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How Did The Civil War Impacted Medicine

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The Civil War was a vital event that occurred in America’s historical consciousness and in order to understand the medical aspect of the war, first defining exactly what the war was about is fundamental. According to Dixon, the Civil War transpired in 1861-1865 and it was essentially about the “uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.” Significant battles occurred in Chickamauga, Shiloh in Tennessee, Fredericksburg in Virginia, and Antietam in Maryland, Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, and Atlanta in Georgia. Moreover, how did the Civil War impacted medicine raised important points to be considered such as the disease-causing …show more content…

Some Vaccines were ineffective, Bollet wrote “in civilian life, children were first vaccinated with material taken directly from a lesion on the udder of a cow or a calf infected with cowpox, which was caused by a virus similar enough to smallpox to confer immunity” though this proved effective army soldiers would vaccinate each other but because they did not sterilize and used antiseptic methods this method would often be fatal due to blood poisoning. However, the knowledge the physicians gain from this experience helps to shape how patients are vaccinated …show more content…

According to Devine about 2,642 cases of gangrene were reported. During the Civil War the physicians believed that gangrene was caused by some strands of streptococci, after the war bacteria gangrene became known as ‘gas gangrene’ and soldiers needed to be isolated. Gangrene was contagious, they blamed this on poorly ventilated rooms and crowded hospitals. Bollet wrote that some “tents were well ventilated and few patients, thus decreasing the opportunity for erysipelas and hospital gangrene to spread.” Erysipelas was a skin infection similar to gangrene. The Civil war physicians that studied gangrene lesion used the microscope which revealed dead tissue blood vessels in the area occluded with “stagnant blood” and these microscopic organisms they observed was a result of infection. According to Adams “the gangrene patient might see a black spot the size of a dime, appear on his healing wound, and watch with horrified interest its rapid spread until his whole leg or arm was but a rotten, evil-smelling mass of dead flesh” Even though they did not establish bacteriology the physicians understood that the disease was destructive. This led to studies of the disease and there was a demand for cleanliness and the use of disinfectants in hospitals. This demonstrates a positive impact of the Civil War on medicine because physicians

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The Civil War. Louis P. Masur’s book, The civil War: a Concise History, Is a book that gives an overview of the civil war from 18 to 1800, Providing multiple causes an consequences that emerged from the war. The book begins by reviewing the origins of the war. Chapter one covers the issues between northern and southern states and the tension over right and slave possession. The tension created a conflict that raised a number of political, social, and military events that then proceeded into a battle to abolish slavery from the colonies.

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Although sleep was a major problem for the confederate soldier's, disease and starvation also played a very major role in the conflicts prisoners faced. Some diseases that were common in prisoners were diarrhea, Typhoid fever, dysentery, scurvy, smallpox and itch. There was great malnutrition on soldiers. Majority of soldiers died due to lack of sanitation, food, and medical care.

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The Antebellum South had a seldom amount of doctors. Unfortunate for both slaves and their owners of this area, they lived in the marshland region, a place where mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases typically lived. Mosquitoes often spread these diseases, killing many slaves (Sullivan 1). The doctors had scarce knowledge about the deadly disease of the south and could do little to prevent the cause or spread of these illnesses. One of the suspected diseases or illnesses that the physicians claimed to harm the slaves was malnourishment.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

The Civil War was a battle of great importance to our history of the United States. On April 12th, 1861 this battle broke out between the Union States, North, and the Confederate States, such as the South. The Civil War took place all throughout the United states, and did not come to an end until the Union won the war on May 9, 1856. So, our question of “What caused the Civil War”, comes with three important answers. The three main causes of the Civil War between the North and the South were Economic, Social, and Political differences.

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1660 Words | 7 Pages

As soon as the Civil War started, injuries increased and diseases spread at a rapid pace. Sickness spread to millions. In fact, disease caused 65% of deaths, while war injuries caused up to 100% (“Disease”). Abundant amounts of medical issues caused medical procedures to evolve at a rapid speed. The medical advancements during the Civil War led to future medical technologies and procedures.

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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.

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660 Words | 3 Pages

Another account of this was the sulfonamide experimentation. In this test, bacteria such as streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus was inserted into abrasions intentionally inflected to the subject. To generate a related condition to the ones faced by the German Armed Forces, circulation was stopped from both sides of the injury. "Doctors" forced wood shavings into the abrasions to exacerbate the infection. These illnesses were then treated with sulfonamide and additional drugs.

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1252 Words | 6 Pages

The Civil War was caused by a combination of the problems of slavery, state’s rights, economic sectional differences, and political blunders and extremism. These factors combined in the 1850s to create a tense environment in which nearly every action could potentially lead to war. While the Civil War was inevitable, it was definitely partially caused by the extremism and poor political leadership of the preceding decade. However, these factors emerged out of cultural, economic, and political differences that were nearly a century in the making. There can be no doubt that extremism over issues of slavery factored into the causes of the Civil War.

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Many many deaths were blamed upon surgeons in the Civil War, but was it really their fault? Due to a low budget for equipment and the lack of surgeon training , Civil War surgeons were treated unfairly economically and socially after the war. The surgeons were socially affected because everyone treated them poorly. Bystanders outside of the war thought that the surgeons were being unhuman like and not giving their patients anesthesia.

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1911 Words | 8 Pages

The Civil War was filled with many diseases and deaths. Over 620,000 men lost their lives during this war; roughly two thirds of the casualties were caused by the lack of medical knowledge of many diseases. The remaining one third of the casualties was from the actual battle itself. The war became a turning point for many women interested in the medical field. The knowledge of medicine was the beginning of a new age during the Civil War, and the lack of it led to many gruesome deaths.

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The Civil War, a cause not only for the end of slavery, but to bring back the Confederacy as well. Many thought that simply because the North had a clear advantage over the South, such as population or weaponry, the war would end quickly, people picnicked on the first battles of war, watching the battles, but they didn’t fully realize how deadly new weapons had evolved. A single shot could easily kill anyone within range. People soon found how effective technology had become, and how well the South could fight back. Throughout the earlier years of the war the Confederates won nearly all their major battles, such as the very first battle at Fort Sumter, or the following one at Bull Run.

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During the late 1850’s and early 1860’s, people would gather for a family day at the local battlefield, after all, it was a spectacle. Unfortunately, those people didn’t know of the advancements that were being made in the field of warfare, and they paid a deadly price. The Civil War is best summed up by Christian Wolmar: By making use of innovations in communications, weaponry and transport, principally the railroads, the belligerents, especially the North, developed a new type of war that was fought with much wider use of technology and in a way that relied on mobility and flexibility far more than its predecessors. The Civil War was more than just a war between two opposing sides fighting for what they believed in.

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Between the years of 1800 and 1900, the North American social and political landscape changed by the presence of so many African people, who brought with them several centuries of civilization. Africanized America in terms of medicine. In this paper, I will be exploring the influence of Africans on the American traditions of medicine. Africans, and their descendants, contributed to the richness and fullness of American culture from its beginnings. Their contributions in early America, for which they have received little or no credit, include the development of vaccines (including vaccination for smallpox), cures for snake bites, birthing procedures, introduction of therapy, and cure for vaginal fistula, foundation of face surgery and introduction

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The civil war was mainly focused on the idea of the abolition of slavery, although states’ rights were also still a growing problem. Slaves were yet to be freed and many still craved their independence. This led to various uprisings right before and during the midst of the civil war (Walters 159). Most of these rebellions, being small and somewhat insignificant, merely led to a loss of lives rather than a gain of

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Remedies to try and stop disease didn’t work well due to the lack of proper toilets, clean water and drainage systems that led to outbreaks and disease. Medicine from the 1800’s was proven to be ineffective against these diseases. The wealthier miners were more resistant to these diseases because of proper sewage disposal and medicine. Accidents on the goldfields became very common. Children who helped their parents would easily die from cave-ins, mudslides, and poor air ventilation resulting in asthma and carbon monoxide poisoning.

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