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Labels: History Medical Doctor Surgeon surgery Civil War amputation soldiers American History
Setting the Record straight on the Civil War Surgeon-A good surgeon could amputate a limb in under 10 minutes
The field hospital was hell on earth. The surgeon would stand over the operating table for hours without a let up. Men screamed in delirium, calling for loved ones, Only the division’s best surgeons did the operating. The slow-moving Minie bullet used during the American Civil War caused catastophic injuries. The two minie bullets, for example, that struck John Bell Hood’s leg at Chickamauga destroyed 5 inches of his upper thigh bone. This left surgeons no choice but to amputate shattered limbs. They were performing a crude system of triage. The ones wounded through the head, belly, or chest were left to one side because they would most likely die. This may sound somewhat cruel or heartless, but it allowed the doctors to not waste precious time and to save those that could be saved with prompt attention. What is portrayed in “Hollywood” and in much “modern” conception of what surgery in the War was like during the war is false; anesthesia was in common and widespread use during the war…
About this photograph “Field Day.” Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine, CP 1043. Date created 1861–1865 License
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