Battlefield Health Care

During the American Civil War many people died - more could have survived though if it hadn't been for the low level of health care. The doctors didn't understand the importance of washing their hands, so what happened was that people didn't get killed directly from the battle wounds themselves but from the infections in them. There was actually no understanding at all of bacterias and germs and how they could be transmitted, so when not washing tools properly bacteria could be spread from one patient to another, which in turn led to the spreading of different diseases.

Also the medical techniques were'nt especially developed during these times, and since anti-biotics hadn't yet been dicovered infections were hard to stop. Amputating or cutting off a limb were the only choices a doctor had when faced with a broken arm for example.

The "hospitals" were not very high tech either. To transport the wounded soldiers from the battlefields they used wagons, and as hospitals they used almost whatever they could get a hold of. They did have portable hospitals (tents), but if they weren't possible armies could take over civilian homes, barns, churches etc.

The Confederate States had less resources to use for medicine, so their health care was even worse than the Union's.

So, how did the health care affect the war? Since the knowledge was so restricted about the spreading of diseases it took many lives - three in five Union casualties and two in three Confederate casualties died of disease. If not as many people had died maybe the war would have countinued for a longer time. And something I keep wondering about is what it would have looked like if anti-biotics had been discovered before the war. 


Portable hospitals

Sources for text and picture:
http://americancivilwar.com/kids_zone/civil_war_medicine.html
http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/CivilWar/Hospitals.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_in_the_American_Civil_War