The Wounded

In the field hospital, the wounded were usually separated into three categories: mortally wounded, slightly wounded and surgical cases. After a battle, men with stretchers would go out to the field to take anyone who was wounded to the dressing station if they could not walk or had not been carried there by another soldier. There, the assistant surgeon would give the man a glass of liquor and sometimes rubbed morphine in the wound. The patient often had a dose of chloroform right before surgery or amputation.

The surgeon usually treated the surgical cases; the mortally and slightly wounded were left to their fates. Most of the surgical cases involved arm and leg wounds, which included the majority of wounds. Head, neck and chest wounds were typically fatal. Most of the extremity wounds were caused by the Minnie ball, which often tore off large pieces of flesh and crushed bones, so surgeons typically performed amputations.

Because of the filthy conditions and the lack of sanitation of instruments, many injured soldiers died of infection or gangrene. Usually pus would appear in about three to four days, a sign that Staphylococcus aureus had already set in the tissue. To treat the injured, the surgeon would remove the bullet or shell fragment from the wound before deciding to seal the wound or amputate the limb.

Sealing the wound usually enclosed bacteria in the body, so even though a patient would stop bleeding, a few days later he would begin running a high fever and be dead in about three days from blood poisoning. Doctors would seal the wound with collodion, usually without sterilizing it first. Later doctors discovered that if they painted iodine on the edges of the wound, infection was less likely.

Amputations were a more popular treatment for those whose limbs were more damaged. Two types of amputations were available: the "flap" or the "circular" operation. The flap enlarged the wound; the circular kept a small area open to infection. The sight at a field hospital was garish; one could hear an occasional scream, usually from the soldiers watching their comrades undergo amputations, and limbs were piled high beside the surgeon's table.

Sanitation Conditions >>

Source: Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War
Amputation Kit

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