Anesthesia During The Civil War

The Civil War was bloody and brutal, killing around 620,000 people. This was around 2% of the entire population of the United states at the time. The Civil War split the country pinning North against South over the issue of slavery. Many things such as the Kansas-Nebraska act and the eventual election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 led to the succession of 11 southern states because of the fear that Lincoln would abolish slavery. The war lasted from 1861 to 1865, and eventually, the northern Union states came out victorious under Ulysses S. Grant who later became president because America loves it’s war heroes. Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, was not killed or imprisoned, but the 13th amendment was ratified, ending slavery. During
Former to the Civil War was the medical “Heroic” era, with bloodletting and blistering. Bloodletting was still used in the beginning of the Civil War, but by the end it was used very seldom. Anesthesia became prevalent, and was used in over 80,000 cases. Opium, chloroform, and ether were used, and regularly it was put on a cloth and help over the patient’s face until they passed out. Whiskey and alcohol were given to patients because it reduced pain. A couple treatments were more harmful, some contained mercury, and Fowler’s solution, used to remedy a variety of diseases, contained arsenic. These treatments delivered medicine into a “middle ages” of sorts. Some of these treatments, such as anesthesia, are still practiced today. Even though there were treatments, there needed to be some way to coordinate all of the people that needed to be
During the Civil War people believed in miasms, which was bad air, rather than the germ theory that states ailments comes from germs. Because of this, things were very unsanitary. Doctors often wouldn’t wash hands, and would use bloody knives to work on patients. Blood poisoning, sepsis, and Pyemia, all blood diseases, were very frequent. Out of those who survived wounds because of medication, many died later on because of infection. Most soldiers also had very meager diets, which didn’t help. Because of the atrocious conditions many soldiers lost their lives. Those who did survive had very intriguing stories to tell of the things that went on inside the