Uncover some common notions on the medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, with a focus on the necessity of limb amputation
Uncover some common notions on the medical and surgical care during the American Civil War, with a focus on the necessity of limb amputation
Overview of medicine in the American Civil War and the use of such procedures as limb amputation.
© Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
When we think of Civil War medicine, we tend to think of some fairly common notions. We tend to think of relatively ignorant doctors hacking off the arms and legs of patients, without really understanding why or really even needing to. We tend to have this idea that all of the Civil War hospitals were relatively filthy affairs, they were dirty. That there was no understanding of sanitation. And we certainly think of people getting medications that by today's standards we just consider absolutely barbaric. Things like lead or arsenic, which today we know are poisons.
And because of that I think we tend to have a skewed opinion of just how advanced or not advanced Civil War medicine was. And I think it helps to step back for a second and take a look at the reality and understand a couple of things about Civil War medicine.
First of all, the conflict came about before we had what is now universally known as the germ theory. Most diseases were understood not to come from bacteria or from viruses, as we know them today, but rather from bad air. If you would almost think of it-- things that floated in the air. Now we know that bacteria will do that, but back then they were thinking more gases or poisons. Poisons in the air. And they actually called that miasms.
So when you have the miasmic theory of medicine, we're not talking about giving you a pill that will kill the germ or stop the bacteria or stop the virus in your body. We're actually talking about counteracting a poison. So using one chemical to counteract something in the body that's doing something else. And because of this, we tend to have a fairly negative view of Civil War medicine.
But let's take the most common thing that's out there. Most people if you go into any crowd and you say, what's the number one thing you know about Civil War medicine, the hands immediately go up and they say amputation was the most common surgery. And that's in fact true. Let's analyze for a minute why.
The bullets in the Civil War by modern standards were enormous. They were greater than half an inch in diameter and some of them weighed upwards close to an ounce. And when you're talking about an entire ounce or half an ounce or 3/4 of an ounce of solid lead moving at 800 to 900 feet per second and having that crash into a bone in your body. What happens is you have a tremendous amount of crushing power and that crushing power translates into bones that are not simply broken, but rather they're shattered.
Now in today's modern world, that's not a problem. We can put you into an x-ray machine, take a look at where all the broken pieces went, remove them from your body and save your life. In the 19th century however, there's so much dirt in the uniform that gets embedded into the wound and there's no antibiotics to fight those infections. Infection is an immediate problem. And if we don't cut that arm or leg off, you're going to get an infection and it will be fatal.
Doctors knew this. The best possible way to save a life, the best possible way was to amputate the limb. Get as much blood flow as possible to that limb by cutting off a large portion of it. And by doing that we're hopefully going to fight the infection or prevent it from happening and save the man's life. So amputation wasn't something done by ignorant doctors. It was something done by doctors who knew that it was the best possibe way to save a life.
It was also the quickest way. And that's important. If you have a 100 men laying on the floor waiting for treatment, you could do an operation that takes longer that could save a life, but can the last guy wait that extra few minutes while you're doing the operation. Possibly not. So amputation not only saved the life of the man on the table, he also saved the life of the man who was waiting to get to the operating table. So when you think of Civil War medicine, don't just think of filth, don't just think of amputations, but think of other things. Think of the fact that those amputations saved lives.
Think of the fact that believe it or not the hospitals were actually very sanitary, even by modern standards today. They were cleaned regularly. Understand that they invented a whole new dietetics system, where diet was used-- as we know today very well-- diet was used to help the body heal itself. So improvements in sanitation and diet, along with the operations that were done in the Civil War, not nearly as barbaric as you think.
In the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, we talk quite often about the idea that Civil War medicine is not what you think. If you look at the reality, you'll find out it's a lot better than most people think. Civil War medicine was really a revolution that brought us to where we are today.
And because of that I think we tend to have a skewed opinion of just how advanced or not advanced Civil War medicine was. And I think it helps to step back for a second and take a look at the reality and understand a couple of things about Civil War medicine.
First of all, the conflict came about before we had what is now universally known as the germ theory. Most diseases were understood not to come from bacteria or from viruses, as we know them today, but rather from bad air. If you would almost think of it-- things that floated in the air. Now we know that bacteria will do that, but back then they were thinking more gases or poisons. Poisons in the air. And they actually called that miasms.
So when you have the miasmic theory of medicine, we're not talking about giving you a pill that will kill the germ or stop the bacteria or stop the virus in your body. We're actually talking about counteracting a poison. So using one chemical to counteract something in the body that's doing something else. And because of this, we tend to have a fairly negative view of Civil War medicine.
But let's take the most common thing that's out there. Most people if you go into any crowd and you say, what's the number one thing you know about Civil War medicine, the hands immediately go up and they say amputation was the most common surgery. And that's in fact true. Let's analyze for a minute why.
The bullets in the Civil War by modern standards were enormous. They were greater than half an inch in diameter and some of them weighed upwards close to an ounce. And when you're talking about an entire ounce or half an ounce or 3/4 of an ounce of solid lead moving at 800 to 900 feet per second and having that crash into a bone in your body. What happens is you have a tremendous amount of crushing power and that crushing power translates into bones that are not simply broken, but rather they're shattered.
Now in today's modern world, that's not a problem. We can put you into an x-ray machine, take a look at where all the broken pieces went, remove them from your body and save your life. In the 19th century however, there's so much dirt in the uniform that gets embedded into the wound and there's no antibiotics to fight those infections. Infection is an immediate problem. And if we don't cut that arm or leg off, you're going to get an infection and it will be fatal.
Doctors knew this. The best possible way to save a life, the best possible way was to amputate the limb. Get as much blood flow as possible to that limb by cutting off a large portion of it. And by doing that we're hopefully going to fight the infection or prevent it from happening and save the man's life. So amputation wasn't something done by ignorant doctors. It was something done by doctors who knew that it was the best possibe way to save a life.
It was also the quickest way. And that's important. If you have a 100 men laying on the floor waiting for treatment, you could do an operation that takes longer that could save a life, but can the last guy wait that extra few minutes while you're doing the operation. Possibly not. So amputation not only saved the life of the man on the table, he also saved the life of the man who was waiting to get to the operating table. So when you think of Civil War medicine, don't just think of filth, don't just think of amputations, but think of other things. Think of the fact that those amputations saved lives.
Think of the fact that believe it or not the hospitals were actually very sanitary, even by modern standards today. They were cleaned regularly. Understand that they invented a whole new dietetics system, where diet was used-- as we know today very well-- diet was used to help the body heal itself. So improvements in sanitation and diet, along with the operations that were done in the Civil War, not nearly as barbaric as you think.
In the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, we talk quite often about the idea that Civil War medicine is not what you think. If you look at the reality, you'll find out it's a lot better than most people think. Civil War medicine was really a revolution that brought us to where we are today.