During the beginning of the Civil War, germ theory was still in its infancy. Conditions in camps were woefully inadequate leading to disease and infection. Camps were often littered with waste, food, and trash. Medical knowledge had no yet encompassed the use and importance of antiseptic surgery, sanitation, and hygiene. As a result, thousands of people died from diseases such as typhoid and dysentery. Combined with undeveloped surgery practices and lack of medicinal knowledge, any gunshot wound meant certain amputation or even death.
High demands of surgeons swept the battlefields during the 19th century. Thus, it lead to a less than adequate education for surgeons. In fact, most surgeons had never treated a gunshot wound or performed surgery. In addition, they had basically no knowledge of antibiotics yet as penicillin was yet to be invented (in 1928) and they also did not know how disease spread. As a result, for every soldier that died in battle, two died from disease or infection. One of the most infamous mixtures medicine used to treat bowel problems was called "blue mass" which was essentially a mixture of mercury and chalk. In addition, drugs such as opium were used to treat a variety of respiratory problems.
Battlefield surgery practices during the Civil War seemed to be akin to that of butchering an animal. Antiseptic surgery pioneered by Lister would occur long after the era of the Civil War; thus, all surgery was septic. Doctors operated with pus stained coats and used their bloody fingers as probes. High demand of surgeons and lack of time and water also meant that surgeons did not wash their hands or their instruments. Surgeons would work all throughout the night leaving piles of severed limbs and body parts. One of the most destructive weapons used during the Civil War was the Minié ball. In contrast to regular round lead bullets, the Minié ball could easily pierce flesh often literally shattering bones on contact. Its rotating design meant that it could also be fired at range destroying muscles, arteries, and tissue beyond repair. On contact with bone, it tended to expand literally exploding making injuries more devastating. Poor medical knowledge meant that often times, the only solution was to amputate the limb. Thus, the regularity in which surgeons severed limbs with bone saws led them to be dubbed "Sawbones".
As seen below, one common way of severing limbs was called the flap operation in which an incision was made below and above the site leaving a flap of skin to cover the severed limb. leaving a "drainage hole". However more often than not, amputation would lead to gangrene, a condition in which the skin rots when bodily tissues die.
However despite all its brutality, anesthesia was common and widespread. The most often used was chloroform in which patients would gradually breathe it in until they passed out.
Overall, the Civil War was a brutal and horrendous leaving severed limbs one of the most common sights on the battlefield.
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