Sanitation Conditions

After the Civil War, several surgeons fought to establish guidelines for sanitation at hospitals, mainly as a result of their experience at the filthy field hospitals. Although surgeons had at their disposal antiseptics like iodine, carbolic acid, bichloride of mercury and others, many had to work to speedily to avail themselves of these. During surgery, surgeons would rarely clean instruments, due to the scarcity of water at the camps. Instruments that dropped to the floor would be rinsed in cold water or wiped on the surgeon's coat, which was covered in blood and pus. Doctors rarely washed their hands or instruments before working on a patient, and to locate a bullet or shell fragment, they would usually probe the wound with their fingers.

Wound dressings consisted of moist cotton and wet bandages. The typical reaction to the germs that the doctor passed to each patient was "surgical fever," or staphylococcus or streptococcus infections that released poisons into the bloodstream. Gangrene, which rotted away the flesh, was also common after surgery, the main reason why most doctors chose amputation over surgery.

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

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