneumonia. Inflammatory infection of the lungs. Wound infections. Dysentery. Uncontrollable diarrhea that often lead to death by dehydration. Malaria. Mosquito-borne disease that causes strong fever and death. Small pox. Many bumps cover the skin with infection and cause infection, killing many of its victims.

Due to the large amount of wounded, amputations became the treatment of choice due to its quick nature. Chloroform was used as an anesthetic to prevent shock in the victims. Did not often make the patient fully unconscious. Doctors did not worry about sterility. The biggest focus was getting the amputation finished and moving onto the next patient. It’s estimated that as high as 75% of amputees recovered successfully. sonofthesouth.net Amputation Kit Commonly Used During The Civil War

Due to the massive amount of death and injury seen, many doctors suffered PTSD. The stress of surgery left a huge impact on the doctors and nurses. This much gore and death led many soldiers scarred physically and mentally, as many of them had scarring procedures done due to injuries. Many people were amputees, which in an industrial world, led to a life of unemployment.

Walt Whitman was a medic during the Civil War that later wrote about his horrific experiences during the war. “The Wound-Dresser.” Poem about seeing a very broken man who has been through multiple surgeries and amputations. It shows how ruined the man’s life is after the war. “A Sight in the Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim.” This poem shows that many people died during the war. The people who died did not deserve to die and Whitman compares them to being on the same spiritual level as Christ. Bedford Anthology

The mass amount of surgery and uses of medicine used during the war allowed doctors to see what worked and did not work. They were able to get better at performing surgery and allowing it to become more successful. Doctors learned quickly that calomel had very bad side effects.

References 1, Medical. "WHY." W H Y ? (n.d.): Civil War. Web. 24 Nov "Battlefield Medics: Saving Lives Under Fire." History Net Where History Comes Alive World US History Online Battlefield Medics Saving Lives Under Fire Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov "Calomel." American Civil War Forums. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov "Civil War Medicine - Civil War Academy - American Civil War." Civil War Academy American Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov "Civil War Medicine." Civil War Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov Whitman, Walt. "New Poetic Voices." Bedford Anthology of American Literature. By Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson. N.p.: Bedford, Print.