...The American Civil War began on the 12th of April in 1861. It began in response to disagreements between free states and slave states over the authority of the government to establish slavery laws. This war split the newly formed United States into two entities. Thirteen states seceded from the Union. Each state created its own “Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of . . . and other States united with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution of the United States of America" (Famous Civil War Documents) to form The Secession Acts of the Thirteen Confederate States. Sadly enough, the battles were brother against brother, American against American. “The American Civil War was the largest and most destructive conflict in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the onset of World War I in 1914” (McPherson). Many soldiers died because of wounds that they sustained on the battlefield, but others died due to diseases and unsanitary medical procedures. During the American Civil War, medicine played an important role in both the North and the South. The medicine that was practiced during the civil war was much more unhygienic...
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...Practice of Medicine During the Civil War What comes to mind when thinking about the Civil War? Does it include the bloody fight and deaths of many Americans? The war determined what kind of nation we were going to be but also influenced some of the most advances in the medical field. Even though medicine during the war was very poor, they made many improvements during the Civil War to improve the health of all the soldiers fighting. They advanced medicine as well as procedures causing less pain and trying to defeat disease that caused many deaths. Surgery in the 1860s was a lot different than it is today. They didn’t have all of the tools that we have today. During the Civil War many of the soldiers had to get extremities amputated. They were lacking advancement in...
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...Going into the Civil War, the knowledge about medicine and medical practices was primitive. People didn’t know about sterilization, or cleanliness in general. During the Civil War, many diseases ravaged the soldiers on both sides of the war, such as malaria, tetanus, and blood poisoning. But in spite of all the horrible things going on, there was some good medical advances going on as well. In the Civil War, there were tons of diseases that ran rampant all over both the Union and Confederate parties. Infections were the leading cause of death in the Civil War; about two-thirds of all deaths were disease related. Appendicitis and typhoid fever were generally undiagnosed. It was a dark time. Diseases like gangrene, tetanus, erysipelas,...
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...In the civil war, the three doctors who made the most impact in medicine of that time were Jonathan letterman, Hartwell Carver Tompkins, and Clara Barton. Medicine was limited at best, wartime escalating that even further. There was more death from poor conditions than from gunshot wounds. Surgeons were accused of being quick to the bone saw for amputations, when in reality resections or excision became favored, even if not best for patients’ quality of life. The contributions of the doctors listed had immediate impacts in the war, and those contributions can still be felt today. Poor conditions of the medicine department lead to new revelations affected soldier’s lives or the better. Civil war surgeons were known for their quick hand to the bone saw, almost ¾’s of all operations were amputations. Boys were being sent to war, and coming home missing half of their body. Towards the end of the war, surgeons began to feel the heat from the public about amputations. Resections became favored over amputations, even if an amputation would have been better. The matter of...
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...The Civil War was a milestone of America. A time of strife, a time of fear, a time of innovations. Anyone living in the years 1861-1865 had their own account of the war and the events that happened to them. Shelby Foote, a American historian, declared “And I’m a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That’s the reason it took me a good 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War”. Despite the wells of information about the war, one fact can be reached: the Civil War has come to benefit modern society. Although the Civil War was a dark time in American history, society has benefitted by creating advances in the medical field, inspiring innovations in the military, and bringing the dispute over slavery to a...
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...According to most modern statistics, the first world war resulted in the combined deaths of almost 10 million soldiers out of about 65 million died, most of which died during battle, unlike most previous wars during which most died of disease, and 1/3rd of those deaths were caused by an outbreak of Spanish flu, killing more people in one year than did the black plague in four. Contrastingly, the American civil war caused almost a million deaths or more than 2 percent of the entire population of the entire north American continent at the time as opposed to little more than 1 percent of all of the armies put together, not counting civilians. The number of casualties from world war 1 and many others afterwards could have been much larger, but...
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...The American Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars in American History, it marked one of the most permanent changes in US history. The war began on April 12, 1861 and ended on April 18, 1865, lasting a little over four years. It was fought between the Northern states, Union states, and the Southern states, Confederate states. It all started because of some differences between the states, such as; the idea of slavery, state rights, tariffs, and trade. The war began when Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, South Carolina, which was being controlled by the Union. There were approximately six thousand battles and engagements fought during the war. The bloodiest battle during the Civil War was Gettysburg, with 51,000 casualties. There were not even half as many casualties in Shiloh, which had almost twenty-four thousand casualties. Vicksburg had the least amount of casualties, with almost twenty thousand casualties. Southern states started to secede from the Union even before the war. There were a total of eleven states that seceded, those states were; South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and lastly Tennessee. Though these states didn’t secede at the same time, it was still a big deal because at the time secession wasn’t legal, but it also hadn’t been ruled illegal yet. It was ruled illegal after the war. Many families and their...
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...War has always been known to be ugly, but the further back in history we go, it seems to become more primitive. Observing the photo of the soldiers in their living quarters brings a realization to how relatively spoiled soldiers at war today really are. Although none of the soldiers in this specific photo look particularly displeased, they don’t have any comparison to give as this is the only standard of war they know. You can tell each soldier was a very hard working individual. In the photo, you can see soldiers participating in various laborious activities from sweeping to chopping wood. Everything was more involved than it is today with a much lower quality of living during the Civil War. To me, this single photograph goes a long way in telling the story of the life of a soldier during the Civil War. Others could take a look at the photograph and gain a better understanding for the hardships of the Civil War and further appreciate those in the military today. We can also gain a better appreciation for the improved living standards for any United States campaign today. Of course, technology has come a long way for us to look at this photo and find it hard to believe that this is how war was conducted, but to see it in a photograph really makes it real. I strongly believe photographs are worth a thousand words, and can, at times, teach more than a text book is able to. Going further into the difference in the standards of living during the Civil War and present day can clearly...
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...The American Civil War occurred in the United States between 1861 and 1865 after rising tensions between the North and South ultimately snapped. 3 million soldiers fought and 620,000 lives were claimed which was 2% of America’s population of that time. Many of the fatalities were not from combat wounds, but from diseases that plagued the soldiers. Medicine during the Civil War is often referred to as the Middle Ages of American medicine because of the primitive knowledge about medicine. Even so, there were many medical advances during the Civil War such as the creation of the ambulance corps, amputation, anesthesia, and many more. Many of these new procedures and innovations are still used today. Meaning that the Civil War was necessary for modern medicine because new systems and techniques...
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...The Infamous Civil War Many accidents, injuries, and casualties occurred during The Killer Angels Civil War. This vicious battle of the Union Army and Confederate Army ended in 51,000 sold1iers. They were either wounded, killed, or missing. The most bloodiest war, The Civil War was taken place in Gettysburg, since this was the most significant war with many deaths and wounded soldiers they had open hospitals nearby and many ways to help treat these wounds. Compared to today many of the soldiers that were wounded in The Civil would have lived because they did not have the tools we have to today and disinfection medicines. In the Civil War most people would get infected, for using the same tools that other surgeons used to amputate soldiers...
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...Medicine for the War The battle of Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battle of the Civil war. In the first day more than 50,000 soldiers were killed. Tons of them were captured or missing or wounded. A lot of people died, but a lot were also injured and they had to rely on the medicine, cure , or method to help them get better. These soldiers used weaponry like swords or firearms including rifles,pistols. Even artillery such as cannons were used. Now since we live in a more advanced society, our technology improved our medicine and methods to help or cure. For example if someone was to get shot in the leg, our knowledge and supplies could help us heal that wound better than the way they used to do it in the 1860. Soldiers knew that they would be facing death by taking part in the war. Major general, John Reynolds 42, and one of the finest soldier in the union army battled in the war. He battled in 9 wars and served 22 years. In the beginning...
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...Women in Medicine Due to the restrictions of female involvement in the war, a large portion of participation was in the field of medicine. Clara Barton among others played key roles in the Civil War, actively going onto the battlefields to aid the wounded. Her aid in the North saved numerous lives and exposed her to the worst of the war. She alongside many other women were refused access to the battlefield but as the war raged on, they became a necessity to the war effort. Barton was captured by Confederate soldiers and narrowly escaped other attempts of capture throughout the war. After the war, Barton created the American Red Cross, despite having no medical training. Her war efforts coined her as as the “Angel of the Battlefield” because...
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...and methods are used for engaging and defeating the enemy in direct combat. However the soldiers and armies have come a long way from the spear, or the bow and arrow. The innovations along with changes in tactics and strategies were crucial to the evolution of warfare. In the middle ages the army, air force, marines, national guards, and navy did not exist. Medieval knights were the middle ages military. Knighthood was awarded to members of nobility. Normally a man must have been born the son of a knight in order to become one. At the age of seven or eight, a young knight would be sent away from home to begin formal knight training, in preparation to dominate the medieval battlefield. In this training, the most commonly used weapons for war were swords and the lance; by horseback riding knights wearing body-covering armor. In addition, the knights were taught to use a wide range of weaponry, from simple tools and farm implements to sophisticated acts of surrounding and attacking the enemy, for capture. Wounds inflicted on the battlefield were usually cuts to arms, legs and scalp; penetrating wounds to the limbs and trunk caused by arrows; fractures caused by impact from swords or concussions from missiles from slings. These types of wounds most often were treated by simple medical care, which consisted of cleaning the wound, controlling the bleeding and preventing contamination. Warriors with serious injuries such as severed arteries and crushed skulls died on the...
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...Borunda Mrs. Martinez World History November 20, 2014 The American Civil War Many people know about the Civil War, but not every one knows the details. The Civil War was a key point in U.S. History that brought all the states together and made them into one single indivisible country. Before the civil war started there was the election of 1860. Abraham Lincoln has just been elected into office and many political officials didn’t like that. The Battle Field Lincoln pledges to abolish slavery in all the states, his views were very different from those in congress, and Lincoln wanted a strong nation, one without slavery. This would be fine if slavery wasn’t popular in most states, but sadly it was. There was conflict and disagreement, but most of this conflict came from the south. In the south slavery was a very popular and common practice. Thirteen states from the south seceded from the United States. These states called themselves The Confederate States Of America. According to www.civilwar.org the first battle of the civil war took place at Fort Sumter. On April 12, 1861, Major Robert Anderson was under fire by General P.G.T Beauregard, who was in command of the Confederate forces around Charleston harbor. Major Robert Anderson surrendered on April 13 and evacuated the next day. This The battlefield is a very known subject in all wars but this was one of the harshest wars in American history. This war like any other was fought and won with armies of soldiers. Each side had...
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...New ideas were constantly coming forward during the Civil War, and this time period played an enormous role in developing new technology. Both the invention of the telegraph and the railroads were very important. With the ability to send someone a message within seconds, people in the White House were able to transmit battle strategies directly to the front line. Railroads allowed them to send huge amounts of supplies to the military. Both of these state-of-the-art creations made supplying the troops more productive and less complicated. These influential innovations changed the course of the war. However, the more important technology advances belonged somewhere else- on the battlefield. New technology was springing forth everywhere, including the front lines. Inventors like Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling...
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