American Civil War was one of the bloodiest battles in history.
But it wasn’t the muskets, landmines, or the canons that killed most of the soldiers.
Ironically the biggest killing machine of civil war was the ones who were “supposed” to save them.
MEDICS! The tale of medics of the Civil War is one of the nuttier stories of war medicines in human
history. It’s the proverbial dark ages that led to the revolutionization of American pharmaceuticals
and the Medical Industry. However, it didn’t happen without a lot of trial and error
which led to the sacrifice of an enormous number of young American men who became part of this
gruesome war that shaped America as we know the land today. Hi, this is Nutty History and today
we will share with you the interesting details from the life of a medic during
the trying times of the Civil War. But before we get started, be sure that you subscribe to
the Nutty History channel and click the bell to stay updated with our upcoming content.
The Civil War outbreak was a wakeup call for the United States’ Medical Industry.
Suddenly the whole nation on both the Union and Confederacy front
was facing a huge shortage of supply of Doctors and medical supplies as well.
Things were worse on one side than the other for rebelling against their own government
and it resulted in blockades making their supplies restricted. The Union was responding to war by
building army hospitals in every state to cover up at least some of the medical deficiency. But
over the Confederate lines, even hygiene was a major challenge for Medics and their staff.
Frankly, hygiene was so bad for both sides that eventually they just stopped caring.
The Battle of The Bull Run, which was the bloodiest battle in the to-that-date history
of the United States of America, caught the nation with its pants down in the matters of infirmaries.
Both sides also realized after the battle that the war would be longer and more brutal than
they were anticipating and that there will be more casualties. This led to some rushed decisions as
the Union tried to recruit as many surgeons and medics to fulfill the medical needs of the army.
The rank of Medical Director of the army was also created and surgeon Charles S. Tripler took the
command. He made the presence of medics in traveling armies necessary. However,
despite the huge demand for professional medical practitioners and surgeons, there were not enough
qualified people to fill up the positions. This ultimately led to the recruitment of a majority
of underqualified and under-experienced medical personnel. On average, Civil War medics had “only”
two years of Medical School to show for education. Perfect time to go to med-school you might say? I
think not...the education itself was inadequate in hindsight. The state of medical schools was
so poor that even Harvard medical school had no stethoscope or microscope until the war ended.
Most of these medical school graduates also had no experience in surgery, major operations,
or for worse treating battle wounds. They were fresh out of school and mostly ignorant
of many health conditions that were possible on the battleground. On top of that, simply to
meet the numbers, Medical boards admitted many ‘quacks’ with little to no qualification. This
opportunity enticed many novice practitioners who were eager to jump on some of the more
‘adventurous’ medical procedures which they were not allowed to practice in any other circumstance.
Though the number of such inexperienced but enthusiastic novice practitioners was
significantly less than the qualified surgeons present in military medical camps, the notoriety
of their quirky treatments spread fast and wide. The rumors about inhumane medical practices
along with the threat of being infected with a disease and overall lack of care and patience from
the staff which was constantly overburdened with patients made the visit to medical camps a bigger
nightmare than facing the enemy in the war itself. Some might say it was almost the equivalent of
flipping a coin of death… Bone saws were used more frequently than sutures or forceps. In fact,
scalpels, one of the most common tools you can find among surgeons while they are at work today,
were substituted back then by bloody, rusted knives. In Confederate camps, the lack of
anesthesia and chloroform was met by using alcohol like Whiskey and Rum which also led to the abuse
and Medics and Surgeons getting drunk on duty themselves. But hey, when you are pulled from your
loving home and forced to take care of wailing and dying soldiers who are too high in number and have
too little hope to live… you… would want a drink or two to get through the day as well possibly.
Abuse of pain healer alternatives like Morphine and Opium in the treatment of patients and among
surgeons was also a common occurrence. The image of Medics among common soldiers was formed by them
carrying long knives and bone saws and the loud scream of help and torment coming from patients’
beds. It is not hard to imagine why those soldiers came up to the conclusion that every medic was a
straight-up real-life version of Dexter. It led to Medics of Civil War gaining infamous
nicknames like Butchers or barbers. However, contrary to popular belief which paints these
medics in the somewhat wrong light, most medics were devoted to their cause of saving lives,
despite not every one of them being good at it. These medics, professionals at their job or not,
saved millions of lives even if with their botched up and rushed methods.
Of the approximately 175,000 wounds to the extremities received among Federal troops,
about 30,000 led to amputation; roughly the same proportion occurred in the Confederacy.
Amputation was the most common and most often performed surgery on both sides of the conflict.
One of the eyewitnesses’ accounts pictured what amputation surgery looked like during civil wars:
“Tables about breast high had been erected upon which the screaming victims were having legs and
arms cut off. The surgeons and their assistants, stripped to the waist and bespattered with blood,
stood around, some holding the poor fellows while others, armed with long, bloody knives and saws,
cut and sawed away with frightful motions, throwing the mangled limbs on a pile nearby as
soon as removed.” That kinda sounds like a scene from a gnarly horror movie like Texas Chainsaw
Massacre but that does not mean the surgeons had any choice in this matter. The most shocking
fact about injuries in the civil war that led to amputation was not mostly caused by cannonballs,
or landmines, or hand grenades. The cause of such injuries was actually a small but dreadful,
Minnie ball. This minuscule bullet fired from the musket was able to cause an enormous wound
on impact. This round projectile from hell was so heavy that an abdominal or a head wound meant
immediate death and if shot from a closer range the bullet would shatter bones into smithereens.
Unfortunately, American Surgeons and especially those who were on military duty
simply did not have the skills or techniques to deal with such wounds in any better way than
quick and easy amputations. And given Minnie Ball was the cause of a majority of injuries,
these doctors always had a limb or two to deal with. So, it would not be too rash
to go out on a limb and just accept that they opted to chop over patching. However,
Minnie ball wounds were so disastrous that even if victims survived injury or surgery, there
was yet another demon waiting, gangrene. Which brings us to the cause of gangrene, Sanitation.
Sanitation was a huge challenge for early civil war medics and apart from a certain
number of places, the unhygienic environment remained an undefeated nemesis for medics,
throughout the war. The conditions in which these doctors and nurses worked were downright
primitive. As we have learned from Back to the Future and A Million Ways to Die in the West;
clean water was a rarity and staying clean was a luxury. Doors were used often as an
operating table, lifesaving drugs were always on a shortage, basic supplies,
and space they worked in were minimum and most of all they were always, always out of time.
A prime example of their workload would be the Battle of Gettysburg, where medics attended over
fifty thousand battle injuries and casualties in a short span of three days. With the number
of medics on either side always being deficient, the available medics worked until they dropped.
And that is exactly why, bloody knives were never cleaned, hands were never washed,
and sterilization was not even a possibility in most of the cases. As we mentioned before
this helped gangrene to fester alongside a slew of other contagious diseases such as chickenpox,
mumps, whooping coughs, and MEASLES! These childhood diseases turned their ugly heads as
Epidemic demons among the ranks of soldiers. What followed after that was the spread of diarrhea,
malaria, and typhoid as the infected remained in the army or medical camps. Thanks to antibiotics
not being a thing yet, there was no stopping them either. For every soldier who died in battle, two
died of diseases. However, blaming these “Sawbone Doctors” for these deaths would not be justified,
sadly when Americans decided to kill each other in the early 1860s, the medical field was not
yet capable of dealing with the disease and the massive injuries caused by industrial warfare.
These medics simply did the best they could, even if it was somewhat of a messy business.
It is true what Medics did during the Civil War was not all rainbows and sunshine. In fact,
their deeds were far from it. But the general perception that Civil War medics being butchers
is farthest from the truth. In fact, their hardship and challenges along with their
failures as much as their success paved the way towards a medical revolution in America.
The innovative methods crafted by these inexperienced surgeons led to the invention
of medical techniques that are used today as well. Amputations during a civil war may
be perceived as barbaric and rushed treatments but with lots of trial and error, Medics learned
the most efficient ways of amputating without putting lives at risk. The mortality reduced
from 75 percent to 25 percent among amputation cases throughout the war. Anesthesia Inhaler,
Chest Wounds closure, and modern cosmetic surgery were invented during the civil war
thanks to the complications that occurred during amputation surgeries. The Civil War’s
lessons helped the United States to come up with an Ambulance to the ER system. Ambulances also got
upgraded with spring suspensions and lockboxes to make sure that injured reach to Hospitals
not only in time but safe as well. Nightingale's model of nursing was adopted in America soon
after the war. Colonel Eli Lilly got inspired to lay the foundation of a pharmaceutical empire
and Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. And all of this happened because a few thousand
medics did whatever they could to salvage lives and inspire a nation. What do you think?
Were these medics heroes for revolutionizing the medical industry of the United States or were they
really as the masses remember the Butchers of the Civil War? Tell us your thoughts in the comment
section below. And when you are done, check out some of these other videos from Nutty History.