During the Civil War 260,000 rebel soldiers and 373,000 Union soldiers died. This was due to many factors, like the size of armies, which meant that the battlefields would have a greater chance of more death. Also, with new weapons like rifled barrels thousands of lives were easily taken. Ultimately, the reason why so many soldiers died though was because of poor medicine and doctors. The medical departments couldn’t keep up with the numerous deaths, so bodies were scattered on battlefields for days. Medicine was not very advanced, so even with the help of hospitals men died and actually didn’t even want to go to hospitals. Doctors were not looked upon in good light, if a soldier was wounded amputation was the most likely solution. Hospitals also did not have a proper sense of sanitation or understanding of germs, so doctors sported the same bloody clothes for days, didn’t wash their tools or hands well, and used their own saliva to wet their needles. When it came to diseases the soldiers were catching, like typhoid and dysentery, doctors simply didn’t know how to treat them successfully. Overall, the medical field was too unknowledgeable to be able to truly help the wounded instead it hindered them. Too many soldiers died in the Civil War, and it’s tragic because just a little bit more medical knowledge could have greatly reduced those deaths.
1) How did the doctors treat diseases?
2) How did the technological advances (like rifles) work and effect the number of deaths?
3) What factor was the main reason for the tremendous amount of deaths in the Civil War?
4) Medicine was lacking in many area's and had many negatives, but were there any positives to the medical departments they had? Did they help at all?
5) How do you think the common man felt about the amount of deaths, or the blood scattered fields?
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