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The soldiers of the Civil War had to deal with terrible medical conditions.
Of the 620,000 soldiers who died during the Civil War, around 400,000 of them died from disease and infections, not from fighting. They died from a variety of diseases including dysentery, typhoid, malaria, and tuberculosis.
At the beginning of the conflict, hospitals were set up in fields and close to the battlefield. They became dirty very quickly. Sometimes there was not enough room for all the wounded and they were just lined up outside on the ground. Both armies also took over civilian homes and barns near a battle field to be used as a hospital. But they soon started to build large pavilion-style hospitals that were clean, well-ventilated, and highly-efficient.
Many Civil War surgeons were not qualified: they had never treated a gun shot wound and many had never performed surgery. They also did not know about infections and they had little knowledge of pain killers and antibiotics like penicillin. Because there were not any antibiotics to help cure infections, the only real treatment for wounds was amputation. Good surgeons could amputate a limb in 10 minutes. They often did not have time or enough water to wash their hands and their instruments.
Of all the operations performed during the Civil War, 95% were done with the patient under some form of anesthesia. Chloroform and ether were the most common anesthetics. Around 75% of amputee soldiers survived the operation.
