Anesthesia In Civil War

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In the American Civil War the advancement of weaponry caused many injuries and deaths. This led to infection and the advancement of surgical procedures and amputation.The most common Civil War surgery was amputation. Anesthesia was used in 95% of Civil War surgeries. By the Civil War anesthetic qualities of chloroform and ether were well known (Reimer). Unfortunately, the confederates soldiers had a severe shortage of medical care provided. First anesthesia and amputations, it was very difficult to determine the total number of cases in which anesthetics were used during the war (“Civil War Surgeries”). Anesthesia use in the war totaled approximately 80,000 cases for the Union and 54,000 for the Confederates (Burns). It