Medicine in the civil war essay

One of the major accomplishments during the Civil War was the establishment of an effective hospital system that threaded the wounded and diseased through a series of continuously improving treatments and rehabilitation. In the decade before the war, American military action consisted of Native American skirmishes and the few wounded were treated at the various forts in small infirmaries. In cities, hospitals were for the indigent and working classes, and had a reputation as places to die. It would not be until the last decade of the nineteenth century that hospitals were looked upon as places of healing.

Civil War term papers Disclaimer: Free essays on Civil War posted on this site were donated by anonymous users and are provided for informational use only. In the early years of the Civil War it became apparent that disease would be the greatest killer.

Twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease as were killed in combat. This was due to unsanitary and filthy conditions, untrained Medical personnel and sloppy medical examination of new recruits.

One alarming fact from the Civil War wassoldiers died from illnesses that included: The sanitary conditions that existed during the civil war were shocking by modern standards.

Medical Advancements During the Civil War Essay Sample

Unsanitary hospitals and camps kept the wounded soldiers in large groups, which were ideal places for infection, fevers and disease to spread. Soldiers were not immune to childhood diseases like the measles and small pox.

Medical science had not yet discovered the importance of antiseptics in preventing infection. Water was contaminated and soldiers sometimes ate unripened or spoiled food.

Because of frequent shortages of water, surgeons often went days without washing their hands or instruments, thereby passing germs from one patient to another as he treated them. The Civil War was fought at the end of the Middle Ages; therefore the Medical Corps was unqualified in all aspects of medical care.

Little was known about what caused disease, how to stop it from spreading, or how to cure it. Surgical techniques ranged from the barbaric to the barely competent.

The men in the Civil War were cared for by underqualified, understaffed, and undersupplied medical corps, who were often referred to as quacks and butchers by the press.

During this period a physician received minimal training. Nearly all the older doctors served as apprentices in lieu of formal education. Even those who attended one of the few medical schools were poorly trained. The average medical student trained for two years or less, received no clinical experience, and was given virtually no laboratory instruction.

The recruiting process allowed underage, overage men and those in noticeably poor health to join the army on both sides. Two hundred thousand recruits originally accepted for service were judged physically unfit and discharged, either because they had fallen ill or because a routine examination revealed their frail condition.

Throughout the war, both the South and the North struggled to improve the level of medicine care given to their men. In many ways, their efforts assisted in the birth of modern medicine in the United States. More complete records on medical and surgical activities were kept during the war than ever before, doctors became more adept at surgery and at the use of anesthesia, and most importantly, a greater understanding of the relationship between cleanliness, diet and disease was gained not only by the medical establishment but by the public at large.By Alfred J.

Bollet 6/12/ • Civil War Times. Union Colonel Thomas Reynolds lay in a hospital bed after the July Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia.

Gathered around him, surgeons discussed the possibility of amputating his wounded leg. Try Our Friends At: The Essay Store. Free English School Essays. We have lots of essays in our essay database, so please check back here frequently to .

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Essay title: Medicine During the Civil War 1861-1865

Letter, 2 January Accession 4 pages. Letter, 2 January , from a soldier named Billie at Petersburg, Virginia, to his sister Maggie describing the wintery weather conditions around Petersburg during the siege of Charlottesville Woolen Mills. Charlottesville was founded in and named in honor of Queen Charlotte, consort of Great Britain's King George benjaminpohle.com Thomas Jefferson established the University of Virginia about a mile west of town.

On the eve of the Civil War, Charlottesville's population was only about 3,, but it had surpassed . The Civil War was one of the most tragic wars in American history. More Americans died then in all other wars combined. Brother fought .