How Did The Letterman Change Throughout The Civil War

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During the beginning of the of the Civil War, there were many medical advancements, like the quinine a drug that helped fight Malaria. The doctors had just recently discovered bacteria and antisepsis. With this new knowledge, they began to change the way they treated patients and organized areas for treating the wounded. They started to think about things like cleanliness and how to set up a hospital. As the Civil War went on, it was less of a battle to see who was winning the fights and more to see who could keep their men healthy. When the North appointed Hammond, Letterman and allowed women to play larger roles in the hospitals, they were able to tip the balance in their favor and help them win the war.
One of the changes that the North …show more content…

His first change was to the ambulances; the ambulances that had been used in battle were not serving their true purpose. They were being be used to carry supplies into battle, once this was done they would just sit around and wait until they were needed. It was common for them be taken and used to carry ammunition. Lettermen changed the control of them, now they were able to bring in more medical supplies and stay until they were needed to serve their true purpose and carry the wounded off the battlefield. With this change, the number of wounded soldiers who would survive went up drastically (Freemon …show more content…

Many of the surgeons could be pushed aside by higher ranking officers, even though they had much less skill than the surgeons. His new idea was to make it bases on skill, so it did not matter what rank you were and it gave the more practiced doctors more power (Freemon #75). With this change it made it so the role that the doctors had in the army was increased greatly. Now that it was based on skill, they could continue to help the soldiers. With a larger role in the war, the doctors could do more and become a much more trusted and valued part of the army. As the roles that the doctors were playing in the army was change so were the social norms of being a

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