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CIVIL WAR MEDICAL INFORMATION
INSTRUCTIONS: Make a bubble map containing 8 of the most important medical points
below. (10 Points)
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360,000 men died of disease during the Civil War. Two men died of sickness for everyone in
battle!
360,222 men in the Union Army died. Of this number, roughly 250,000 died of disease.
100,000 soldiers became addicted to opium, mainly Union troops. Opium was used for to
relieve pain and to cure dysentery.
In the Union Army there was one doctor for every 133 men. In the Confederate Army it was one
for every 324.
Men often feared the doctors and their cures more than being sick.
When men first joined the army, they were exposed to people with disease they had never been
around such as whooping cough, chicken pox, mumps. And scarlet fever.
The three main killers in both armies were malaria, dysentery/diarrhea.
9/10’s of all Confederate soldiers got dysentery.
Dysentery often came from building latrines up river from the drinking water.
Disease also spread because men went to the bathroom everywhere in camp and not just in the
latrines.
Men with dysentery were often giving “salts” and castor oil, which made the diarrhea worse.
204 men were killed by measles in three months in three Mississippi regiments
Most men had lice. Lice carry typhoid fever. ¼ of all sickness in Confederate armies was caused
by typhoid fever.
Doctors believed the misty air in a swamp caused malaria. They had no clue mosquitoes did.
Blue mass was a “medicine” made up of mercury and chalk that was used to cure everything.
The South actually traded cotton at Memphis to the North to get opium, ether, and chloroform.
The head Surgeon General of the Union army stated that
-hypodermic needles were useless
-thermometers were useless
-stethoscopes were a plaything
During the Civil War there was an ambulance corps.
The poor diet made men sick. They ate nothing but hardtack, salt pork, and fried meat.
Mini ball bullets were of such a large caliber that they carried dirt, clothing, and many other
things into the wound. This led to infection
90% of wounds in battle were from rifle bullets.
Men rarely took a bath in the field.
Another problem was that men were only provided with a thin blanket. They endured bitter
cold at times which weakened them.
After Gettysburg, amputated limbs were piled five feet high.