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Received little training (2 years or less) and
little practice before being thrown into
helping soldiers
At the start of the war:
 Union had approx. 98 medical officers
 Confederates had approx. 24 medical officers
By 1865, 13,000 Union medical officers
4,000 Confederate officers
Also called “butchers”
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Approx. 360,222 Union soldiers died
Approx. 258,000 Confederates died
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Total: 618,222
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More died in the
Civil War than all
American Wars
combined!
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Could shatter any bone
Carried dirt that could cause bacteria and germs that would
infect the wound
Had rings around the bottom that caused the bullet to spin
when shot. This gave it a “football throw affect” which made
it more accurate
<< Civil War Bullet
Compare to
Revolutionary War
bullet >>
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Of the approximately 175,000 wounds to the
extremities received among Federal troops, about
30,000 led to amputation
If a soldier was hit in the arm and leg, on most
occasions the doctor would simply cut off that limb.
Some were able numb the pain through chloroform
which temporarily numbs the nerves in the body
The survival rate for amputations done in the first 24
hours after an injury was very good, with only 25%
mortality. When amputations were done after the
first 24 hours, the mortality rate doubled to 50%
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Those that did survive still had to fight
against infection
Most doctors did not quite know the
relationship between infection and dirty
equipment. They rarely, if ever, cleaned their
equipment or hands from patient to patient
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About half of the deaths from disease during
the Civil War were caused by:
Intestinal disorders
 Which was caused by typhoid fever, diarrhea, and
dysentery (inflamed colon)
 The remainder died from:
▪ pneumonia- inflamed lungs
▪ tuberculosis- bacterial infection of the lungs
Younger soldiers also struggled with measles, chickenpox,
mumps, and whooping cough.
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Abraham
Lincoln