1. Medical Care in the Civil War

3. Doctors
Received little training (2 years or less) and little practice before being thrown into helping soldiers
At the start of the war:
Union had approx. 98 medical officers
Confederates had approx. 24 medical officers
By 1865, 13,000 Union medical officers
4,000 Confederate officers
Also called “butchers”

4. Total Civil War Deaths Approx. 360,222 Union soldiers died
Approx. 258,000 Confederates died
Total: 618,222
More died in the
Civil War than all
American Wars
combined!

5. Minie Ball Could shatter any bone
Carried dirt that could cause bacteria and germs that would infect the wound
Had rings around the bottom that caused the bullet to spin when shot. This gave it a “football throw affect” which made it more accurate
<< Civil War Bullet
Compare to
Revolutionary War bullet >>

7. Amputation

8. Amputation
Of the approximately 175,000 wounds to the extremities received among Federal troops, about 30,000 led to amputation
If a soldier was hit in the arm and leg, on most occasions the doctor would simply cut off that limb.
Some were able numb the pain through chloroform which temporarily numbs the nerves in the body
The survival rate for amputations done in the first 24 hours after an injury was very good, with only 25% mortality.  When amputations were done after the first 24 hours, the mortality rate doubled to 50%

9. Those that did survive still had to fight against infection
Most doctors did not quite know the relationship between infection and dirty equipment. They rarely, if ever, cleaned their equipment or hands from patient to patient

11. Disease
About half of the deaths from disease during the Civil War were caused by:
Intestinal disorders
Which was caused by typhoid fever, diarrhea, and dysentery (inflamed colon)
The remainder died from:
pneumonia- inflamed lungs
tuberculosis- bacterial infection of the lungs
Younger soldiers also struggled with measles, chickenpox, mumps, and whooping cough.

13. Ambulance

15. Pictures of the Civil War
Abraham Lincoln

16. Musicians

17. Union Army

18. Stacked Cannon Balls

19. Fort Richardson

20. Navy

22. Weapons

26. Ironclad